Sink the Slipper?

Is the centenary of the Titanic's sinking not rather over-exploited?  That doomed vessel seems to sink every hour on the hour, such are the endless films, documentaries and dramas about it crowding our televisions and cinema screens.   But in Canberra, other ships seem to be taking on water, listing more and more every passing moment...

In charity to our Prime Minister, she does seem (poor cow) possessed of the most terrible run of bad luck. Brown having decided to retire at least spares her his sanctimonious weekly lectures (in return for Green support in Parliament), but instead she will have ex-teacher Milne in to raspily castigate her each week in his place, as if Gillard were still Julia the schoolgirl; and what benefit will accrue? With Brown out of the way, at the next election the Green vote will be bereft of his drawing power, and commentators aver in amaze that Abbott could win the holy grail of a Senate majority - so no benefit at all to our beleaguered P.M.

While she also needs support, lest she loose majority support in the House and therefore Government, from two independent M.P.'s, Oakeshott (that smiling "useful idiot", to use the customary phrase) and Windsor (who is far more shrewd), who have said that unethical behaviour could cause them to change their votes, yet at one and the same time she is stuck both with Thomson, one of her own party, very much tainted with the odium of corruption in his former union (a person or persons unknown having cunningly misused his union credit card to purchase the services of ladies of the night, or so Thomson has pleaded, he doubtless instead being at the side of his then-pregnant wife; police and similar investigations continue in two States and federally into this and much else alleged against him), and with Slipper, who deserted his own Liberal National Party to gain the Speakership, thus shoring up the Government's numbers – and who I read to-day in the newspapers is about to be prosecuted for harassing and propositioning a young male staffer with lewd messages and massages and worse.

Slipper, readers may recall, is a member and indeed an ordained priest of the Australian branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion - ordained, one assumes, by John Hepworth, who has recently resigned as head thereof, but, so far as I understand, is Archbishop of their Australian church.  As Hepworth has made public allegations of appalling sexual abuse inflicted upon himself by Catholic priests living and dead, it would seem that Hepworth - if he is still in charge of Slipper and other members of his flock - has a duty to instigate his own investigation into these accusations.

Who will sink Slipper? and will the Government turn out to be but rearranging the deck-chairs on board the ship of state?  The Titanic sank within 3 hours of scraping alongside an iceberg; how much longer will Gillard remain afloat?  If she loses the confidence of the House – and the Speaker may well be constrained to resign, given these latest grave accusations against him, further threatening her razor-thin majority – there could be a General Election sooner rather than later.  Polling suggests that Labor would indeed be sunk to the bottom of the sea.

******

UPDATE: Sunday afternoon, 22nd April 2012

Slipper has "stood aside" as Speaker until the criminal allegations against him – that he misused certain perquisites of office – are decided; he denies all allegations against him, both criminal and civil (those of harassment, not to say perversion).  The Labor deputy Speaker will take his place, he will remain away from Parliament: this means that, saving the deputy Speaker's casting vote, left and right, Government (and supporters) and Opposition (plus Wilkie), are tied.  No doubt the Opposition will continue to hammer the Government over the stench arising from Slipper and Thomson's alleged misdemeanours.  The ship of state remains above the waterline – just.

******

UPDATE: Monday, 23rd April 2012


Archbishop Hepworth of the Traditional Anglican Communion (no longer Primate thereof, but still the Ordinary of its Australian arm) has asked Peter Slipper to "stand down" as a priest under his authority, stating that he asks this in sorrow – as Slipper and his wife are friends of his – but that Slipper must now face a canonical investigation into the serious moral accusations against him.  Apparently Slipper has been a deacon in the TAC since 2003, and a priest since 2008, but only licensed to celebrate Mass in private – whatever that means.  I must say, it puzzles me!

Hepworth's Return as a Layman - Only

Since the news is out, it is but honest to note that Abp Hepworth of the Traditional Anglican Communion, as he himself said he would accept some years back (I recall his statement that if so, he would enjoy spending his retirement doing some fishing), has had reiterated to him by the Holy See that he, as a former Catholic priest, cannot be received into any Ordinariate for "groups of Anglicans" as a clergyman, but only as a layman.  This was of course known from the publication of the Complementary Norms accompanying Anglicanorum cœtibus, but at the least wishful thinking on the part of unprejudiced observers and at the most some suggestion of special consideration for his case had given rise to the idea that he would be received back as a priest in good standing, even as head of an Ordinariate – which cannot happen now.

Of course, this whole issue is a great stumbling block and source of ongoing pain and confusion on a number of levels: on the one hand, given his marriages, the regularization of his marital situation according to Canon Law would only further complicate the restoration of his faculties as a priest; and given his leaving the Church, albeit because of his sufferings now well-known, Catholics, whether priests or laymen, may well have found any exception made for him somewhat hard to understand, to be frank; yet, given his awful subjection to sexual abuse as a seminarian and young priest, the investigation of which is still continuing, this news of a block to his return to active ministry as a Catholic priest must seem very cruel; further, given his strong advocacy for the reunion of the T.A.C. with Rome, it must seem very hard that, if not like Moses he may still enter the Promised Land, he can only do so not as leader but as a layman; worst, it appears that the Australian bishops have prematurely made this news public, which if true is an injustice on the face of it, though I read the news had leaked from another source (let him bear his fault) and so official release of the details was but a formality in any case.

It is a most unpleasant business all round.  Whatever his faults, Hepworth has given great impetus to the great and good work of the reunion of Anglicans with the Holy See, and for that he deserves thanks and sympathy in his troubles.  Please pray for him.  Pray too that all this does not dissuade souls from taking the path of Unity.

New Speaker is TAC Priest

Not without some controversy, a new Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia has just been elected – and he, Peter Slipper, or rather The Hon Fr Peter Slipper MP, is not only Speaker, but also Chancellor of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia, part of the Traditional Anglican Communion, and (since 2008) a priest thereof.  (Consult an interview with him from a few years back wherein he declares his fulsome support for Anglicanorum cœtibus.)

No doubt, when the projected Australian Ordinariate is set up, he will have to reconsider his political career  if he desire to be accepted for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church, given what the Code of Canon Law has to say about the incompatibility of those two callings...

