All Saints' Church, East Finchley
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Dear friends,
7/7
Quite a coincidence: the 7/7 London bombings – the 7/7 Synod vote. I can’t have been the only one to have been aware of the already charged significance of the date. It’s not a metaphor that I want to labour, because to those who lost loved ones or limbs on 7 July 2005, the last stand of traditional Anglo-Catholicism is going to seem like small beer indeed. However, it will remain, while this generation lives, a date that will not be forgotten, one of those memories that do not die. I remember where I was when I heard that Jack Kennedy had been shot (you are old, Fr Christopher!), I remember every detail of where I was and what I did on 11 November 1992, and I will remember 7 July 2008 in the same way. To those of us who dreamed the dream that began with Keble’s Assize Sermon in 1833, it is the end of a tradition. I hope that you will excuse me for reflecting on this, and its consequences, a little in this letter.
First, the vote itself. It seems to have been a fairly wretched and exhausting affair for all concerned. The result left the Archbishop of Canterbury’s authority in tatters and many bishops, even some who voted for the Measure, dejected. The members of the Catholic group were left feeling that they were hated and that the majority wanted them thrown out of the Church of their birth. The vote itself was uncatholic (obviously), uncaring, and profoundly un-Anglican. The Anglican Church has, until recently, based itself on Scripture, Tradition and Reason enlightened by faith, and the vote would seem to have problems with two of these guiding principles. When Pope Leo XIII rejected the validity of Anglican orders in Apostolicae Curae in 1896, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York responded (in Latin) with the document Saepius Officio, and based their defence of their Church on a demonstration that Anglican practice in the matter of ordination was more faithful to the practice of the early Church than that of the then Roman Catholic Ordinal. More faithful - that was the proud boast of the Archbishops. One thing is clear – that theological position has gone and the Church of England is no longer guided by the principles that it once professed; it has become a different creature. I don’t think that many of those who are in favour of the current developments would now dispute that. The remaining Anglican aspect to have gone is, of course, inclusivity. The Church of England can no longer call itself a broad church.
Is there any hope for Catholic (and by that I mean Catholic as our Anglo-Catholic fathers would understand it) Christians in the Church of England? I don’t know. There has been a tremendous surge of support for us from some quite unexpected sources, but the structural instruments of our extinction are now in place. It is difficult to see that our ‘integrity’ will survive to minister to another generation.
What are the immediate consequences of all this? There is none, except, of course, where bishops, priests and people are depressed and disorientated. For us, in our parishes, it is business as usual, and, in that real world where we carry on the business of our ministry, there are one or two things that we need to remember at this time:
- Our opponents are Christians. Not all so-called ‘liberals’ are vindictive bigots! Indeed, some who have voted against us would think of themselves as Catholic in some sense. We owe them respect and love. This may not be a good moment for us, but no one ever said that it was easy to be a Christian. Many of us may leave the Church of England sooner or later, but we will still be in the same Church as those whom we have left behind. That was Keble’s insight. That has always been the core principle of Anglo-Catholicism – remember? We must be gracious.
- To some people, our distress is incomprehensible. To them, the ordination of women to the threefold ministry is a matter of a slight adjustment to an historic institution in order to take account of the revised status of women in society. For some, indeed, it is an overwhelming libertarian imperative. Their arguments are to be respected, and their zeal for justice is to be admired. Perhaps, indeed, it is the case that some measure of blame lies with us in that we did not teach the doctrine of the Church clearly enough to make such folk want to make their case within a reunited Church. Perhaps we failed to impart that Catholicism is not an ecclesiastical flavour, nor a set of opinions, but rather an obedience.
- We must be true to ourselves. We still have a ministry for as long as the structures of our Church allow it. This is no time to be lost in depression or anger. It may be that traditional Anglo-Catholics are going to their extinction as an historical phenomenon: let us make sure that our swansong is full of the best that we have to offer. Let us make sure that we remain worthy of the great traditions that we have inherited: let us leave a memory behind us of a generous and warm-hearted Catholicism that will inspire people long after we have departed the scene in one way or another.
Some things will change a little, I think. We no longer need to compromise in order to work towards a greater authenticity in the future. The future is no longer in our hands. Those of us who have preached and taught in such a way as to attempt to attract the greatest number of people, even at the cost of watering down or sweetening the content of our message, will now need to reflect on the appropriateness of our strategy. I am not advocating a confrontational approach – I am advocating a greater and a more complete authenticity.
All Catholics of the traditional integrity now find themselves in a place where Christians have often found themselves before. It was not easy for Catholics during the early persecutions; it was not easy when ‘the Church awoke with a groan and found itself Arian’; it was not easy during the Reformation; it was not easy during the Commonwealth; it was not easy during penal times; it was not easy in the early days of Anglo-Catholicism. The great saints have always faced the challenges of oppression, persecution and martyrdom with love in their hearts and the Gospel on their lips. Let them be our example.
Finally, I have the immense privilege of belonging to a society of priests which has the Cross of Christ as its centre of devotion. At this time I pray for us all that we may not shrink before the task that remains to us of digging a pit for the Cross of Christ, that in all things God may be glorified.