We normally do a print run of 600 for our members and key ecumenical contacts and Church leaders, but this time printed and distributed 1200. Stocks have been exhausted. It is being widely read and considered as the imminent Ordinariate's foundation takes shape in people's minds.
A Second Edition will be printed, including corrections to the text arising from a technical error at first impression. If you would like a corrected version, or you do not already have a copy they are available free to bone fide enquirers in return for a donation to postage costs. See the notice at the head of the blog.
The Next edition of The Messenger is in preparation and will contain an Interview with Cardinal Levada, further essays on Anglican Patrimony in the Catholic Church, and on ongoing prospects for unity and the shape of ecumenism between Anglicans and Catholics in a new situation for unity and mission.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Thursday, 16 December 2010
The Foundation of an Ordinariate in England & Wales
The trustees of the Catholic League have agreed to make a grant of £65,000 over two years (£35,000 in 2011 and £30,000 in 2012) towards the foundation of the Ordinariate's central services and the establishment and operational costs of the Ordinary's office in support of his pastorate.
The Trustees view the Ordinariate as a fulfilment of their primary historic object, which is to promote the unity of all Christians with the Apostolic See of Rome. After almost 100 years of witness and encouragement to this end, the Catholic League regards the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus as the definitive form providing for that corporate union in the English situation for which we have prayed. Therefore, by means of this grant we wish to support Pope Benedict in his intention that the new Ordinariate will contribute prophetically to Christian unity in this land, founded on none other than “unity ... in the apostolic faith” (as he said in his Address at Westminster Abbey during his Apostolic Visit) and the resulting “convincing account of the Risen Lord” which are both vital to a New Evangelisation in Europe.
Friday, 19 November 2010
English Ordinariate: Press Conference
At the close of a plenary meeting of the Bishops' Conference of England & Wales today, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president, announced that the dioceses of England and Wales have pooled together from their resources a fund of a quarter of a million pounds to establish the Ordinariate.
Bishop Alan Hopes, Episcopal Delegate of the Bishops' Conference for the Ordinariate, also announced that there were currently 50 groups preparing to petition for admission to the Ordinariate in 2011.
Bishop Alan Hopes, Episcopal Delegate of the Bishops' Conference for the Ordinariate, also announced that there were currently 50 groups preparing to petition for admission to the Ordinariate in 2011.
Statement on the Implementation of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus: The Establishment of a Personal Ordinariate in England and Wales
Here is the Statement issued today, 19th October 2010, by the Bishops' Conference of England & Wales
Much has been achieved over many years as a result of the dialogue and the fruitful ecumenical relations which have developed between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. Obedient to the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ to His Heavenly Father, the unity of the Church remains a constant desire in the vision and life of Anglicans and Catholics. The prayer for Christian Unity is the prayer for the gift of full communion with each other. We must never tire of praying and working for this goal.
During his visit to the United Kingdom in September, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI was therefore keen to stress that the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus: “…should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics. It helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all.”
It is now just over one year since the Apostolic Constitution was published. The Pope’s initiative provided for the establishment of personal Ordinariates as one of the ways in which members of the Anglican tradition may seek to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. As the Holy Father stated at that time, he was responding to petitions received “repeatedly and insistently” by him from groups of Anglicans wishing “to be received into full communion individually as well as corporately.” Since then, it has become clear that a number of Anglican clergy and their faithful do indeed wish to bring their desire for full ecclesial communion with the Catholic Church to realisation within an Ordinariate structure.
In collaboration with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome, the Bishops of England and Wales have been preparing for the establishment of an Ordinariate early in January 2011. Although there may be practical difficulties in the months ahead, the Bishops are working to address these at a national and local level.
Five Anglican Bishops who currently intend to enter the Ordinariate have already announced their decision to resign from pastoral ministry in the Church of England with effect from 31 December 2010. They will enter into full communion with the Catholic Church early in January 2011. During the same month, it is expected that the Decree establishing the Ordinariate will be issued and the name of the Ordinary to be appointed announced. Soon afterwards, those non-retired former Anglican Bishops whose petitions to be ordained are accepted by the CDF, will be ordained to the Catholic Diaconate and Priesthood for service in the Ordinariate.
It is expected that the retired former Anglican Bishops whose petitions to be ordained are accepted by the CDF, will be ordained to the Catholic Diaconate and Priesthood prior to Lent. This will enable them, together with the Ordinary and the other former Anglican Bishops, to assist with the preparation and reception of former Anglican clergy and their faithful into full communion with the Catholic Church during Holy Week.
Before the beginning of Lent, those Anglican clergy with groups of faithful who have decided to enter the Ordinariate will then begin a period of intense formation for ordination as Catholic priests.
At the beginning of Lent, the groups of faithful together with their pastors will be enrolled as candidates for the Ordinariate. Then, at a date to be agreed between the Ordinary and the local diocesan Bishop, they will be received into the Catholic Church and confirmed. This will probably take place either during Holy Week, at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday or during the Easter Vigil. The period of formation for the faithful and their pastors will continue to Pentecost. Until then, these communities will be cared for sacramentally by local clergy as arranged by the diocesan Bishop and the Ordinary.
Around Pentecost, those former Anglican priests whose petitions for ordination have been accepted by the CDF will be ordained to the Catholic Priesthood. Ordination to the Diaconate will precede this at some point during Eastertide. Formation in Catholic theology and pastoral practice will continue for an appropriate amount of time after ordination.
In responding generously and offering a warm welcome to those seeking full ecclesial communion with the Catholic Church within the Ordinariate, the Bishops know that the clergy and faithful who are on that journey of faith will bring their own spiritual treasures which will further enrich the spiritual life of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. The Bishops will do all they can to ensure that there is effective and close collaboration with the Ordinariate both at diocesan and parish levels.
Finally, with the blessings and encouragement they have received from Pope Benedict’s recent Visit, the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales are resolved to continue their dialogue with other Christian Churches and Ecclesial Communities on that journey towards the communion in faith and the fullness of unity for which Christ prayed.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
"Ordinariates Prophetic? Maybe" - Archbishop of Canterbury: Interview with Vatican Radio
From the website of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Wednesday 17 November 2010
Wednesday 17 November 2010
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams is in Rome, having been invited earlier in the year to be one of three speakers at a public conference in the Vatican to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the (then) Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. A transcript of his speech will be available in due course.