A Most Unpleasant Surprise

My friend Robert – who’s visiting from W.A. – and I decided to go along to visit the T.A.C.'s local congregation here in Launceston for their service this morning, in the hope of chatting with Bp Robarts afterward.  (Rob knows Bp Entwistle over in Perth.)

Unbeknownst to us, Robarts is away this Sunday, presiding at the patronal feast of the T.A.C. parish of St Mary’s in Sydney.  Instead, therefore, a Fr Gordon Tyson celebrated…

He apologized to start with for what would be a rough and ready service – as he revealed in his homily, he had unfortunately looked up the wrong readings by mistake.  Only a small congregation was present – we increased attendance by 25%.

The altar was set as usual against the wall, with six candles lit, a crucifix in the centre, a missal (the English Missal) on its stand and a veiled chalice already set up.  In came the celebrant in chasuble…

Most unexpectedly, instead of launching into Psalm 42 (43) and the rest, instead the minister stood at the Gospel side, facing the congregation, and first asked us to place ourselves in God’s presence, then invited us to join him in reciting the Collect for Purity, a three-fold (not nine-fold) Kyrie, and the Gloria in excelsis (all in English, except for the Kyrie of course in Greek).  This was much plainer and less Roman than the manner in which Bp Robarts celebrates.

There was no Dominus vobiscum, just “You might want to sit for this” (we all did!) and “Let us pray” followed by the Collect, which was that for the 12th Sunday after Trinity in the Book of Common Prayer.  (Why on earth do these Anglicans sit for the Collect?  It is really bizarre.)

A reader came to the lectern (on the Gospel side) and read the first two lessons, employing the RSV: Jeremiah 38:4-6,8-10 and Hebrews 12:1-4; and saying after each “Here endeth the (first / second) Lesson”.  (These, and the Gospel pericope to follow, were the same readings as those appointed in the modern Roman Lectionary for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C.)

The celebrant rather meaninglessly moved the Missal to the Gospel side, but then went to the lectern and himself read the Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 39 (40) – and directly after that the Gospel of the day: St Luke 12:49-53; there was no Alleluia at all.  For the first time, the words “The Lord be with you” were used, but the responses to the title of the Gospel, and at its end, were confused – apparently Fr Tyson is used to a different liturgy than this B.C.P.-type service.  I can only suppose he is a retired Anglican clergyman gone over to the T.A.C. who perhaps celebrates using one of the modern Australian Anglican liturgies...

The sermon was about the teaching of Hebrews chapter 11 as to what living faith is – not mere adhesion to a list of doctrines, but active trust in God issuing in action, even at great personal risk.  The preacher adduced the examples of Barak and Gideon, who had to trust in God that what they were asked to do would succeed, against all human expectation.  He alluded to our need to trust and act likewise; perhaps he was referring to the need to make a “leap in the dark” over the unfinished business of Anglicanorum cœtibus?

We all recited the Creed after that, and then Bruce got up to read the Biddings – that quaint Anglican custom whereby a list of people to pray for are listed without responses!  We prayed for the T.A.C. Diocese of Queenstown in some farflung part of Africa, and for the T.A.C. parish in Sydney now keeping its patronal feast, for the sick and for the dead – at this point only we replied, as we prayed “Eternal rest grant unto them” as a versicle and response.

Next, at the direction of the celebrant, the collection was taken up.  Meanwhile, without saying anything, the celebrant at last went and stood before the midst of the altar, and mixed the chalice (one of the men in the congregation got up, went to the credence and himself poured the wine and water into the proffered chalice!), readied the paten, and washed his fingers (the gentleman server pro tempore ministering the water and towel).  

After this, that favourite piece of Anglican idolatry that frankly horrifies me: the handing to the celebrant the alms-dish, and its solemn elevation, followed by it being placed on the altar table behind the missal!  As Percy Dearmer acidly observed long years ago:

In some churches, however, the alms are ceremonially presented at the altar; and the ceremonies are often of a rather idolatrous nature, the dish being solemnly elevated…

One… even sees the clergy make wave offerings of the alms… as if they were in a conspiracy to rob the Mass of its meaning.

The rubric covers the usual and convenient method of collecting the alms, viz. that the churchwardens, or their substitutes, pass bags or small plates among the people, and then bring the alms thus collected to the chancel step, where a ‘fit person’, i.e. the [subdeacon or] clerk, is ready to ‘receive’ them ‘in a decent bason to be provided by the Parish for that purpose’.  The fit person shall then ‘reverently bring it to the Priest’.  The priest is then to present the bason and place it upon the holy Table: this he is to do, not ostentatiously, but ‘humbly’, slightly raising it: there is no authority for the solemn elevation of the alms-bason…

(Dearmer, The Parson’s Handbook, pages 280 and 374-375)

Without any apparent offertory prayers, the minister then began the Prayer for the Church, which was the version from the 1928 Proposed B.C.P., including prayer for the dead.  His prayer therein for acceptance of the alms and oblations was the only offertory prayer.

Next, the Invitation – the words “meekly kneeling upon your knees” rather shamefacedly omitted, as (apart from at the Gospel and Creed) we all simply sat throughout, right down to the end of the whole service, without any kneeling at all.  Perhaps this was because of the age of the parishioners, or the absence of hassocks…

The General Confession and Absolution followed – the celebrant turned to the people for the latter, and made over them the sign of the Cross.  The Comfortable Words were omitted, and all said together the Prayer of Humble Access, as a sort of Secret I suppose.

The usual preface dialogue and Preface followed, but the minister seemed thoroughly discombobulated by the absence from the Missal of a Sunday Preface, and read the Christmas Preface instead!

The Canon was that of the Interim Rite: Prayer of Consecration plus Prayer of Oblation, including the 1549 Memorial or Anamnesis.  The Cranmerian pseudo-epiclesis, “that we receiving these thy creatures of bread and wine… may be partakers of [Christ’s] most blessed Body and Blood” was the one certainly and definitely unacceptable and uncatholic part of the liturgy, absolutely demanding removal forthwith: Rome would never accept it, since it teaches false doctrine (Zwinglianism, receptionism or the like).  The celebrant didn’t even elevate the bread and wine high enough to see – such his churchmanship.

