I can remember being deeply disappointed at the 150th anniversary of the Oxford Movement. A series of books was published to mark the occasion – I was foolish enough to buy one – and they were turgid and unimaginative in the extreme….a symbol, or so it seemed at the time, of everything that was going wrong with the catholic side of the Church of England. And yet this stasis in catholic thought shouldn’t have come as a surprise for whilst the outlook of Keeble and Newmann owed a little something to the romantic movement at their heart they were both simply re-actionaries afraid of the future and anxious to preserve the status-quo. (A deliberate generalisation here just to rile you). The Oxford Movement may have developed very beautiful liturgies that provided colour and mystery in the East End of London but they still beleived along with Mrs. C. F. Alexander that God had made us high and lowly each one in his state.
And yet we could do with a little bit of catholic soul now, in a Church of England that is increasingly as bland and turgid as those books of 20 years ago. It is no accident that people are increasingly developing their own spiritualities outside of the church with the re-emergence of wayside shrines minus the explicit Christian imagery and the use of pop muisc and poems at funerals that better reflect the mystery of life than most modern hymns ever do.
A little bit of soul would lead to a humbler church…a little bit of soul would lead to a more reflective church that would know when to bite its tongue rather than mouthing off at every opportunity. A little bit of soul is James Jones and the Hillsborough enquiry and not some ranting Scottish Cardinal. A little bit of soul recognises why so many struggle with any kind of faith at all and does not blame them for it.
ashyvicar 