During his visit, the Archbishop granted an interview to Vatican Radio, the transcript of which can be seen below:
It's only a couple of months since our last meeting in Westminster Abbey during the papal visit – is it possible to talk about any concrete fruits of that trip?
I think the ecumenical fruits have actually been very powerful – a couple of weeks after the visit, Archbishop Vincent Nichols and myself were with others at a meeting of the black majority churches in London and a lot of those black majority Pentecostal Churches were saying how much the pope's visit had affirmed them, how they felt it had been deeply significant for Christians throughout the country. It's certainly given to Archbishop Vincent and myself a very strong sense of the need to go on building on what we have, the relations between our bishops and so on, so I think the fruits continue to be very positive.
You're here marking the 50th anniversay of the PCPCU – during a plenary entitled Towards a new phase of ecumenical dialogue. To most people it would seem a much harder, much more uncertain era?
First of all I think any great new enterprise begins with a massive hope and positive feeling and then discovers reality – Dr Johnson said 'Reality keeps breaking in', so I'm not surprised that 50 years on, it doesn't feel so sunny. But what we have done is quarry further and further about the meanings of the baptism we share and certainly in the plans that the Council has for the future, they speak about more work on that, on how we pray and what we mean when we pray the Lord's prayer together and I was suggesting that maybe the Council should get a working group together across a number of historic Churches and newer Churches to talk about the Eucharist in the Church because there's a great strand of Christian identity that doesn't seem to see the Eucharist as basic as many of us do.
You're talking about the PCPCU as a space where the idea and vision for unity can really be discussed yet there are many concerned that the Council is coming increasingly returning under the jurisdiction of the CDF?
Well I can't comment on internal Vatican issues but I do share a concern that the PCPCU should retain a real theological strand to its work and of course that means the CDF is going to take an interest. But I hope there will continue to be that space for thinking about unity, it's too easy to think we know what unity is bound to mean – if we look at history and theology we see it's much more varied and we need to be honest about that
There is a lot of talk about the 'controversial goal of ecumenism' today, that many in the Protestant world have settled for a mutual recongition of each others' differences, a unity in diversity kind of solution which smacks of the relativism?
I think it's perfectly proper to think of our goal as unity in diversity but not a diversity as endless multiplication of institutions. I still think we have to pray for visible sacramental communion, the recognition of ministries, the ability to function intelligibly as one body across the globe.
You stressed that the Ut Unum Sint agenda must not be allowed to slip out of sight - What exactly do you mean by that?
The great thing about that was the Bishop of Rome asking other Christians what service should this Petrine ministry be offering to the whole Christian world – that's a very good question and I don't think we've begun to get to the bottom of it. Because it is saying the ministry of the See of Rome is not, as some think, a top down executive magisterial authority but also a ministry of universal service and drawing together of believers. So what does that mean concretely, if it doesn't mean quite the way the papacy has evolved in the last few centuries – I think that's a very challenging, fruitful area.
You have continually said that the Ordinariate for disaffected Anglicans is irrelevant or not important to the ongoing dialogue, yet officials here are increasingly talking about its fruits, seeing as a "prophetic gesture", that has grown out of recent progress and will further encourage a sharing of gifts
Well I think if the Ordinariate helps people evaluate Anglican legacy, patrimony, well and good, I'm happy to praise God for it. I don't see it as an aggressive act, meant to destabilise the relations of the Churches and it remains to be seen just how large a movement we're talking about. But prophetic? Maybe yes, in the sense that here is the Roman Catholic Church saying there are ways of being Christian in the Western Church which are not restricted by historic Roman Catholic identity - that's something we can talk about.
What was your reaction to the departure of the first five Church of England bishops and what difficulties are you facing as a result – I've also heard talk of some 50 priests planning to follow them?
Obviously my reactions to the resignations is one of regret but respect; but I know the considerations they've been through, particular the two who were my suffragans. We've talked about it, we've worked through it and parted with prayers and blessings, so there's no ill feeling there. I think the challenge will come in working out shared use of churches, of how we as Anglicans 'recommend' people and also of course there will be some parishes without priests so we have a practical challenge here and there.
Departure of those on the Anglo-Catholic or traditionalist wing of the CofE must surely tip the balance of Anglicanism away from Rome – yet easier to identify positions for dialogue?
Interesting question - I wish you were right, I'm not sure it does, because there are still a great many Anglicans in the CoE who'd call themselves traditionalists, who have no intention of jumping ship, who are in considerable confusion and distress wondering what the CoE can do for them; but they don't think the only option is Rome, So I'd question whether it means the traditional voice has left the CoE – I don't think it has. But if the RC church is looking for who speaks for it, well it is the bishops in synod.
Here in the West, we can continue to debate our differences in comfortable surroundings, yet you recently spent a fortnight in Indiatalking to Christians of different denominations facing persecution – should we not be looking to these countries to find a new urgency and impetus for our dialogue?
I couldn't agree more I think Christians are drawn closer together than in any other circumstances when they face persecution – in Iraq, Pakistan Indonesia, Orissa or Rajasthan, Christians under pressure don't have the luxury of waiting to stand together until they've sorted everything out – I met first hand with a number of people on the receiving end of violence – a woman who'd seen her husband tortured to death in front of her for refusing to abandon his Christian faith – that's simply a moment when you realise what the basic truths are.
It's only a couple of months since our last meeting in Westminster Abbey during the papal visit – is it possible to talk about any concrete fruits of that trip?
I think the ecumenical fruits have actually been very powerful – a couple of weeks after the visit, Archbishop Vincent Nichols and myself were with others at a meeting of the black majority churches in London and a lot of those black majority Pentecostal Churches were saying how much the pope's visit had affirmed them, how they felt it had been deeply significant for Christians throughout the country. It's certainly given to Archbishop Vincent and myself a very strong sense of the need to go on building on what we have, the relations between our bishops and so on, so I think the fruits continue to be very positive.
You're here marking the 50th anniversay of the PCPCU – during a plenary entitled Towards a new phase of ecumenical dialogue. To most people it would seem a much harder, much more uncertain era?
