of volume ii of the Study Edition of the than the ordinary, is the kind of brand- matically, he writes of ‘the Catholic tradi-
Common Lectionary, there is nothing here ing i do not want – even if not one in a tions – which…i interpret to include the
to persuade them to change. thousand is aware of it. Though some of Catholic-compatible component in the
as one who was in publishing before its faults irritate me, i shall stick with the Church of England’. He relies to a consid-
entering the sacred ministry, i dislike the volume i already have. erable extent on authors and poets from
mean modernism of CW typesetting; even
Anthony Saville
(even if some of them eventually left it) our
after nearly a decade i still get annoyed at stable: reckitt; Eliot; Chesterton; Sayers;
the headings set at the foot of the page, and Charles williams; David Jones. This book
the curious tightness and waste of space. i sends a message to us that one of the ablest
would suggest that what might have looked THE REALM thinkers in modern roman Catholicism
slick in the first official volumes now looks an Unfashionable Essay on the thinks of our tradition as an indispensa-
gaunt and starved in the smaller, second- Conversion of England ble element in his cultural
ary volumes. The rC Volume ii may also Aidan Nichols op project. we ought to feel
share the strange oversight of only a single family Publications complimented: it is quite
ribbon marker, but it is much easier and oxford, 160pp, pbk a tribute to the intellec-
more pleasing to use. 978 1 871217 74 2, £8.95 tual fertility of a (numeri-
No, the real problem, as always, is the lack cally) fairly small portion
of confidence that CW conveys. The five Heady days for of the Lord’s vineyard. But
pages of Gospel acclamations in an appen- people who like the i believe it cannot be a
dix at the back are a compromise, and we sticking-out of distinc- matter of just sitting on our
could all rehearse the political reasons for tively Christian necks. laurels; i believe we need
such compromise, but what is this compro- Benedict XVi has the to respond to such over-
mise doing here? if you don’t want them, temerity to compose tures while such people
why are they there? if you do, well, the rC a Good friday prayer as aidan Nichols are still
version does them way better, as you would envisaging the accept- taking us seriously.
already know. as for the variant quadruple ance of Christ by the Let us be precise
alleluia for Eastertide, what is that about? if Jews. Now: Jesus him- about what fr aidan is
you want to do your own thing, why would self preached to the saying. His book is not
you be using a lectionary anyway? Jews…and the apos- a friendly ecumenical
More serious is the lack of decision- tles preached first gesture addressed to the
making by the House of Bishops, who still to them…and for some two millennia broad cultural phenomenon of current
cannot bring themselves to publish their Christians have believed that the Gospel mainstream establishment anglicanism.
promised statement on which biblical ver- is for all races without exception. So you about that he is brusquely dismissive.
sions to use in the sacred liturgy. Don’t might think, prima facie, that denying the writing about roman Catholic Liberals
blame the publishers, they do a good job; Gospel to that race alone constituted racial who want to believe that the salvation of
but the idea that a sub-contracted editor discrimination. Not a bit of it. There is a their own Church depends on the adop-
of the Canterbury Press office is the one constituency, often quite syncretist in its tion of a ‘package of liberal reforms’, he
to decide for the Church of England as a ideology, opposed to any promotion of the observes that ‘all the desiderata such crit-
whole, that for example Psalm 1 (on the Gospel, and this question is the thin end of ics set forward are now already achieved in
Thursday of the second week of Lent and their wedge. for papa ratzinger to desire the Church of England. Bearing in mind
elsewhere) does not have a Christological the conversion of the Jews confirms their that anglicanism’s decline in England
reading whereas Psalm 8 (on the tues- worst suspicions about him. has been only slightly less rapid than that
day of week five in ordinary time) does, is and aidan Nichols has come up with of the Catholic Church, we can ask rhe-
surely a nonsense. The Realm: an Unfashionable Essay on the torically, to what apostolic effect has this
The trouble with branding is that it has Conversion of England. in this, he even been?’ He answers his own question with
a capitalist economic base. Nothing wrong suggests that the English should have the the adjective ‘miniscule’. No; it is ourselves
with that, but until the House of Bishops Gospel preached to them. as if we English, – the minority derided and despised by
can give some kind of authoritative lead, the spiritual heirs of our great Patriarch St our fellow anglicans – that he is prepared
the implicit statement that a publisher tells Pelagius, aren’t thoroughly good enough as to take seriously. Members of forward in
us what to read at a weekday Mass, rather we are: honorary Christians simply by birth faith will naturally remember his kindly
who exchange Christmas cards and might and generous words a few years ago at
even cut the grass in the churchyard. Even our National assembly, and the hours he
Training on
more outrageously, fr aidan actually wants devoted to the labours of the group which
us to be converted to the Romish faith. produced Consecrated Women? He, of all
the Read
There is, however, for Catholic angli- men, deserves to be read by us, taken seri-
Enjoy a
cans, an interesting nuance to fr aidan’s ously by us, and responded to by us.
Readers’ Training Day!
scheme. ‘i support…the scheme for an fr aidan’s broad and deeply informed
anglican church-body united to rome but survey of English history and of English
Tutored by a professional actor, these
Days have made an astonishing
not absorbed.’ He refers to us as ‘beyond culture must be read in detail. Many from
difference to the reading in churches in
doubt as to doctrine, worship and devo- the older, even Caroline, tradition within
Lewisham, Kenton, Kilburn,
tion though not ecclesial communion, a Catholic anglicanism will be moved by his
Tottenham & Llandaff displaced portion of Catholic Christen- detailed examination of the Coronation
Details from
dom’; speaks of ‘anglo-Papalism of the Service and of the ideology it presupposes
Cost of Conscience most extreme or consistent (depending on of a Christian monarch in a Christian soci-
0208 858 7052 or
how one looks at it) anglo-Catholicism ety. How remarkable that it should fall to a
Francisgardom@aol.com
of the twentieth century’. and, program- roman Catholic to analyse sympathetically
28
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newdirections
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May 2008
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