The Lord’s Prayer and Agnus Dei followed; there was no “The peace of the Lord be with you…” at all.  The “Behold the Lamb of God” came immediately after this, but most oddly the celebrant remained facing the altar, and instead held up and to either side the chalice and paten, thus displaying them to the people in wondrous wise!  God indeed moveth in mysterious ways.  It really seemed as if he were making up the rubricks as he went along.

The Anglicans then went forward and stood for communion: the formula was “The Body / Blood of Christ keep you in everlasting life”, I think.

After the fellow who assisted the celebrant helped him purify the vessels by pouring water into them, and the chalice was re-dressed, the Prayer of Thanksgiving came next, prefaced with “The Lord be with you” and “Let us pray”.  After that, again “The Lord be with you” plus “Let us depart in peace”, before “The peace of God” and the minister thereby giving his blessing to his flock.  That was it.  A most plain and unadorned B.C.P. Holy Communion service, just slightly catholicized with a longer than usual Eucharistic Prayer.

No hymns were sung; the service took but 45 minutes.

Rob and I said a brief hello afterward to Bruce (whom I know) and to the celebrant (a new acquaintance), as we helped pack things up.

After leaving, we both agreed that it was quite a shock to have gone along expecting some Anglo-Catholic sacred ceremonial, and finding a quite conservative but very plain B.C.P., frankly Protestant service instead.  

It confirms many fears about the big changes the T.A.C. will have to adopt if it is to come into full communion.

Roll On, Australian Ordinariate!

Australians all, let us rejoice!  The recent Synod - thanks to The Anglo-Catholic for this news! - of the local province of the Traditional Anglican Communion, the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia (27th-30th July), passed the following resolutions:

• That this National Synod endorses the action of its Archbishop and Bishops in requesting the establishment of an Anglican Ordinariate in Australia under the terms of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, and that the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia, in the words of the Apostolic Constitution, desires to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church in a corporate manner*, thereby achieving the status of an Anglican Ordinariate.
• That this National Synod welcomes with joy the partnership of Forward in Faith Australia and all other Anglican clergy and people who desire to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church in a corporate manner* through the Anglican Ordinariate in Australia.
• That this National Synod strongly endorses the application of the Bishop of the Torres Strait to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for an Ordinariate of the Torres Strait.
• That this National Synod requests the Primate to communicate to the Holy Father its gratitude for his Apostolic Constitution, ands warmly thanks him for his continued protection of faithful Anglicans and their tradition, and assures him of our prayers at every celebration of the Eucharist for his ministry of “caring for all the churches”.

* Anglicanorum cœtibus, Introduction, Paragraph 5

("...this Apostolic Constitution provides the general normative structure for regulating the institution and life of Personal Ordinariates for those Anglican faithful who desire to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church in a corporate manner.")

Let us sing Te Deum and Non nobis – but neither let us count chickens before they're hatched: it being August in Rome, the very dog days, no work whatsoever will be done for the next weeks at least, and the establishment of the Ordinariates, for Australia, for the Torres Strait, and overseas in Canada, the USA, the UK and so forth, is likely to take a good deal of time (different people have opined that the first could come as early as Advent this year or as late as Advent next year, but perhaps Pentecost 2011 would be the fairest guess).

The T.A.C. in Australia has the special assistance of Bp Peter Elliott, himself an ex-Anglican, who is the Delegate of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference in this matter, a helpful, prudent and understanding go-between, as Bp Robarts has kindly said.  Incoming Anglicans have many completely reasonable worries and concerns, many perfectly serious matters still to discuss and study and work through, and of course need more details from Rome and competent authorities in order to best see how the putative Ordinariate will come to be established.  The whole matter is most complex and sensitive.

Such wise delay is in fact all for the good: festina lente, hasten slowly, is the sage advice that not only the Curia, but the whole Church in her patient shepherding of Christ's flock takes to heart.  Again, "Gather up the fragments that none be lost" – to plunge too soon into establishing Ordinariates could frighten souls still wavering between hope and fear.

It took quite some courage for traditionalist, Catholic-minded Anglicans to break away from the liberal mainstream and set up the T.A.C.; it will take still greater courage to cross the Tiber, even on the elegant bridge, the Ponte Benedetto, that the Supreme Pontiff has erected for them.  The true pastoral concern is paramount: to shepherd all Christ's flock into the one fold.  Here in Australia we value the alert sheepdog who can round 'em up, be they ever so scattered!

I try and pray daily, with the Angelus, the following versicle for this intention (remembering that my local friends in the T.A.C., Bp Robarts, Bruce, and the rest, constitute the Parish of the Annunciation), invoking Our Lady particularly as Our Lady of Walsingham:

V/.  Pray for them, O Holy Mother of God.

R/.  That they may be one in the Church of thy Son.

V/.  Ora pro eis, sancta Dei Genetrix.

R/.  Ut unum sint in Ecclesia Filii tui.

Back to the T.A.C.

Having assisted at Mass last night, Sunday was free (Dominica vacat), and so, having promised Bp Robarts of the T.A.C. to pay him a visit, I betook myself to the temporary temple of the Parish of the Annunciation...

After divine service, we had a good chat: I had perforce to detail poor Dad's ongoing illness, and to add to that my Mum and sister are both laid up in bed with gastroenteritis (there has been an outbreak at the hospital, and they caught it while visiting Dad), so I'm the only one standing.

His Lordship celebrated in a green Roman chasuble over a plain alb; no maniple, but purple zucchetto, Episcopal cross and ring.  The temporary altar had a green frontal and white altar cloth, with six candles lit (up from two on my last visit!), the missal on its stand, plus a hymnbook and various papers with sundry prayers upon them placed on the mensa (though no altar cards).  The altar cross bore a sculpted image of Christ the Priest in vestments; above the altar, upon the cloth that served as a reredos, hung an icon of Virgin and Child.  The chalice and paten were veiled, and a burse was used.

I have previously described, in extreme detail! what liturgy I observed offered, so I note only any differences seen to-day.  I will offer one correction: after the Prayer of Humble Access, then he read the Secret, and then turned to say the Orate fratres, straightway leading into the Dominus vobiscum and Sursum corda.  This time round, moreover, he read the traditional Embolism after the Lord's Prayer, complete with performing the fraction during its doxology, more Romano.  Strangely, he didn't move the missal back to the Epistle side after communion.

Of notable Anglican prayers, the only ones missing were the Summary of the Law and the Comfortable Words; of Catholic, the Canon (since an Anglican version was used instead) and the Last Gospel.