First of all I think any great new enterprise begins with a massive hope and positive feeling and then discovers reality – Dr Johnson said 'Reality keeps breaking in', so I'm not surprised that 50 years on, it doesn't feel so sunny. But what we have done is quarry further and further about the meanings of the baptism we share and certainly in the plans that the Council has for the future, they speak about more work on that, on how we pray and what we mean when we pray the Lord's prayer together and I was suggesting that maybe the Council should get a working group together across a number of historic Churches and newer Churches to talk about the Eucharist in the Church because there's a great strand of Christian identity that doesn't seem to see the Eucharist as basic as many of us do.
You're talking about the PCPCU as a space where the idea and vision for unity can really be discussed yet there are many concerned that the Council is coming increasingly returning under the jurisdiction of the CDF?
Well I can't comment on internal Vatican issues but I do share a concern that the PCPCU should retain a real theological strand to its work and of course that means the CDF is going to take an interest. But I hope there will continue to be that space for thinking about unity, it's too easy to think we know what unity is bound to mean – if we look at history and theology we see it's much more varied and we need to be honest about that
There is a lot of talk about the 'controversial goal of ecumenism' today, that many in the Protestant world have settled for a mutual recongition of each others' differences, a unity in diversity kind of solution which smacks of the relativism?
I think it's perfectly proper to think of our goal as unity in diversity but not a diversity as endless multiplication of institutions. I still think we have to pray for visible sacramental communion, the recognition of ministries, the ability to function intelligibly as one body across the globe.
You stressed that the Ut Unum Sint agenda must not be allowed to slip out of sight - What exactly do you mean by that?
The great thing about that was the Bishop of Rome asking other Christians what service should this Petrine ministry be offering to the whole Christian world – that's a very good question and I don't think we've begun to get to the bottom of it. Because it is saying the ministry of the See of Rome is not, as some think, a top down executive magisterial authority but also a ministry of universal service and drawing together of believers. So what does that mean concretely, if it doesn't mean quite the way the papacy has evolved in the last few centuries – I think that's a very challenging, fruitful area.
You have continually said that the Ordinariate for disaffected Anglicans is irrelevant or not important to the ongoing dialogue, yet officials here are increasingly talking about its fruits, seeing as a "prophetic gesture", that has grown out of recent progress and will further encourage a sharing of gifts
Well I think if the Ordinariate helps people evaluate Anglican legacy, patrimony, well and good, I'm happy to praise God for it. I don't see it as an aggressive act, meant to destabilise the relations of the Churches and it remains to be seen just how large a movement we're talking about. But prophetic? Maybe yes, in the sense that here is the Roman Catholic Church saying there are ways of being Christian in the Western Church which are not restricted by historic Roman Catholic identity - that's something we can talk about.
What was your reaction to the departure of the first five Church of England bishops and what difficulties are you facing as a result – I've also heard talk of some 50 priests planning to follow them?
Obviously my reactions to the resignations is one of regret but respect; but I know the considerations they've been through, particular the two who were my suffragans. We've talked about it, we've worked through it and parted with prayers and blessings, so there's no ill feeling there. I think the challenge will come in working out shared use of churches, of how we as Anglicans 'recommend' people and also of course there will be some parishes without priests so we have a practical challenge here and there.
Departure of those on the Anglo-Catholic or traditionalist wing of the CofE must surely tip the balance of Anglicanism away from Rome – yet easier to identify positions for dialogue?
Interesting question - I wish you were right, I'm not sure it does, because there are still a great many Anglicans in the CoE who'd call themselves traditionalists, who have no intention of jumping ship, who are in considerable confusion and distress wondering what the CoE can do for them; but they don't think the only option is Rome, So I'd question whether it means the traditional voice has left the CoE – I don't think it has. But if the RC church is looking for who speaks for it, well it is the bishops in synod.
Here in the West, we can continue to debate our differences in comfortable surroundings, yet you recently spent a fortnight in Indiatalking to Christians of different denominations facing persecution – should we not be looking to these countries to find a new urgency and impetus for our dialogue?
I couldn't agree more I think Christians are drawn closer together than in any other circumstances when they face persecution – in Iraq, Pakistan Indonesia, Orissa or Rajasthan, Christians under pressure don't have the luxury of waiting to stand together until they've sorted everything out – I met first hand with a number of people on the receiving end of violence – a woman who'd seen her husband tortured to death in front of her for refusing to abandon his Christian faith – that's simply a moment when you realise what the basic truths are.
Monday, 15 November 2010
The Portal
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Sunday, 31 October 2010
The Catholic League and the proposed Ordinariate for Great Britain
At an Extraordinary General Meeting on Saturday 30th October 2010, the historic objectives of the League, namely the union of all Christians with the Apostolic See of Rome - holistic, rather than partial Christian unity - and fellowship among those who profess the Catholic faith, were discussed in the conditions created by likely changes affecting the ability of Anglican members to pursue the practice of the Church's belief and mission within Anglicanism, and the forthcoming foundation of an Ordinariate in Britain to enable Christians of the Anglican tradition to be in full communion with the Catholic Church.
Members of the League are united in affirming these objectives in the service of Christian unity, spiritual renewal and evangelisation, welcoming the provisions Pope Benedict has made and work to support their realisation, at the same time as remaining committed to efforts that support the ongoing and irreversible ecumenical journey of the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church together towards visible unity in the same faith.
For a deeper exploration of these issues, here is the Statement of the Executive of the League, issued in response to Anglicanorum Coetibus in early 2010.
As the process of the Ordinariate's establishment and consolidation will occur during an extended period, there will be those members who seek admission immediately and those who will wait upon concrete developments over time, both in the life of the Catholic Church in Britain and in the shape of belonging within the Anglican Church.
The following resolutions were made unanimously:
Members of the League are united in affirming these objectives in the service of Christian unity, spiritual renewal and evangelisation, welcoming the provisions Pope Benedict has made and work to support their realisation, at the same time as remaining committed to efforts that support the ongoing and irreversible ecumenical journey of the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church together towards visible unity in the same faith.
For a deeper exploration of these issues, here is the Statement of the Executive of the League, issued in response to Anglicanorum Coetibus in early 2010.
