On July 14th 1833, John Keble preached the Assize Sermon at St Mary the Virgin in Oxford - an event which is seen as the beginning of the Oxford Movement and the Catholic Revival in the Church of England, and in Anglicanism more generally.
Today the General Synod of the Church of England seems set to complete its abandonment of that apostolic order which is the visible guarantee of catholicity and apostolicity itself.
[A live video stream from the York Synod is here - when it's working!]
If there is indeed to be a new Oxford Movement, with aims similar, yet in the context of far more dangerous times and cultural currents, to the first, it must begin on this day in 2014.
Where's the leadership going to come from? Even the Catholic Group in Synod is breaking up, not speaking with one voice. Reconciliation seems to be the new mantra but when your dealing with issues of faith it is surely inevitable that it won't work. The heresies of old were defeated because they were wrong and no amount of sitting around a table to agree the way forward will not help. Gold help the Church of England
ReplyDeleteI take your point entirely.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the original leadership of the Oxford Movement came from a group of rather obscure Oxford dons gathered in one college's senior common room - they were by no means part of the established 'leadership' of the Church of England, nor did they pursue their aims in a particularly eirenic or consensual way ....
You would not want Oxford or Cambridge Dons to lead this would you? The Society Bishops do not seem to have the intellectual stature and of course Affirming Catholcism has to some become the successors to inherit the Oxford Movement
ReplyDeleteIt is time for the Anglican laity to take the lead in Gospel ministry to prisoners, poor widows, young mothers whose husbands have abandoned their families, and against human trafficking. These are where a catholic voice needs to be heard today.
ReplyDelete