The three attractive, doctrinal and very loudly sung out hymns were:

• “Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart” (NEH 339; E. Hull; Irish, 8th C.)
• “Lord enthroned in heavenly splendour” (NEH 296; G.H. Bourne; to the tune "St Helen")
• “Ye watchers and ye holy ones” (NEH 478; A. Riley)

It is obvious that a high doctrine of the Real Presence and Sacrifice, as of the Saints, is held.

As never happens when with Catholics, mine was not the loudest voice!

As last time, it proved difficult to ascertain which Sunday was being celebrated: the three readings were taken from the modern Roman Lectionary (Zacharias xii, 10-11 & xiii, 1; Galatians iii, 26-29; St Luke ix, 18-24) for the 12th Sunday per annum, Year C.  In consonance with this, the Introit was pretty obviously Dominus fortitudo plebis suæ – which is that for this Sunday in the modern Roman Rite (while in the Traditional, it is the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost).  However, the Gradual and Alleluia I cannot now with certainty identify; and the Offertory and Communion seemed to quote from the Gospel pericope.

Furthermore, and in agreement with the Collect – which was that for the 3rd Sunday after Trinity (which equates to the 4th after Pentecost) in the B.C.P., and in turn is not the same as the Roman, but comes from the Sarum Proper for the 3rd after Trinity – the Secret definitely and the Postcommunion probably (I recall it speaking of the "holy gifts", as below) were non-Roman but came instead from that Sarum Proper.  They are quite interesting and worth attention:

O Lord, we beseech thee mercifully to hear us; and grant that we, to whom thou hast given an hearty desire to pray, may by thy mighty aid be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (BCP)

O Lord, we beseech thee, mercifully to hear our supplications; and grant that we, to whom thou hast given an hearty desire to pray, may by thy aid be defended.  Through... (Warren's translation of the Sarum Missal)

Deprecationem nostram, quæsumus, Domine, benignus exaudi; et quibus supplicandi præstas affectum, tribue defensionis auxilium.  Per...  (Sarum Missal)

I particularly like the phrase "an hearty desire to pray" – how comforting to think that the Lord has thus disposed our hearts.

The Secret and Postcommunion, in Warren's version (and, thanks to a commenter on Fr Hunwicke's blog, in the original mediæval Latin):

We beseech thee, O Lord, to sanctify the gifts now offered unto thee, that they may become the body and blood of thy Only-begotten One, for our healing.  Who liveth...

Munera tibi quesumus domine oblata sanctificata: ut tui nobis unigeniti corpus et sanguis fiant ad medelam, qui tecum. 

Having received the holy gifts, we beseech thee, O Lord, that by their virtue thou wouldest purify us from all vices, and fill us abundantly with the gifts of thy grace.  Through...

Sacris domine muneribus perceptis: quesumus, ut nos eorum virtute et a vitiis omnibus expies, et donis gratie tue jugiter repleas, per. 

Note that this Secret is a directly epicletic prayer!  It is precise and Catholic, and more than makes up for the Cranmerian anti-epiclesis that still disfigures the "Interim Rite", the version of the Consecratory Prayer used, which Rome would surely correct (this deficiency in the Prayer of Consecration is, upon reflection, really the only doctrinally objectionable part of the entire service I attended).

For those interested in such things as the manner in which the Lord is served in the T.A.C., Bp Robarts explained to me afterward that matters liturgical are still being worked out with reference to Rome; and that when the time comes he will of course do as will be determined.  In the meanwhile, he explained that he celebrated in a Catholic manner (using his English Missal), while retaining the various Anglican prayers beloved of his people.

I must say, I found it a decent and reverent service; as I reiterated, once all differences are composed, I look forward to worshipping with him more regularly, and to share in the one communion from the one altar.  Eastward facing worship!  Dignified prayers!  Very nice; just what the Pope desires: "O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness".

He also explained what is only reasonable: that, for the good of the greater number of souls, and to help ease the painful transition, he and his Catholic opposite number wish to make haste slowly with setting up the Australian Ordinariate - it appears that some want it running by Advent this year, others by Advent next year, and that a suitable via media would be Pentecost 2011 (as would be most fitting when one considers it).  

Many T.A.C. laymen remain quite understandably troubled by the stumbling-block of being confirmed "again", after being taught all their lives by their High Church clergy that confirmation was both a sacrament and unrepeatable; it must gently be explained to all so concerned that, as with T.A.C. clergy and their Orders, Rome requires certainty, and rather than go through everything case-by-case, it will be understood that conditionality is an unspoken presupposition for those worried about this.

Robarts left me with some sterling if wry advice: Keep trying to keep the Faith, without being trying!

Personal Ordinariate for the Torres Strait

It continues to delight me to hear the glad tidings of the approach to full, corporate reunion with Rome, the lynchpin of Catholic communion, by groups of Anglicans; and it especially moves me to read of the Traditional Anglican Communion's Church of the Torres Strait, those brave Continuing Anglicans who broke with the morally corrupt and doctrinally aberrant Australian Anglican mainstream back in 1997, as it now fulfils the catholic impulses of its High Church evangelists, and applies formally for a Personal Ordinariate.  Apparently their bishop, Tolowa Nona, with the unanimous support of his clergy and people, is now petitioning the Pope for this blessing.  Thus the Coming of the Light reaches its natural fruition in Catholic Unity.

God grant it, and right speedily!

In passing, I make the remark that this unique part of Australia, with a distinct people, the Torres Strait Islanders, already has something of its own unique polity: while part of Queensland (annexed in 1872 and 1879),  the status of the islands of the Torres Strait is sui generis; on the part of the Commonwealth, the Torres Strait Regional Authority exists, paralleled by that State's Torres Strait Island Region, and the Shire of Torres... with their firm ethnic identity, could these islands become a self-governing Territory under a special statute?  (When Papua New Guinea became independent in 1975, the Islanders were insistent that they were Australians – after all, the vast majority of them now live on the Mainland; famously, the High Court's Mabo judgement ruled that the Islanders have unextinguished traditional property rights over their homeland; they therefore have a special status.)

Off to Hobart for Mass

To-morrow, being the first Sunday of May, I'll make the drive down to Hobart, for to attend and sing at our monthly Traditional Mass, which will be that of the 4th Sunday after Easter: Cantate Domino.  I so wish I had the chance to assist at the Liturgy in this manner every Sunday!