As the process of the Ordinariate's establishment and consolidation will occur during an extended period, there will be those members who seek admission immediately and those who will wait upon concrete developments over time, both in the life of the Catholic Church in Britain and in the shape of belonging within the Anglican Church.
The following resolutions were made unanimously:
- We continue to see the Catholic League as a group for orthodox Anglicans and Roman Catholics focussed on the same faith as set out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
- We will provide support, fellowship and guidance in the current period of discernment for Anglican Christians considering their position
- We agree that the League will assist the establishment and development of an Ordinariate in England.
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Fr Brooke Kingsmill-Lunn, past Priest Director, receives award
The Imperial College grew out of the old Imperial Institute, now the Commonwealth Institute, for the international promotion of science and techonology, public health, good governance, trade and commerce, and these concerns still form its main faculties. The ringing of the bells is entrusted to the Ancient Society of College Youths, founded in 1637 to promote the practice and science of bell ringing, of which Fr Lunn is past Master. He has been involved at the Tower since 1953, captaining the ringers since 1976.
We warmly congratulate Father Brooke.
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Extraordinary General Meeting of the Catholic League
Christ the King, Gordon Square, London WC1H 0AG
*To discuss the League's relation to the Ordinariate*
Speakers: Fr Peter Geldard & Bishop Alan Hopes
Coffee will be available from 11.15am in the crypt. A buffet lunch will be provided. But it is essential that you book this in advance with the Secretary, David Chapman - contact 01992 763893 or secretary@unitas.org.uk. Lunch tickets will be issued at the meeting. It will not be possible to book on the day. Please advise if a vegetarian option is required.
The Messenger - Anglicanorum Coetibus Edition
The list of contents is attached here. A form is also included for non-members who would like to request a copy, subject to availability.
The collection of two dozens articles seeks to bring together the wide range of considered comment and analysis of the Apostolic Constitution as well as thinking on the future shape and ethos of the proposed Ordinariates. Alongside the official documentation and commentaries, there are major contributions from
- Cardinal William Levada
- Bishop Peter Elliott
- Aidan Nichols OP
- Canon Robin Ward
- Professor Eamon Duffy and
- An Interview with Cardinal Walter Kasper
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Anglicanorum Coetibus: Statement from the Executive of the Catholic League
Visit this link to view the Statement on the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus by the Executive of the Catholic League
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Annual Ecumenical Pilgrimage to Brugge: New Orthodox Church
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| Fr Bernard Peckstadt & Archimandrite Ephrem Lash |
This year's speaker, leading us each evening in an address about ecumenism, was Archimandrite Ephrem Lash, the distinguished Orthodox translator and parish priest of the Church of St John the Baptist at Highbury in north London. A high point in the weekend was a visit to the beautiful new Orthodox Church of St Constantine & St Helen in Ezelstraat, to hear a talk about the situation of the Orthodox Church in modern Belgium and its warm ecumenical relations with the local Catholic Church from the rector, Father Bernard Peckstadt. Several years before, we had visited the church, which had formerly been the private chapel of a great Bruges courtyard house and more recently the city's "Ecumenical Chapel". It was rarely used and struck us plain and uninviting, hardly a positive place for ecumenical worship and encounter. But shortly afterwards, the Catholic diocese gifted the chapel to the Orthodox parish which had been experiencing considerable growth with the influx of Orthodox faithful to Bruges from other countries as well as people newly coming to Christ from within Belgium itself. They had outgrown the small room nearby they had been using. The transformation of the old ecumenical chapel has been astonishing and it is extremely beautiful. The quality of the newly carved olive wood furnishings, the frescoes and the iconostasis is of the highest order. Father Bernard gave us an introduction to the new church with understandable pride and we were privileged to join his parish as it began Sunday with the celebration of Vespers. Fr Ephrem was invited to serve Vespers and Fr Mark Woodruff, the coordinator of our pilgrimage was invited to recite the first psalm, a great privilege.
Here is the link to the parish's blog about our visit.
At the end of the service, we saw one of our taxi drivers was waiting in the vestibule with his face beaming and almost pressed against the glass, looking in. On the way home he told us he was a Muslim but he loved Jesus and Mary more. It was wonderful to think that our visit had enabled him to come into church and be so inspired by the beauty of the service and the singing that his heart was able to make this no less beautiful profession of faith.
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| Archimandrite Ephrem (centre), Fr Bernard Peckstadt, rector (left), Fr Mark Woodruff (right), Fr John Salter (far right), Mother Carolyne Joseph SSM, prioress of Walsingham (front left), Sister Teresa Burke SP, secretary of Birmingham Archdiocese Ecumenical Commission (front right) |
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Statement in Response to the 2008 Lambeth Conference and July General Synod
Visit this link to view the Reponse from the Catholic League.
Sunday, 11 August 2002
Geoffrey John Wright, RIP - Funeral Homily by the Revd Canon Beaumont Brandie
Do this in remembrance of me
We gather at the 11th hour of the 11th Day but not the 11th month – so this is not therefore Remembrance Sunday, but everyone here will have things that they will remember about Geoffrey, from the voice print etched into our memories of that counter tenor cadence honed over years of Civil Service phone answering saying – “Geoff Wright”, through the personal or even the bazaar, and I spell that with an “a” for the Church Warden’s Church Fete.
As he would wish, we are doing it in the only way Catholics know how to make remembrance, by which we make present and enter into the saving sacrifice and risen life of Jesus Christ our Saviour, and plead it on Geoff’s behalf.
SSC clergy, who know that they have to prepare their funeral instructions and lodge them with the Chantry Clerk, will now know why – if you don’t, you get me preaching at your funeral! And at least one curmudgeonly priest instructed that there be no oration at his funeral, as he said he wanted “no old priest lying in the chancel with another old priest lying in the pulpit”!
It is right that there should be laughter as we remember today, because there was much laughter where Geoffrey was, ribald and otherwise, as well as awesome silences, and eyebrow punctuated stares that could make a bishop baulk, and a basilisk blink.
Geoffrey was a big man is every way, for the young - the Gee Wizz, and though he suspected he was an icon or even an idol for some, he knew very well that this idol had feet of clay as well as iron. His passionate devotion to Our Lady, especially under her beloved title of Our Lady of Walsingham, was based on his certain need of the intercession of that “purest of creatures” who is also “sweet mother, sweet maid”.
