|
VICAR'S WINDOW: STAND UP FOR JESUS!
On April 5th S. Alban’s will play host to around 600 priests of the Society of
the Holy Cross. (Societas Sanctae Crucis) Our first vicar Fr. Alexander
Heriot Mackonochie (Vicar 1862 - 1882) was along with Fr. Charles Lowder of S.
Peter’s London Docks, instrumental in founding this society of priests. Its
members are bound together by common devotion to the Cross of Christ and a rule
of life that among other things binds its members to Catholic Faith and
practice.
The society was founded during a time of crisis for Catholics in the Church of
England. In the opinion of the majority of bishops, priests and laymen in the C
of E of the 19th Century there was no room within that church for the catholic
voice. Anglo-Catholics were told either to conform or to leave. Many felt forced
to go to Rome or to join or set up some new denomination. (Now why does this
sound so familiar and so very contemporary?) Famously Fr. Mackonochie told the
members of SSC “No surrender, no desertion!” He urged faithfulness to what they
would find at the foot of the cross – in a word – self-sacrifice for the sake of
truth and for the sake of God.
Since those days sanguine voices within the C of E have chirruped that because
there are now crosses and candles in most Anglican churches Anglo-Catholics
achieved their 19th Century aims and now ought to shut up indeed if not shut
down. The scenario reads that Catholics have had their day and it is now time to
let profounder and more progressive voices determine the shape of the Church of
England in the 21st Century. This sad reading of what many people thought and
think SSC and the rest of the Catholic movement were and are all about could
hardly be further from the realities that inspired our fathers in the Faith and
that continue to inspire dedicated Anglo-Catholics today.
The great International festival of SSC planned for Low week is a wake-up call
for all who do not want to see the Church of England returned to the Erastian
state-church form (prevailing political, social, cultural and tribal climate on
its occasional and artificial knees) nor Anglicanism delivered to total
Protestantization!
The SSC festival will assert the true place that Anglicanism holds within the
family of Catholic churches. It will pray that our continuing witness along with
the witness of the reformed and liberal voices within our heritage will continue
to be respected and acknowledged as an essential ingredient of Anglican
integrity. Anglicanism’s best hope of being saved from disintegration still lies
in holding to its catholic roots and catholic framework however flexible God
calls it to be in other ways.
Although most of the priests coming to S. Alban’s on April 5th will be from this
country there will be representatives from the USA, Australia and other parts of
the Anglican Communion. The logistics of how we shall accommodate 600 priests
have yet to be sorted but that our church will be a power house of prayer on
that day surely cannot be doubted! I hope that Fr. Mackonochie will be allowed a
glimpse of the event!
During the course of the following two days a Theological conference will be
held at a nearby hotel and on Thursday April 7th S. Alban’s will host Solemn
Evensong and Benediction at about 5.p.m. at the close of the Conference. We are
not expecting more than a mere 2-300 priests to attend that and so there would
be room for anyone from our congregations or parish who would like to join in
this celebration. I should also appreciate offers of help for stewarding on that
day.
On Friday a day pilgrimage to Walsingham for SSC priests is being arranged and
on Saturday April 9th the great climax of the week is to be Mass celebrated in
the Albert Hall in the spirit of the great Anglo-Catholic Congresses of years
gone by. This occasion is for all who support the priests of the Society of the
Holy Cross and an occasion for all to demonstrate loyalty to “the faith once
delivered to the saints” It will be a vital act of witness and all who call
themselves ‘Catholics’ within the Church of England are called upon to be
present. Indeed no true catholic would want to miss it and there is a particular
reason for members of S. Alban’s to delight in being there. Our famous Green
High Mass set is to feature – S. Alban’s folk will know why - “The three men in
Green” who would be ‘difficult to put down’ reported to Bishop Tait in 1867.
Along with the Vestments will go our ‘Stanton Cross’ to be displayed on the
stage of the Albert Hall.
Booking forms for the Albert Hall are now available from Fr. Howard and a seat
costs £10.00. a small price to pay for participation in such a glorious and
significant event We shall also get to sing the conference hymn “Stand up for
Jesus” to the tune (From the Mirfield Mission Hymnbook) that we sang so lustily
in S. Alban’s on Lent 3 the day on which all churches served by SSC priests
prayed for the Society, its master, Fr. David Houlding one of our former curates
and for all the Society’s members.
In days of deep uncertainty among many Anglicans about just what, if any anchors
can be relied upon to keep our church grounded in Universal Christian truth
rather than on the shifting sands of imperfect human thoughts, theories and
emotions, the Society of the Holy Cross remains a reliable life-line for its
priestly members.
That is because the basic ground of the Christian faith is the soil of Calvary
where on the Cross of Christ was revealed the power and love of God in and for
His whole creation. The priest takes to the altar, the place where that Cross of
Christ is made present, all the baptised and priestly people of God whose
representative there he is. “We should glory in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, for He is our salvation, our life and our Resurrection. Through Him we
are saved and made free.”
Holy Week brings us intimately and closely to Our Lord’s Passion death and
Resurrection. May we all experience anew the meaning of just what that means for
us and for the world as we participate in the rites and prayers of that holiest
week of the year. This year we shall have the thrilling privilege and spiritual
benefits of hosting people and priests from neighbouring parishes during the
week. I have no doubt that S. Alban’s people will as usual take the week with
the seriousness of commitment that it both deserves and demands.
Your vicar and friend,
Fr. Howard Levett, SSC.
| 