Hopefully, as the Traditional Anglican Communion's Australian members have already petitioned for an Australian Ordinariate, and now plan to formalize matters on their side by a Synod at the end of July, even before this year is out – perhaps by Advent 2010? – the local T.A.C. parish (under their prelate, Robarts) will be in full union with Rome, and I will have a Zoar (Genesis xix, 22 – KJV; the Douay has Segor) or place of refuge there, with a pious, reverent, traditional, eastward-facing liturgy in sacral English.  

I won't mind that at all (though if they let me I'll sing a bit of Latin for them too!).

But yet, I do miss my old parish in Perth, with ample opportunities to sing and serve at Mass...

Perhaps once Hobart gets a new bishop, we won't have to put up with Summorum Pontificum being but a dead letter here.

Australian Anglo-Catholics' Petition for an Ordinariate

That sterling blog, The Anglo-Catholic, has just provided the full text of the petition of the Anglican Catholic Church of Australia (the local branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion) to Cardinal Levada, as Prefect of the CDF, for an Australian Personal Ordinariate under the terms of Anglicanorum cœtibus.

Leave is sought to establish an interim Governing Council, to have permission to submit the initial terna to the Holy Father of suggested persons to become the first Ordinary, and the Holy See is notified that the ACCA will hold a National Synod in Queensland in the last week of July, in order to unite, by appropriate binding decisions, all interested parties who will seek to enter full corporate communion with the Pope.

I was pleased to see the signatures of such worthies as David Robarts, the local auxiliary of Hepworth; if all proceeds as hoped, I shall very gladly be attending his Masses once all is settled.

It further gladdens the heart to read that the Church of the Torres Strait is making its own petition to the Holy See for corporate reunion.

We praise Thee, O God!

Australian TAC in the News

Imagine my pleasure when I turned to to-day's edition of The Australian (Thursday 18th March 2010) and found, on the front page, a large colour photo of Abp Hepworth (and wife), with an article ("Australian Bishops lead crossing to Rome") on page 2 featuring photographs of two of his auxiliaries, Bps Robarts (residing here in Launceston) and Entwistle – many thanks, M'Lords, for your kind emails recently – and giving a positive and upbeat account of the ongoing process whereby the T.A.C. and other groups of Anglicans are coming into full communion under provisions of Anglicanorum cœtibus.

It almost made up for the hatefilled and libellous rant against the Pope as alleged fount of all evils that disgraced the newspaper a few pages further in...  If I wrote half so much filth against Obama, say, I'd be up on charges.  I do hope someone official in the Catholic Church here in Australia lodges a formal complaint against what is a clear incitement to religious hatred.



Let us pray for our most blessed Pope Benedict:

The Lord preserve him, 

and give him life, 

and make him blessed upon the earth, 

and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.  

A Canadian Anglican Use? – I

Now that the Canadian Ordinariate is all but established, it is interesting to speculate, purely as an amateur exercise, as to how the current liturgy used by the T.A.C. there -– from the 1962 Canadian B.C.P. – may be adapted so as to be adopted, as it were, by Rome for Catholic use.

I invite Canadian Anglican readers and others in the know to firmly correct and enlighten me, as in this area I am but a fool rushing in, yet (I hope) a friendly one!

(From what I understand, the Canadians and Americans who are soon to enter full communion under provisions of Anglicanorum cœtibus do prefer to use their last, local, "classic" editions of the Book of Common Prayer, albeit tricked out with solemn ceremonial and extra prayers to make their rites more catholic.)

How to make such a comparison?  Well, I have before me the 1962 Canadian Anglican form for the Holy Eucharist, and also the Book of Divine Worship's equivalent rite, which is a current Catholic version of the form found in the U.S. 1979 B.C.P.  Of course, both the Ordinary and especially the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite must be kept ever in mind – the latter, because it (in its local Sarum variant) is the ultimate form from which the classic Anglican rites for "Holy Communion" derive. 

To start with, the Canadian liturgy begins with the Lord's Prayer and Collect for Purity, both of which are remnants of the preparatory prayers used in the old Sarum Rite.  Following this comes either the Ten Commandments or the Lord's Summary of the Law, with responses, then the Kyrie, "The Lord be with you", "Let us pray" and the Collect.  This is all very similar to the B.D.W.; the differences are minor (the B.D.W., paralleling more modern Anglican forms, omits the opening Pater noster, replacing it with a versicle).

A first issue: the Canadian 1962 has the Gloria in excelsis at the end of the service, as a thanksgiving hymn after communion; now, to use it thus seems quite decent, but I wonder if Rome would prefer it back in its original Catholic position, after the Kyrie and before the Collect?

A second issue: the Canadian book provides that a Collect for the Queen may be used before the Collect of the Day; now, it would seem better to allow such a votive prayer after the Collect of the Day (which after all is more important than prayer for Her Majesty the Sovereign of Canada), and it would be best to omit the words "and Governor" after "our Queen", because the word "Governor" used in this context suggests Henry VIII's heretical presumption in arrogating to himself the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

The Canadians would, it appears, hope to retain their traditional lectionary (which derives from the Sarum Rite, and parallels the traditional Roman Rite), rather than, like the B.D.W., adopt the Novus Ordo Lectionary – these days, such seems unobjectionable, whereas back in the eighties, when the Pastoral Provision for ex-Anglicans was set up in the U.S., any attempt to get Tridentine bits and pieces in the new Anglican Use was taboo.

Next, the Creed, then the Offertory (with apposite sentences from Scripture to be read), plus the prayer (deriving ultimately from II Chronicles xxix, via the Scottish Episcopalian liturgy) "Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, for ever and ever.  All that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine.  All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." Now, this is equivalent to the words used in the modern Roman liturgy when the bread and wine are offered up, so it seems to fulfil their function.

A third issue: apart from this, and one more slight mention, that's all the Offertory there is.  At a minimum, it would seem necessary to insert some Roman prayers here: perhaps the prayer at the mixing of the chalice; definitely the In spiritu humilitatis, the Lavabo at the washing of hands, the Orate fratres, and above all the "Secret" or Prayer over the Oblations from the Roman Rite.  It would seem best to take these from the Extraordinary Form, since the Canadian B.C.P. broadly follows the same arrangement of Sundays, being derived from the old Sarum Use.  I wonder if inserting the Sarum form of the Suscipe sancta Trinitas would be possible?  In other words, the Canadian Anglican Offertory would be supplemented by Roman (even Sarum) offertory prayers – as Anglo-Catholics have long been accustomed to doing!

