laudable Practice

Yes, you read the title right. But fear not, you stalwart devotees of the 'High and Dry' way, you staunch 'Two Bottle Orthodox' sort. Let me assure you that laudable Practice has not been hijacked by dastardly Puseyites. The old English surplice will continue to be worn, and there will be absolutely no lace on this site. So what is today's post about? It has its origin in two quite different moments. One was Maundy Thursday this year, when I was preaching for a dear friend, an Anglo-catholic. For a brief moment in the eucharistic prayer, I became aware of our different traditions: he was vested in a chasuble and elevated the consecrated elements. What immediately popped into my head was the phrase "how Lutheran". Much more of which shortly. I then returned to my prayers and received from my friend the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Body and Blood. The second moment was reading an aggressive, and dislikeable, Roman Catholic commentator respond to a post ...

I first saw this picture on  Twitter , with the following caption: The altar from the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Wolfenbüttel, Germany. This stunning church was built by Lutherans in the height of the years of Lutheran Orthodoxy. It immediately brought to mind Anglo-catholic parishes in which I have worshipped in England and the United States: All Saints, Margaret Street and St Paul's, K Street; St Matthews, Westminster and St Mary the Virgin, NYC.   This might help contribute towards an Old High Church reading of the Anglo-Catholic introduction of ceremonies unknown to the BCP, accentuating the positive rather than a critique which echoes Disraeli's famous criticism of Ritualism as "Mass in masquerade".  The parishes mentioned above are a reminder that Anglo-catholicism has been since at least the beginning of the 20th century a settled, significant and now enduring part of Anglicanism.  If Anglo-catholicism had been an entirely 'foreign' developme...