Born into a teaching family he went to his father’s own school at Forty Hill, and after grammar school to The College of St Mark and St John to train as a teacher. Here he gained a circle of friends that was to remain for the rest of his life, and introduced some of them to the innocent exuberance of the Catholic Faith as experienced in the Church of England in the heady days of the sixties.
His own able mathematical mind and catholic faith brought the group under the spiritual, intellectual and alcoholic influence of Fr Keith Hobbs, himself a math’s don, and the lovable family blue stocking Mary who presided over parties and “suppers” from Gloucester Road to Chichester Archdeaconry.
It was at this time that he began to amass the encyclopedic knowledge of continental shrines, abbeys and watering holes that he was to put to such service for the Catholic League and other societies that sought to remind the Church of England that it was indeed but “part of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church”. Even then he could be an “innocent abroad”, as when he drove a party of grammar school pupils and staff out of Czechoslovakia towards Russia, passing through the Soviet tanks and armies as they massed on the borders for their brutal repression of the state the pilgrims had just left!
If, as the Walsingham Protesters believe, the EEC is plot to take us into Europe and thence into the arms of the Papacy, then with the death of this man who spent the last part of his Civil Service career dealing with Brussels, we have lost one of the chief conspirators! It is wonderful that his requiem is celebrated on the feast of St Benedict the patron of Europe, for as well as his love of the continent; to the end of his days he fostered an understanding of the Religious Life as a witness to the Church. Although his own oblation within the Benedictine family did not work out as he might have hoped, these contacts and his own musical abilities will leave a gap in the chant and life of the Beguinage in Bruges and at Monmatre, which can be summed up in a letter from the sisters at Tours whom we met last September - “we confide your friend in every way to the prayers of St Benedict”.
In Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel the Papal Master of Ceremonies is shown helping the demons push the souls into hell! As the MC to the C of E, and occasionally even to Continental Cardinals, we can be confident the Geoffrey now knows intimately that part of Purgatory reserved for ceremonial experts and players of the liturgical zither! From his youth in the GSS, through his so obvious public service at Walsingham, via the welding of teams at Wembley and Docklands, to the most arcane thing her ever did - namely the reconstruction for TV of the Funeral of Prince Arthur - Geoffrey used his knowledge of rites and people and the arteacts of the Catholic Movement in the service of the worship of God with utter dedication, though he would disguise it with a contrived laid back vagueness that belied the careful preparation and eagle eye. For over two decades we interpreted together the reforms of Vatican II in a style that owed something to the Royal Tournament as well as Fortiscue O’Connell, so I would like to think that I can hear him saying of these rites today: “We like that”!
To distinguish him from David of ThatsSame Ilk, he was often called “Roman Wright”, and so it was an immense surprise and no little pain to some of his friends that he did not follow them in submission to the Holy See after 1992. This side of Judgment we may never now know why, but we may hazard a guess standing here where he was Church Warden and an integral part of the life of this parish. Like many remaining clergy he had people to serve and lead. He knew that the church needed the services of committed laymen as much as priests, and so he seized the chance that early retirement gave to restore to the Catholic movement the role of the gentleman of leisure, who had served the church in an earlier era with their time and private means. Thus it is that in these last ten years, and especially since his retirement, he has thrown all his skills, liturgical, logistical, academic, typesetting and teaching, and redeeming his early teacher's training in the joint pioneering of youth work and catechesis, that leaves a yawning chasm in the life of those who wish to witness to the faith “once delivered to the saints”. Without him, the Catholic League, Forward in Faith, the Church Union would not be what they are today.
In a sense this both gave him a reason to live, and killed him; for, if we are honest, his health has been deteriorating for several years. He would have hated to be an invalid, with its dependence on, rather than the service of, others; and the invasion of the personal privacy he cultivated. Yet in the last few weeks perhaps, he glimpsed something of the affection and concern in which he was held.
In the early literature of post World War I remembrance there was much talk of dying hands casting torches down for others to take up. Geoffrey’s most lasting legacy must be that other hands will light tapers from his torch to illuminate the life of the many societies and communities he enflamed. This congregation is a cross section of the worlds he inhabited, but it is drawn together in another world, which transcends our divisions and is bathed in a greater light that even he was for us. That Paschal Candle reminds us that in Christ we are new creatures, and brothers and sisters built upon the foundations of the apostles.
With Geoffrey, since our baptism we have shared the resurrection life of Christ which is sustained by the food for our journey which, Emmaus like, nourishes us on our pilgrim way. He poured out his service so that sacramental life might be preserved and rightly celebrated for those who seek to “know the way”, and so that through the sacrificial death and new life of Christ pleaded day by day before the Father’s throne we might enter into Christ who “ever lives to make intercession for us.” Here now for him, and for ourselves in our joy and grief, we “do this in remembrance”; not merely looking back wistfully, but making Christ and all he has done for us really present and efficacious in our lives, and in that next stage of Christ’s service which is the room “in my Father’s house” which Geoffrey now occupies, knowing that “neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, …. can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.”
Geoffrey was keen that his grave be unmarked, but we shall probably disobey him in this, though he will, I am sure, have had in mind the words of St Monica to St Augustine as she died:
We gather at the 11th hour of the 11th Day but not the 11th month – so this is not therefore Remembrance Sunday, but everyone here will have things that they will remember about Geoffrey, from the voice print etched into our memories of that counter tenor cadence honed over years of Civil Service phone answering saying – “Geoff Wright”, through the personal or even the bazaar, and I spell that with an “a” for the Church Warden’s Church Fete.
As he would wish, we are doing it in the only way Catholics know how to make remembrance, by which we make present and enter into the saving sacrifice and risen life of Jesus Christ our Saviour, and plead it on Geoff’s behalf.
SSC clergy, who know that they have to prepare their funeral instructions and lodge them with the Chantry Clerk, will now know why – if you don’t, you get me preaching at your funeral! And at least one curmudgeonly priest instructed that there be no oration at his funeral, as he said he wanted “no old priest lying in the chancel with another old priest lying in the pulpit”!
It is right that there should be laughter as we remember today, because there was much laughter where Geoffrey was, ribald and otherwise, as well as awesome silences, and eyebrow punctuated stares that could make a bishop baulk, and a basilisk blink.
