Welcome to The Catholic Reformation
My name is Paul Facey (aka The Other Paul), and I am here to announce the official public launch of The Catholic Reformation, an organisation dedicated to the promotion and defence of the Catholic and Apostolic faith as articulated by the Anglican tradition. Unlike other existing groups or websites dedicated to defending Anglicanism or the Reformation more broadly, we do not want to be restricted to just a website or a channel doing one or a small number of specific things. Our ambition is to grow into a major organisation with multiple fronts (a Substack, to start with, but eventually a YouTube channel, a website, and more) that produces materials on anything and everything in defence of the Anglican faith; articles and essays, high-production videos, interviews with major Anglican figures, even mass-produced tracts with short yet decisive answers on various questions, all produced by a growing team of affiliated Anglican apologists. For now, we are just a Substack, but throughout 2024 - 2025 we will be expanding into our fully desired reach.
This post is to introduce the basics of who we are and what to expect from us:
VISION STATEMENT
To see a restoration of the Reformational Catholic tradition - as expressed by the Formularies and the 16th-17th century Anglican divines - within the Anglican communion.1
MISSION STATEMENT
To promote and defend the Reformational Catholic tradition - as defined in the Vision Statement - by:
Responding to critics of Anglicanism from other traditions and critics of the faith writ large (for the latter, with the full weight of the Anglican tradition, and not a "mere Christianity" approach);
Promoting traditional Anglican thought and practice in response to neo-evangelical, anti-liturgical tendencies in the Communion;
Refuting erroneous representations of the tradition by self-professed Anglicans.
Producing resources for the aforementioned issues, for use and distribution by both laymen and clergy.
Being a rallying point for godly Anglicans who wish to aid in the promotion of their faith or to have their concerns answered, as well as a hub of resources for those inquiring into Anglicanism.
WHAT TO EXPECT
As we are only just beginning, The Catholic Reformation will be a fairly modest operation for the near future, starting with just a Substack to post articles and essays. But my team and I have already established a timeline for major points of expansion, including a YouTube channel, a dedicated website, and more. With time, you can expect a voluminous production of high-quality materials across multiple media. For now, we will produce articles and essays on multiple issues relevant to Anglicanism, both on the popular level but also for more advanced readers (with tags to distinguish which is which). We will also produce posts that aim to give a brief, readable, yet thoroughly sourced and well-reasoned answer to major questions, which may become their own pages in a special section of the website in the future (this is still being discussed among the team) and also the content of printable tracts.
For now, we hope that fellow Anglicans are excited by this project and will be edified by what we produce, and we pray that everything we do is good and pleasing to God. If you are a faithful Anglican content maker who wants to join us in defending our tradition, you can email us at reformationalcatholic@gmail.com.
From the team at The Catholic Reformation: Paul Facey (The Other Paul), Sean Luke (Anglican Aesthetics), the Rev James Gadomski (Barely Protestant), and Joe (Young Anglican).
Including, but not limited to: Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, John Jewel, Richard Hooker, Richard Field, William Laud, Matthew Parker, John Cosin, Simon Patrick, Jeremy Taylor, John Davenant, John Hooper, Thomas Swadlin, William Whitaker, John Brahmall, and James Ussher. We intend to produce a fuller list of representative Anglican divines in a page dedicated to our vision/mission statements.