Church of Ireland

Celtic cross with no circle, teal
Church of Ireland
Eaglais na hÉireann (Irish)
Kirk o Airlann (Ulster Scots)
Church with steeple shown
Holmpatrick St Patrick Church in Skerries, County Dublin
ClassificationChristian
OrientationAnglican
ScriptureChristian Bible
TheologyAnglican doctrine[a]
PolityEpiscopal
PrimatesArchbishop of ArmaghJohn McDowell
Archbishop of DublinMichael Jackson
Associations
RegionIreland
LanguageEnglish, Irish
HeadquartersChurch of Ireland House
Church Avenue
Rathmines
Dublin D06 CF67
Ireland
Independence1871 (disestablishment)
Separated fromRoman Catholic Church in 1536
Branched fromTheologically: Church of England
Congregations1100 places of worship
450 parishes[1]
Members343,400[2]
Official websiteireland.anglican.org

The Church of Ireland (Irish: Eaglais na hÉireann, pronounced [ˈaɡlˠəʃ n̪ˠə ˈheːɾʲən̪ˠ]; Ulster-Scots: Kirk o Airlann, IPA: [kɪrk ə ˈerlən(d)])[3] is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second-largest Christian church on the island after the Roman Catholic Church. Like other Anglican churches, it has retained elements of pre-Reformation practice, notably its episcopal polity, while rejecting the primacy of the pope.

In theological and liturgical matters, it incorporates many principles of the Reformation, particularly those of the English Reformation, but self-identifies as being both Reformed and Catholic, in that it sees itself as the inheritor of a continuous tradition going back to the founding of Christianity in Ireland.[4] As with other members of the global Anglican communion, individual parishes accommodate differing approaches to the level of ritual and formality, variously referred to as High and Low Church.[5]

As of 2013, the Church of Ireland ranked "second in the State in terms of the provision of primary schools with 174 schools under its Patronage." There were "over 500 teachers and over 13,500 pupils in Church of Ireland Primary schools." There were at the time "twenty post-primary schools in the State which are either affiliated with the Church of Ireland at diocesan level or" are self-identified as Church of Ireland.[6]


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  1. ^ "Church of Ireland". Irish Council of Churches. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  2. ^ "The Church of Ireland – About Us". ireland.anglican.org. The Church of Ireland. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  3. ^ 2001 Northern Irish census leaflet, Ulster-Scots NI Statistics and Research Agency. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  4. ^ ""About Us", Church of Ireland website". Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  5. ^ Church of Ireland Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ https://www.ireland.anglican.org/cmsfiles/pdf/Information/Submissions/brd_ed/AdmSchBill2013.pdf. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)