Geoffrey was a big man is every way, for the young - the Gee Wizz, and though he suspected he was an icon or even an idol for some, he knew very well that this idol had feet of clay as well as iron. His passionate devotion to Our Lady, especially under her beloved title of Our Lady of Walsingham, was based on his certain need of the intercession of that “purest of creatures” who is also “sweet mother, sweet maid”.
Born into a teaching family he went to his father’s own school at Forty Hill, and after grammar school to The College of St Mark and St John to train as a teacher. Here he gained a circle of friends that was to remain for the rest of his life, and introduced some of them to the innocent exuberance of the Catholic Faith as experienced in the Church of England in the heady days of the sixties.
His own able mathematical mind and catholic faith brought the group under the spiritual, intellectual and alcoholic influence of Fr Keith Hobbs, himself a math’s don, and the lovable family blue stocking Mary who presided over parties and “suppers” from Gloucester Road to Chichester Archdeaconry.
It was at this time that he began to amass the encyclopedic knowledge of continental shrines, abbeys and watering holes that he was to put to such service for the Catholic League and other societies that sought to remind the Church of England that it was indeed but “part of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church”. Even then he could be an “innocent abroad”, as when he drove a party of grammar school pupils and staff out of Czechoslovakia towards Russia, passing through the Soviet tanks and armies as they massed on the borders for their brutal repression of the state the pilgrims had just left!
If, as the Walsingham Protesters believe, the EEC is plot to take us into Europe and thence into the arms of the Papacy, then with the death of this man who spent the last part of his Civil Service career dealing with Brussels, we have lost one of the chief conspirators! It is wonderful that his requiem is celebrated on the feast of St Benedict the patron of Europe, for as well as his love of the continent; to the end of his days he fostered an understanding of the Religious Life as a witness to the Church. Although his own oblation within the Benedictine family did not work out as he might have hoped, these contacts and his own musical abilities will leave a gap in the chant and life of the Beguinage in Bruges and at Monmatre, which can be summed up in a letter from the sisters at Tours whom we met last September - “we confide your friend in every way to the prayers of St Benedict”.
In Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel the Papal Master of Ceremonies is shown helping the demons push the souls into hell! As the MC to the C of E, and occasionally even to Continental Cardinals, we can be confident the Geoffrey now knows intimately that part of Purgatory reserved for ceremonial experts and players of the liturgical zither! From his youth in the GSS, through his so obvious public service at Walsingham, via the welding of teams at Wembley and Docklands, to the most arcane thing her ever did - namely the reconstruction for TV of the Funeral of Prince Arthur - Geoffrey used his knowledge of rites and people and the arteacts of the Catholic Movement in the service of the worship of God with utter dedication, though he would disguise it with a contrived laid back vagueness that belied the careful preparation and eagle eye. For over two decades we interpreted together the reforms of Vatican II in a style that owed something to the Royal Tournament as well as Fortiscue O’Connell, so I would like to think that I can hear him saying of these rites today: “We like that”!
To distinguish him from David of ThatsSame Ilk, he was often called “Roman Wright”, and so it was an immense surprise and no little pain to some of his friends that he did not follow them in submission to the Holy See after 1992. This side of Judgment we may never now know why, but we may hazard a guess standing here where he was Church Warden and an integral part of the life of this parish. Like many remaining clergy he had people to serve and lead. He knew that the church needed the services of committed laymen as much as priests, and so he seized the chance that early retirement gave to restore to the Catholic movement the role of the gentleman of leisure, who had served the church in an earlier era with their time and private means. Thus it is that in these last ten years, and especially since his retirement, he has thrown all his skills, liturgical, logistical, academic, typesetting and teaching, and redeeming his early teacher's training in the joint pioneering of youth work and catechesis, that leaves a yawning chasm in the life of those who wish to witness to the faith “once delivered to the saints”. Without him, the Catholic League, Forward in Faith, the Church Union would not be what they are today.
In a sense this both gave him a reason to live, and killed him; for, if we are honest, his health has been deteriorating for several years. He would have hated to be an invalid, with its dependence on, rather than the service of, others; and the invasion of the personal privacy he cultivated. Yet in the last few weeks perhaps, he glimpsed something of the affection and concern in which he was held.
In the early literature of post World War I remembrance there was much talk of dying hands casting torches down for others to take up. Geoffrey’s most lasting legacy must be that other hands will light tapers from his torch to illuminate the life of the many societies and communities he enflamed. This congregation is a cross section of the worlds he inhabited, but it is drawn together in another world, which transcends our divisions and is bathed in a greater light that even he was for us. That Paschal Candle reminds us that in Christ we are new creatures, and brothers and sisters built upon the foundations of the apostles.
With Geoffrey, since our baptism we have shared the resurrection life of Christ which is sustained by the food for our journey which, Emmaus like, nourishes us on our pilgrim way. He poured out his service so that sacramental life might be preserved and rightly celebrated for those who seek to “know the way”, and so that through the sacrificial death and new life of Christ pleaded day by day before the Father’s throne we might enter into Christ who “ever lives to make intercession for us.” Here now for him, and for ourselves in our joy and grief, we “do this in remembrance”; not merely looking back wistfully, but making Christ and all he has done for us really present and efficacious in our lives, and in that next stage of Christ’s service which is the room “in my Father’s house” which Geoffrey now occupies, knowing that “neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, …. can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.”
Geoffrey was keen that his grave be unmarked, but we shall probably disobey him in this, though he will, I am sure, have had in mind the words of St Monica to St Augustine as she died:
“Lay this body wherever it may be. Let no care of it disturb you: only this I ask of you, that you should remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be”This we do today, in the firm hope that through this sacrifice, and the prayers of the Mother of God, he will one day hear that Judge more awesome even than the one envisaged by Michelangelo say “well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of you master”. Till then we pray:
“Rest eternal grant unto him O Lord and let light perpetual shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.”
Thursday, 1 August 2002
Geoffrey John Wright, RIP - General Secretary of the League 1974-2002
Geoff Wright belonged to the small, unswerving and venerable Anglican tradition which looks beyond Canterbury to Rome, and the chief pastor of Christendom's role in the life, worship, and mission of all the Churches.