The Canadian B.C.P. next has the Intercession (the B.D.W., following the U.S. 1979 B.C.P., has it before the Offertory, but I think this position, within the sequence Offertory-Consecration-Communion, is actually better, as emphasising that the Mass is an impetratory Sacrifice, an Oblation offered up for all needs).  

This Intercession is fine as it stands, but of course as well as praying for "N. our Bishop" there should be mention of interceding for "N. our Pope"; similarly, the prayer for the dead "We remember before thee, O Lord, all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear" should be expanded upon (following the Roman Canon) with words such as "beseeching thee to grant them everlasting life and peace"; and likewise when blessing "thy holy Name for all who in life and death have glorified thee", an extra phrase, perhaps "especially the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of God, and Saint(s) N. (N.)" would do nicely, to emphasise that here the Saints are venerated, that "rejoicing in their fellowship, we may follow their good examples" – and again adding something like "benefit by their prayers".  These few additional phrases, adding up to no more than a sentence, would fully catholicize this already excellent prayer, and parallel the slight modifications made to the parallel intercession in the B.D.W.

Next comes the Penitential Rite (Invitation, Confession, Absolution, Comfortable Words); the only change would to follow the one made in the B.D.W., changing the Absolution from "you/your" to "us/our".

The Sursum corda at once follows, leading into the Preface and Sanctus – to which the Benedictus must always be added.

Discussion of the Canon I postpone to a following post... the great question is, would the current Anglican Prayer of Consecration be adopted once adapted, or would the Roman Canon be inserted in its place?  After all, these Anglicans are going enter full communion, and that soon, God willing, as a privileged part of the Roman Rite, not as a new Rite of the Church (at least initially).

The Canadian rite for the Eucharist very strangely follows the more Protestant Anglican tradition in praying the Lord's Prayer after Communion!  This would have to be changed.  Similarly, the Agnus Dei, rather than being an optional Communion chant, should precede Communion.  Hence, after the Canon, one would expect to find the Lord's Prayer, then "The peace of the Lord be always with you", the Agnus Dei and the Prayer of Humble Access.

The B.D.W. mandates what most High Church Anglicans would already do: to here interpolate the Ecce Agnus Dei and Domine non sum dignus.

At Communion time, the double formula deriving from a conflation of the 1549 and 1552 B.C.P.'s would have to be amended, utterly removing the Zwinglian second sentence from each, as was quite deliberately done in the B.D.W., changing the 1979 U.S. B.C.P. form.

Mass following the suitably adapted Canadian B.C.P. would then conclude with the Prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion, the Gloria in excelsis (if not moved back to the start as noted above), and the Blessing.  I expect that the T.A.C. already by custom follow that with the Ite missa est, which Cranmer strangely omitted from his new rite (I think because he simply tacked his 1548 Order of the Communion onto the revision he subsequently made of the Mass). 

Of course, in all this I've merely suggested more or less a minimum of change, based upon such precedents as there are for all this: if such incoming Anglicans prefer to have the Traditional Latin Mass done into quaint English, good on them, I hope they get permission for it!

O Canada

One's own worries are very small in the scheme of things; good is vastly greater than evil; God's in His heaven, all's right with the world.  Grace abounds...  

The latest signal instance of this is the just-released petition from the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (part of the Traditional Anglican Communion), addressing Cardinal Levada as head of the competent dicastery, that of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and humbly asking the Holy See to establish an Anglican Personal Ordinariate in Canada, to set up an interim governing council, and to permit that council to submit a terna of names to the Holy Father, that he may appoint the first Ordinary thereof.

Perhaps British North America will see the first fruits of Anglicanorum cœtibus so very soon.

Let there be sung Te Deum laudamus (see my earlier posting of this)! - I certainly will be.

Friends of the Australian Ordinariate

Bp Robarts of the TAC, whom I know, would I am sure not mind me reposting these just-released resolutions of Forward in Faith Australia, of which he is the Chairman:

FORWARD IN FAITH AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED
A Special General Meeting of Members of Forward in Faith Australia Inc. was held on Saturday 13 February at All Saints Kooyong in Melbourne to consider the following recommendations from the National Council regarding the future direction of the Association.

1. That this Special General Meeting of FiFA receives with great gratitude the Apostolic Constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus” of Pope Benedict XV1 and directs the National Council to foster by every means the establishing of an Ordinariate in Australia. And furthermore this Special General Meeting reaffirms its commitment to provide care and support for those who at this time feel unable to be received  into the Ordinariate.
2. That we warmly welcome the appointment of Bishop Peter Elliott as delegate of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference in the project to establish a Personal  Ordinariate in this country.
3. That we note the formation of a working group with Bishop Elliott comprising Members of Forward in Faith Australia, the Traditional Anglican Communion, and the Anglican Church of Australia, to set in train the processes necessary for establishing an Australian Ordinariate.
4. That we give notice as to the establishing of Friends of the Australian Ordinariate and invite members of Forward in Faith Australia and other interested persons for expressions of interest by provision of names and addresses at this meeting, or by contacting the Chairman, noting that this does not commit interested persons to joining the Ordinariate.

The Meeting passed each of these Resolutions unanimously.
The Right Reverend David Robarts OAM. National Chairman.

On the Gathering of Anglicans

 Those interested in the ongoing process by which the Traditional Anglican Communion is seeking to take up the Pope's magnificent offer in Anglicanorum cœtibus may well wish now to read the Pastoral Letter "On the Gathering of Anglicans" just issued by the Primate of the T.A.C., Abp Hepworth.  (The link takes you to The Anglo-Catholic blog, where this and further upcoming documents are being or soon will be posted.)

Incoming Anglicans - Important News

The Traditional Anglican Communion has at length released (via The Anglo-Catholic blog) the full text of their official petition of 2007 asking for reunion with the Holy See.

It will be interesting to compare this to what has so far been released by the Pope - i.e., his Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum cœtibus.

