Saturday, February 16, 2008

If you haven't yet read...

Fr Aidan Nichols' new paperback Realm,you are warmly recommended to do so. It's "An unfashionable essay on the conversion of England" and is written with warmth, and a light touch, and is difficult to put down. The chapter on the Coronation ceremony is especially goofd. It's published by Family Publications, which you can reach here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Must get it.
The sociology of the faith is very interesting. However my feeling is that what drives everything is more fundamental, a doubt about the existence of God.

Most lapsed Catholics don't lapse into out and out intellectual atheism, but the fact that atheism is there means that there isn't a route back into the Church for their children. That's why, personally, I see the atheism debate as the crucial one.

Fr Nichols is right that almost everything the liberals have demanded has actually been done in the Anglican church, and they are in the same situation of decline as us. However you can argue it the other way. If Anglicans hadn't gone down the priestesses / affirmations of gay weddings route, they still wouldn't be in any better situation than the Catholics.

Archbishop Cranmer said...

His Grace has long prayed for the conversion of England - but to Christianity rather than to any particular denomonational expression of it.

Sadly, while Fr Nichols is focused on converting disenchanted Anglicans, another faith is cheerfully filling the void.

Rich Leonardi said...

... but to Christianity rather than to any particular denomonational expression of it.

Using similar logic, one can say the current "void fillers" are merely trying to convert England to monotheism rather than any denominational expression of it.

Archbishop Cranmer said...

Mr Lenoardi,

Your assertion is not remotely true or even approximately logical.

Christianity has very little in common with either the theology, theodicy or dogmata of Islam. Of course, if you insist on reducing a rational contribution about the catholicity of Anglicanism to the irreducible minima of monotheism, then there is indeed no more to say.

Anonymous said...

Is it possible to get the book here in the USA?

Frankly I don't think the Anglicans are going to make it on their own. We are watching the schism happen before our eyes. They are in no shape to fight Islam. But if they seek true unity with the Catholic Church that might make a difference.

Fr. Jim