The late Geoffrey Curtis CR, in his life of the Abbé Paul Couturier, observed that prior to Vatican II few Roman Catholics in England had given credit to the continuity and extent of Catholic belief and practice in the Anglican Church after the sixteenth century. By the same token most Anglican Catholics had been keen to assert the Church of England's position as 'the Catholic Church of this land', to the exclusion of Roman Catholics who are equally bearers of an authentic English Christianity. Thus for the consciousness of Geoffrey Wright and other 'Anglo-Papalists', the Church of England is not merely a part of the greater Catholic Church, neither is it the local branch: the whole Church is one in its very essence and 'the walls of separation do not rise so far as heaven'. He devoted his energies towards realising that unity, raising the ecumenical profile of the Church of England's Catholic tradition, and promoting the reconciliation of all Christians around the successor of Peter.
His encyclopaedic knowledge of shrines, abbeys, liturgical and musical oddities, railways and restaurants began as a delightful way of going on holiday by way of going to church. He stood in an honoured tradition of English travellers who were taken with 'Quaint Sights in Continental Places', to quote an old Faith Press title. When this love of pilgrimage matured in later years, he realised these unique links by enabling new networks of Christian, ecumenical friends from different countries and spiritual cultures to find each other, love each other's prayer and church lives, and to grow in a desire to persevere out of urgent personal experience in the cause of Christian unity. Thus his retirement became increasingly devoted to supporting regular visits by groups to the Béguinage and the English Convent in Brugge; to the convents of the Monmartre nuns all over France; to Lisieux and Tours and monasteries all over Europe. At the time of his death he had been planning with me a new visit to Lyon and Ars in 2003 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Paul Couturier, priest of Lyon, apostle of Christian Unity, devoté of St John Vianney and founder of the Week of Prayer. Geoff had a deep understanding of the Religious Life as at the heart of the Church's vitality and faithfulness. Although his own Benedictine oblation did not work out, he forged deep links of ecumenical friendship, quietly building up understanding and affection for Anglicans among European Catholic communities, often through music. In return, they trained him to play the liturgical zither, so he could take back for St Matthew's, Ponders End in Enfield (where he was for many years churchwarden) the same peace and attentiveness he discovered abroad. After retirement, almost as a solitary, he prayed the office by singing along to the monks and nuns' tapes and CDs: 'Who sings, prays twice'.
But his service in the Catholic Societies for over forty years, increasingly ensuring that European, ecumenical dimensions were not forgotten by others, will be his legacy. A gifted facilitator, Geoff devoted all his liturgical, musical, administrative and teaching skills to ensure the involvement and enjoyment of others in the things of God, rather than his own self-fulfilment. His deep sense of vocation to making an active lay, rather than priestly, contribution through his ministry and discipleship, both gave him a reason to live, and taxed that life in the end to the full.
As only the second secretary of the Catholic League (a society to promote the corporate reunion of the Anglican Church with the See of Peter) since the 1930s, from 1974 he played a leading role in introducing the Anglo-Catholic world to the liturgical, doctrinal and pastoral renewal transforming the Roman Catholic Church after Vatican II. Geoff loved the people of God in their liturgical action. It is often a matter of curiosity to Roman Catholics and to most Anglicans that a section of Anglican parishes use the Roman rite. To some it is disloyal to the canons of the Church of England; to others it only makes sense if you follow through to logical conclusions by actually becoming Roman Catholic. One understands, however, that for Geoff and many who shared the philosophy this was not about imitating Rome. It was a way of witnessing against the idea that there was a distinctive, separate, qualified Catholicism for the Church of England. The logical conclusion was that therefore, beside the individuals who were taking this path, it is the whole of the Church of England that has to own and recover its Catholicity through visible unity with the See of Peter. The symbol and witness of this is the adoption of Catholic liturgy, just as before Anglicans had adopted Catholic hymns, retreats, spirituality, arts and made their own to enrich their own church life, even if in separation for the time being. Not in the end satisfactory, or completely licit, it has nevertheless been a sign of contradiction - a reminder to Anglicans that, as Dr John Habgood said when archbishop of York, the future of the Church of England is Catholicism - a reminder to Catholics that 'sacred actions of the Christian religion as carried out in communities separated from them can truly engender a life of grace and can rightly be described as providing access to the community of salvation', and that their 'fruitfulness for salvation has been derived from the very fulness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church' (quotations from the prayer prior to Catholic ordinations of former Anglican clergy).
With the same thinking in the late 1980s, Geoffrey was one of three who set up 'the Congregation of the English Mission' to explore practical ways of implementing ARCIC through corporate reunion with the See of Peter. Though this came to nothing, during the 1990s he enabled the Catholic League to transform itself into a genuinely ecumenical society of Roman Catholics, Anglicans and other Christians praying and working for visible unity. This somewhat counters the suspicion that those believing in authentic unity with the Holy See are actually either merely an extreme party among Anglicans, or Roman Catholics who do not have proper respect for the individuality and distinctiveness of 'beloved sister' churches. It was just not like that, I think, for Geoff, at the heart of whose Catholicism were Mary, Benedictine religious life, and living, organic membership in the One Body which he longed for but never lived to see revealed.
Geoffrey was troubled when the Church of England decided to admit women to the priesthood and a number of his priest and lay friends left. His decision to remain seemed at odds with his zeal for reunion with Rome. He sacrificed something dear to his heart in order to continue with his share in the painstaking work that one day will lead to corporate reconciliation. And out of respect for the testing times some of his friends faced to become Roman Catholics, he thereafter declined the usual generous invitations to receive Holy Communion at mass on the continent. This was a profound offering for the sake of the unity of the Church. So too was his Anglican life for, as a leading light in the Church Union and Forward in Faith, to many in the Church of England he and others have been portrayed as partisan, even preferring separation. But for Geoff this at times painful tension was intrinsic to being loyal both to the Church of England and to Catholicism in the same moment. It was a paradox he lived in, embodied, but strove to reconcile and resolve.
One day, when the miracle to make the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church visibly one is revealed, it will be thanks not only to theologians and negotiators. Many like Geoffrey have lovingly cemented the bonds of spiritual kinship over decades of prayer, service and ecumenical constancy.