It would be charity indeed to pray this prayer, drawn up for such purpose back in 1978:

O JESUS, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer to you my continual obedience, pleading that all Anglicans seeking union with the Apostolic See of Peter may have the fruition of their hope. By the power of your Divine Spirit so guide the Holy Father in Rome that this union will be accomplished and that what is good and true in our [or their] heritage may be preserved to the benefit of the Universal Church. Grant that Anglican bishops and priests longing for this union may be granted continued exercise of the priestly ministry under the authority of the Roman See and that Christians everywhere may once again know the Chair of Peter as that rock upon which your Church on earth is founded, against which hell cannot prevail. Amen.

Scottish Incomers

What good news, just in time for my upcoming trip to Scotland, whence came my forebears five generations ago...

According to that useful blog, The Anglo-Catholic, the Cardinal Archbishop of Edinburgh has granted a place of refuge to traditional Scottish Episcopalians in his city, by giving them a place to worship in the chapel of St Catharine at the Convent of Mercy in Tollcross, not far at all from the middle of town. (Not very far either from where I'll be staying, only about a mile and a half - amusingly, it turned out I booked to stay not 100 metres from the Catholic Cathedral!)

Here is the relevant press release.

From what I can ascertain, this group of Anglicans (cœtus Anglicanorum) belongs to Forward in Faith Scotland - which, like Forward in Faith Australia, has been given precious little other than intolerance and persecution (why do liberals go on about being victims, when they always turn out to be such vicious bullies?) ever since the dark day fifteen years back when the Piskies dared to attempt to ordain women, thus overthrowing the nature of the sacrament.

Like its big brother south of the border, Forward in Faith UK (or rather, FiF England!), it is in full communion, as they say, with the Traditional Anglican Communion; just as here in Australia, Bp David Robarts (an excellent fellow whom I've met several times) is both a T.A.C. assistant bishop and an important figure in Forward in Faith Australia, by reason of still being licensed as an Anglican priest in the Diocese of the Murray. Isn't Anglican ecclesiology curious!

I am delighted to read that His Eminence has shewn such pastoral solicitude for those with whom, I trust, he will soon be in full communion...

And best of all, these folks no doubt use my preferred mode of Anglo-Catholic worship: the Scottish Prayer Book of 1929, suitably augmented with nice bits from the older editions of the Roman Missal!

As I shall be meeting up in Edinburgh with a local, Mark, who's himself a Tiber swimmer of recent years, now aiming at joining the F.S.S.P. (at whose local church I'll be hearing Mass for the Epiphany), I hope to have a chance to find out more about all this from him, and even perhaps to make an ecumenical visit in Tollcross.

Here is a prayer I've found on the FiF Scotland site; I think it sounds very Catholic indeed (right down to saying "you" and "your" as most Catholics have done since the Novus Ordo came in), and I shall certainly be saying it:

A Prayer for Scotland

Father,
you sent Saint Ninian and Saint Columba
to the people of Scotland
to proclaim the faith
delivered to Saint Peter and the Apostles.
May the work they began
be renewed in this [or that] land
and continue to prosper.

Lord,
those who are divided you unite,
and those who are united you support.
Help us to live up to the call
you have given us,
so that we may bear witness to the truth
and strive that all believers may be united
in the bond of peace and love.

Mary,
Mother of God and Mother of the Church;
Pray for us.

Saint Ninian, bringer of good tidings;
Pray for us.

Saint Columba, apostle of our land;
Pray for us.

Will ye no come back again?

Rome or the Bush

There was an Australian tract written some decade or two ago, entitled Rome or the Bush - signifying by this the choice of Catholics here to either adhere to Rome, or "be bushed", that is, lost in the wild, there to wander lone and witless ere they perish at the last.

This title well sums up the ineluctable choice facing Continuing Anglicans, and their sympathizers within the Anglican Communion - to either come to Rome (it must be admitted, some have gone East instead, but I leave them aside for the moment), or, having broken from the Church of England and all her pomps and empty promises, on the grounds of her detestable enormities, and deviation from Gospel truth into the ways of heterodoxy and error, to gradually fade away...

For this is the fate of the one great historical schism of Anglicanism: that of the Nonjurors, those High Churchmen who could not in conscience break their oaths to King James II, nor swear allegiance to the intruded monarchs who replaced him in 1689 and thereafter. Their history I have been rereading, and it is most instructive, as showing how schism begets schism, and eventually the movement dies out completely.

J. H. Overton's The Nonjurors (1902) provides, on page 346, the following sadly damning opening to his eighth chapter:

That the Nonjurors, with their strong convictions on the unity of the Church, should have had so many internal divisions is a painful illustration of the fact that when the process of dividing once begins it has a fatal tendency to go on making subdivisions and subdivisions, till there is scarcely anything left to divide.

Mark well these words.

They had begun with such saintly men as Thomas Ken, who could not in conscience take the oath of allegiance to the new King and Queen, William and Mary; but soon, as in their private conventicles their ministers conducted divine service, the question arose - for they were High Churchmen all, very zealous for primitive doctrines of the Fathers - of returning to a more perfect form of liturgy than that provided in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (from which Book they only now omitted the name of the monarch!).

Meanwhile, some of the deprived bishops ordained new bishops, in opposition to the State Church's hierarchy...

Many accepted as desideranda the so-called four Usages: the mixed chalice, prayer for the dead, a prayer of oblation, and an invocatory prayer for the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the elements. These were available, as one of their number, Bp Hickes, took them in his worship, in the very first, and arguably most Catholic, 1549 BCP.

In 1718, the Usagers broke communion with the Non-Usagers, and drew up a most startling Communion Office or Liturgy, with several Eastern Rite prayers included. This schism endured for more than a decade, before the two groups were reconciled, and all took to this new form; but in 1734, a still more exotic and frankly un-Anglican liturgy was promulgated, taken almost wholly out of the ancient and pseudonymous Apostolic Constitutions: yet to this liturgy adhered only a small party of the Nonjurors, styled the Separatists, and fated to linger the longest.

The regular line of Nonjuring bishops - who stuck to the 1718 Communion Office - died out in 1779, with the demise of Robert Gordon, who commended what remained of his flock to the Scottish Episcopalians; by this time, the Young and the Old Pretender having both failed to retake the throne of their fathers, the political motivations for the Nonjuring cause seemed antiquated. (From these links between the Nonjurors and the Scots come several highly significant liturgical pecularities of the latter, as evidenced by their 1764 Communion Office, which, still more or less unchanged in the 1929 Scottish BCP, is the most truly Catholic of official Anglican rites.)

