Anglo-Catholics and Tightly Constricted Testicles

I was quite pleased to read the sermon preached at Pusey House this past weekend by The Revd Canon Dr Robin Ward Principal of St Stephen's House Oxford. Dr Ward is one of the fine voices in the Anglo-Catholic tradition who knows the inevitable for those who find themselves within an ever-growing and developing Catholic understanding of communio.

The occasion of the sermon is Pusey House's 125th anniversary since its founding. You can read about the house in other places on line. It is a place that I continue to have a great affection for as a result of Father Jonathan Baker's labours for the Catholic Movement from within its walls and beyond.

I would have loved to have been there for this opening line of the sermon: The sinews of Behemoth’s testicles are tightly constricted (Job 40.17). What was going to possibly follow that line!!! I must admit that I really struggled with the sort of picture I would place on here to go along with the title that came from Canon Ward's sermon but I'll happily spare the readers any object lessons. Instead, just a nice relaxed photo of Canon Ward at the event!

What was wonderful about the sermon to me was Father Ward's ability to put into words the reality facing those Catholic-minded Anglicans who do not balk at the idea of an infallibility of the Pope. In his concluding remarks, he makes clear what is absolutely necessary for all those who see the end result of cafeteria catholicism which is simply getting dressed up with nowhere to go. Here is Father Ward:

Which leads me inexorably back to Behemoth’s testicles. Pope S. Gregory the Great in his great commentary on the book of Job known to us as the Moralia, took this verse as a type of the perplexed conscience – the constriction of the sinews being the sign of the entangled nature of the moral choices which confront us. You do not need me to tell you that Catholic Anglicans are in a place of acute perplexity at this time. Our mission, the mission of this House and of all those who have served the Movement since its inception, is founded on a confidence that we have an authentic ecclesial mandate grounded in Scripture and Tradition, and sacramental assurance in the ministrations which arise from that mandate. We must be frank when we admit that the great majority of the Churches who name themselves catholic in faith, order and practice have always seen this in us as more a matter of assertion than fact. But for us it has not seemed to be a house built on sand. S. Gregory tells us that if we are hemmed in and held captive, then the best rule is to jump off where the wall is lowest – the shortest fall makes for the softest landing. If we are not to be entirely strangled by our perplexity we are going to have to learn to jump, because the basis on which we have carried out our mission in recent years – the doctrine of a Church of England with two integrities - is coming to an end. Blessed Pius IX told Dr Pusey that he was like a bell summoning people to church but never entering it himself; might we not hope for a better future in a larger room for Pusey House?

Read the entire sermon here.