The late Geoffrey Curtis CR, in his life of the Abbé Paul Couturier, observed that prior to Vatican II few Roman Catholics in England had given credit to the continuity and extent of Catholic belief and practice in the Anglican Church after the sixteenth century. By the same token most Anglican Catholics had been keen to assert the Church of England's position as 'the Catholic Church of this land', to the exclusion of Roman Catholics who are equally bearers of an authentic English Christianity. Thus for the consciousness of Geoffrey Wright and other 'Anglo-Papalists', the Church of England is not merely a part of the greater Catholic Church, neither is it the local branch: the whole Church is one in its very essence and 'the walls of separation do not rise so far as heaven'. He devoted his energies towards realising that unity, raising the ecumenical profile of the Church of England's Catholic tradition, and promoting the reconciliation of all Christians around the successor of Peter.
His encyclopaedic knowledge of shrines, abbeys, liturgical and musical oddities, railways and restaurants began as a delightful way of going on holiday by way of going to church. He stood in an honoured tradition of English travellers who were taken with 'Quaint Sights in Continental Places', to quote an old Faith Press title. When this love of pilgrimage matured in later years, he realised these unique links by enabling new networks of Christian, ecumenical friends from different countries and spiritual cultures to find each other, love each other's prayer and church lives, and to grow in a desire to persevere out of urgent personal experience in the cause of Christian unity. Thus his retirement became increasingly devoted to supporting regular visits by groups to the Béguinage and the English Convent in Brugge; to the convents of the Monmartre nuns all over France; to Lisieux and Tours and monasteries all over Europe. At the time of his death he had been planning with me a new visit to Lyon and Ars in 2003 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Paul Couturier, priest of Lyon, apostle of Christian Unity, devoté of St John Vianney and founder of the Week of Prayer. Geoff had a deep understanding of the Religious Life as at the heart of the Church's vitality and faithfulness. Although his own Benedictine oblation did not work out, he forged deep links of ecumenical friendship, quietly building up understanding and affection for Anglicans among European Catholic communities, often through music. In return, they trained him to play the liturgical zither, so he could take back for St Matthew's, Ponders End in Enfield (where he was for many years churchwarden) the same peace and attentiveness he discovered abroad. After retirement, almost as a solitary, he prayed the office by singing along to the monks and nuns' tapes and CDs: 'Who sings, prays twice'.
But his service in the Catholic Societies for over forty years, increasingly ensuring that European, ecumenical dimensions were not forgotten by others, will be his legacy. A gifted facilitator, Geoff devoted all his liturgical, musical, administrative and teaching skills to ensure the involvement and enjoyment of others in the things of God, rather than his own self-fulfilment. His deep sense of vocation to making an active lay, rather than priestly, contribution through his ministry and discipleship, both gave him a reason to live, and taxed that life in the end to the full.
As only the second secretary of the Catholic League (a society to promote the corporate reunion of the Anglican Church with the See of Peter) since the 1930s, from 1974 he played a leading role in introducing the Anglo-Catholic world to the liturgical, doctrinal and pastoral renewal transforming the Roman Catholic Church after Vatican II. Geoff loved the people of God in their liturgical action. It is often a matter of curiosity to Roman Catholics and to most Anglicans that a section of Anglican parishes use the Roman rite. To some it is disloyal to the canons of the Church of England; to others it only makes sense if you follow through to logical conclusions by actually becoming Roman Catholic. One understands, however, that for Geoff and many who shared the philosophy this was not about imitating Rome. It was a way of witnessing against the idea that there was a distinctive, separate, qualified Catholicism for the Church of England. The logical conclusion was that therefore, beside the individuals who were taking this path, it is the whole of the Church of England that has to own and recover its Catholicity through visible unity with the See of Peter. The symbol and witness of this is the adoption of Catholic liturgy, just as before Anglicans had adopted Catholic hymns, retreats, spirituality, arts and made their own to enrich their own church life, even if in separation for the time being. Not in the end satisfactory, or completely licit, it has nevertheless been a sign of contradiction - a reminder to Anglicans that, as Dr John Habgood said when archbishop of York, the future of the Church of England is Catholicism - a reminder to Catholics that 'sacred actions of the Christian religion as carried out in communities separated from them can truly engender a life of grace and can rightly be described as providing access to the community of salvation', and that their 'fruitfulness for salvation has been derived from the very fulness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church' (quotations from the prayer prior to Catholic ordinations of former Anglican clergy).
With the same thinking in the late 1980s, Geoffrey was one of three who set up 'the Congregation of the English Mission' to explore practical ways of implementing ARCIC through corporate reunion with the See of Peter. Though this came to nothing, during the 1990s he enabled the Catholic League to transform itself into a genuinely ecumenical society of Roman Catholics, Anglicans and other Christians praying and working for visible unity. This somewhat counters the suspicion that those believing in authentic unity with the Holy See are actually either merely an extreme party among Anglicans, or Roman Catholics who do not have proper respect for the individuality and distinctiveness of 'beloved sister' churches. It was just not like that, I think, for Geoff, at the heart of whose Catholicism were Mary, Benedictine religious life, and living, organic membership in the One Body which he longed for but never lived to see revealed.
Geoffrey was troubled when the Church of England decided to admit women to the priesthood and a number of his priest and lay friends left. His decision to remain seemed at odds with his zeal for reunion with Rome. He sacrificed something dear to his heart in order to continue with his share in the painstaking work that one day will lead to corporate reconciliation. And out of respect for the testing times some of his friends faced to become Roman Catholics, he thereafter declined the usual generous invitations to receive Holy Communion at mass on the continent. This was a profound offering for the sake of the unity of the Church. So too was his Anglican life for, as a leading light in the Church Union and Forward in Faith, to many in the Church of England he and others have been portrayed as partisan, even preferring separation. But for Geoff this at times painful tension was intrinsic to being loyal both to the Church of England and to Catholicism in the same moment. It was a paradox he lived in, embodied, but strove to reconcile and resolve.
One day, when the miracle to make the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church visibly one is revealed, it will be thanks not only to theologians and negotiators. Many like Geoffrey have lovingly cemented the bonds of spiritual kinship over decades of prayer, service and ecumenical constancy.
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