Meanwhile, among the offshoot Separatists, there was a continued line of bishops in an irregular, but still (by Anglican standards) acceptable succession, until it came down to Bp William Cartwright (d. 1799), the last of whom any biographical details survive. He was a workman, an apothecary, in Manchester, who gathered a tiny congregation, eventually reduced to the members of his own family; nonetheless, he consecrated a successor, Thomas Garnett, in 1795, who gave up his office; but first who consecrated another, Charles Booth (d. 1805), said some time earlier, while still as a priest of the sect, to have had an attendance of thirty worshippers at his services. There are rumours of their being some last Nonjuring congregations as late as 1815.

For a taste of the curiosity that the last of the Nonjurors manifested, consider one of the last of their known ministers, a deacon (and wigmaker): Thomas Podmore (d.1785) – he wrote a lengthy book in 1745 asserting, against the errors of the Greeks, Romans, C. of E., and all “Anti-Episcopalians”, that “if the pious Reader would know where such a pure, perfect Church as I am reccommending is to be found, I will tell him in one word, at MANCHESTER.”

One refrains from laughter out of pity.

They all died, and their exotic liturgies and distinctive doctrines with them.

The Nonjurors are now a footnote in ecclesiastical history - the challenge for to-day's Continuing Anglicans is not to end as they did.

I would propose that the Traditional Anglican Communion, and their fellow-travellers still within mainstream Anglicanism (such as those groups joined under the name of Forward in Faith), most probably have heeded this warning, and see that, lest they simply die out, their only course is to seek adhesion to a larger body more evidently designed to last: the Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See.

Those in the so-called Continuum (of non-Papalist Anglicans) I see as the modern counterparts of the Nonjurors, just as others call them (by reason of their rejection of Rome) "Anglo-Jansenists". Everyone knows that their numbers are exceeding small, and not composed of many young persons. Yet look up a blog of that name, and find men speaking of "we will not convert, but come into communion with Rome, once she abjures her errors"!

As with the learned Nonjuring deacon above who proclaimed that in all the world, the true Church was to found at Manchester, gathered in their bishop's dining room, consisting of his family plus an elderly wigmaker in deacon's orders, one refrains from laughter out of pity.

Anglican Advent

While we keep watch for the Coming of the Lord, spare a thought for the Anglicans wavering between hope and fear as they ponder what to do with the Pope's generous offer - the very idea makes me wax poetic:

On Tiber’s bank T.A.C.’s cry

Announces that Reunion’s nigh:

Come Anglicans for Hepworth brings

Glad tidings of new Roman things!

Forward in faith run one and all

To answer Vaticana’s call;

Fly Rowan’s C. of E. so frayed

That withers like a flower decayed.

Retain your fair Patrimony

And gain your own new Ordin’ry

Chosen from out the reordain’d

From all fell Articles unchain’d.

Who asked a refuge of the Lord

His Vicar proffers such reward!

Your Latin brush up to peruse

Anglicanorum cœtibus.

All praise, Pope Benedict, to thee,

Restoring Christian Unity;

Ut unum sint we God implore

In Holy Church for evermore.

I Told You So

From the latest Ad Clerum of the Canadian branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion, dated November 16th:

In addition to their [the Pope and the C.D.F.'s] October Response [in issuing Anglicanorum cœtibus &c.] it is expected that they will soon respond directly to the TAC. Following receipt of that information it is hoped that we would begin a dialogue on how the Apostolic Constitution might be implemented. Until that is accomplished, it would be wise not to speculate on the future of any of our bishops, clergy or laity! We will keep you informed.

I have previously explained in some detail, based upon various sources (one of them a Canadian in the know), that Anglicanorum cœtibus is not the whole of the Pope's response to the T.A.C.'s petition for corporate reunion: here is more confirmation. It is thought that yet more generous conditions and special privileges are being offered...

Told you so!

The T.A.C. in W.A.

In the spirit of Pope Benedict's friendly outreach to incoming Anglicans, my mate Rob, himself a fairly recent convert from Anglicanism, who lives in Perth, Western Australia, went along to visit them on Sunday; he sent me this report to pop online:

In an effort to make my ecumenical presence (in the true and proper sense of the word) more visible in regards to the TAC's desire to enter into full communion with the Holy See, this Sunday I attended Evensong and Benediction (for the Feast of Christ the King) at their main place of worship in Perth, the Parish of St Ninian & St Chad's in Maylands.

The congregation was small (about 15, including two other priests), though as this was not their main Mass I was not particularly discouraged by this (from what I've heard Perth's TAC faithful number about 120 in all and are spread out over the metropolis at a few different churches and chapels). Led by an elderly priest, the service was straight from the 1662 BCP and was sung according to Anglican chant. Apart from abbreviated readings (a newer lectionary I supposed) and only one psalm chanted [this has been common ever since the 1872 'Shortened Services' Act (UK) - ed.], there were no additions to the order of service.

Evensong had been sung in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Benediction was some sort of Anglo-Catholic translation of the traditional Roman Rite and was all done very nicely. During adoration, the celebrant, Bp. Harry Enwistle, recited special prayers for unity, especially for their journey towards unity with the Holy See. I liked this as it conformed to my own private prayers which were of a similar intention (for reasons plain to many I was privately refraining from active worship of the Host, though I was certainly joining in such prayers!).

After the service I chatted briefly to Bp. Entwistle and to a few of the faithful. It was all very pleasing to see such an open and cheerful attitude towards unity with the Holy See. What a contrast to the closed-minded spirit of so many liberal Anglicans who regard themselves smarter than the testimony of the ages! Indeed, as I had arrived I'd briefly introduced myself to one of the clergy who had been part of the congregation. I let him know that I was a Catholic visitor and he replied by saying that 'we'll all be that soon', which I thought to be an attitude that typified the spirit of the place.

– Rob

Book of Common Prayer Evensong coram Sanctissimo! Now that's both very Anglican and very Catholic! What sweet revenge on Cranmer, that detestable Zwinglian, to make use of his incomparable prose in such a manner...