A Snub to the Catholic Hierarchy?

In the aftermath of the Pope’s authorisation of personal ordinariates for ex-Anglicans the notion that it constitutes a snub to the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has occurred to some, such as Damien Thompson in the Telegraph. Thompson’s characterisation of the Catholic bishops as liberal and trendy and the Anglo-Catholics as worshipping in crumbling neogothic churches [...]

The End of Anglo-Catholicism?

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s announcement that the Holy See will approve ‘Personal Ordinariates’ for Anglicans wanting to join the Catholic Church could well spell the end of the phenomenon of Anglo-Catholicism, although it seems to me that the most significant feature of the Pope’s plans is to allow married clergy to [...]

Eight random facts…

It appears that I am obliged, by the rather 18th century code of honour that governs the blogosphere, to list eight random facts about myself, having been ‘tagged’ by Paul F. I am not sure what will happen if I do not but I suspect a duel might be involved…
1. I am currently reading (aloud, [...]

Papal munificence

I read in The Times that His Holiness the Pope has made a personal donation of £2000 to my alma mater in Cambridge, Fisher House. He stayed there once, in 1994 (after which the bedroom in which he slept was renamed the Cardinal’s Chamber – I presume it is now Papal). It is extraordinary, however, [...]

The Recusant Cricket Club

My attention has been directed to this haven of soundness on the World Wide Web, which is overrun by Jacobites: http://recusantcc.wordpress.com.

Our Lady of Sudbury

I stayed at Lutons Hall last night so this morning I heard Mass at the church of Our Lady of Sudbury and St. John the Evangelist. I was astonished to find that, since I last heard Mass there three years ago on the occasion of an earlier stay at Lutons, the parish priest has implemented [...]

Christ the King

In his sermon for this Sunday the priest remarked that Garibaldi, Mazzini and Cavour had done the Church a favour by destroying the
Papal States. He was obscure as to the reason why – but behind this view lurks the resurgent myth of Ultramontanism, which was used by Pius IX to encourage men to fight for [...]

Raison d’être

A number of my friends write very personal blogs, or very intellectual ones – and I feel a little guilty that my blog is largely about history and politics, and issues that the vast majority of people would consider utterly irrelevant. Is it that I don’t have profound thoughts that I want to share with [...]

Happy St. Edmund’s Day!

I preached on St. Edmund in Ely Cathedral this morning. I was in Bury this weekend and the campaign for his re-recognition as patron saint of England seems to be gaining momentum. There was a ‘Happy St. Edmund’s Day’ in the window of Barwell’s, and several shops have the campaign sticker from BBC Radio Suffolk. [...]

Julian joy

I have been reading Shield and Lang’s biography of James III – and what was my joy to finally have the mystery of the Julian Calendar opened to me at last! I was always aware that in Orthodox countries that still follow the Julian, Christmas is on 7th January NS, thus 14 days after ours. [...]