What possible reason could there be for someone who is Anglican/Episcopal and faithful to the theology of historic Christianity, not to be drawn to that greatest of churches within the Western tradition, the Roman Catholic Church? It is remarked by many that over the last few decades there has been a steady movement of Anglicans to Rome whenever the leaders in the Episcopal or Anglican Church advance teachings which do not accord with Scripture. Yet, the migration to Rome is … [Read more...]
Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox views on the Real Presence – a debate
A mild uproar breaks out ! After the posting of Anglican understandings of the Eucharist, a Reflection with choral Music a debate broke out of which the opening posts follow below From Messrs Liam Warner, Drew Keane and Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff (The original webcast that provoked them can still be heard via this link: https://soundcloud.com/user-140188366/corpus-christi-reflection-on-anglican-understandings-of-the-eucharist ) Pictured above (Above left to right: … [Read more...]
Reflection on Holy Communion – with choral music.
The Lord's Supper, Nicholas Poussin From his Second Series of seven paintings on the Sacraments, painted in a style that is very consciously not Baroque, for his friend the French ambassador to the Papal Court, Paul Freart de Chantelou from 1644 to 1648. To access the audio. please click the following link https://soundcloud.com/user-140188366/corpus-christi-reflection-on-anglican-understandings-of-the-eucharist Introit: Cibavit eos -- William Byrd (1540-1623) (Antiphon) … [Read more...]
Dr Crouse on “The practice of Christian love”
Dr. Crouse in Convocation Robes, The University of King's College Halifax “The practice of Christian love” Sermon for The First Sunday after Trinity by The Revd. Dr. Robert D. Crouse In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our si ns. Beloved, if God so loved us, we … [Read more...]
Archbishop Welby really is very, very, sorry
Justin Welby prostrate in apology at the Sikh Golden Temple of Amritsar What should the world be expected make of someone who said that they were complicit in the bombing of a city, a massacre in India, offending gay people, had inadequately responded to child abuse, has white advantage and is systemically racist? Then again, how does it affect things when he explains that he is also very very sorry about all this? Does it change anything when the person announcing these things … [Read more...]
Nominalism and the Good Life – a Reflection with choral music
The Triumph of the Virtues (Mategna) 1502, Musée du Louvre, Paris. To hear the audio please click on the following link: https://soundcloud.com/user-140188366/nominalism-lent-the-anglican-way-in-lent-3 (This was originally recorded during the season of Lent) Anthem: O Lord, the maker of all things -- William Mundy (c1529-1591) (from The King's Primer, 1545; a poetical version of Te lucis ante terminum) Anthem: The Lord is King, Z 69 (A setting of Psalm 93)-- … [Read more...]
The First Prayer Book Royal Funeral: arranged by the Catholic Queen Mary for Edward VI
The First Prayer Book Royal Funeral: King Edward VI “Edward the sixth by the Grace of God King of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and on earth under Christ supreme head of the Churches of England and Ireland and he migrated from this life on the 6th day of July in the evening at the 8th hour in the year of our Lord 1553 and in the 7th year of his reign and in the 16th year of his age”. So reads the inscription on Edward’s coffin as transcribed and … [Read more...]
Royal Funerals, St George’s Chapel and the Royal Vaults (3): King George V, VI and later
Queen Mary stands facing the Catafalque of King GeorgeV just before the Commital With King Edward VIII (later Duke of Windsor) to the right of the Catafalque 20th January 1936 Below King Edward VIII can be seen just after scattering earth on the Coffin Her Majesty The Queen just after she has sprinkled earth on the coffin of her father King George VI the Catafalque having just descended at the Committal on 15th February, 1952 Just behind the Queen (to her left) … [Read more...]
Royal Funerals, St George’s Chapel and the Royal Vaults Part 2
The Procession carrying into the nave of St George's the coffin of Prince Albert in 1861 Prince Albert and Queen Victoria and the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore It was thought unseemly for women to attend funerals at that time lest they break down with emotion, so neither Queen Victoria nor their daughters Alice (later Grand Duchess of Hesse und Rhine, Great Grandmother of Prince Philip), Helena (later Princess Christian von Schleswig-Holstein) and Louise (Later … [Read more...]
Royal Funerals, St George’s Chapel Windsor and the Royal Vaults, Part 1
The Royal Vault as drawn in 1873 (With the coffins of George III and his family at the far end) The funeral of HRH Prince Philip has served to remind that it is not just Westminster Abbey that comprises a Pantheon of British Royalty. Such also is St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. As the slow but impressive drama of the gradual descent from view of the entire catafalque at the Committal at very the end of the funeral of Prince Philip made clear, immediately below the chapel, … [Read more...]
Reflection and Choral Evensong commemorating St Gilbert of Sempringham
Introit : Praise ye the Lord, ye children (Ps 113:1-4) -- Christopher Tye (1500-1572) Preces and Responses*: Wlliam Smith of Durham (1603-1645) Psalm 23: Dominus regit me -- Sir John Goss (1800-1880), The Lord is my shepherd; * therefore can I lack nothing. 2 He shall feed me in a green pasture, * and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort. Magnificat sexti toni -- Adrian Willaert (1490-1562) Nunc dimittis tertii toni -- Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) Reflection on St … [Read more...]
Fr. Gavin Dunbar reflects on Michelangelo and the Conversion of Saint Paul
The Conversion of St Paul, Michelangelo, The Pauline Chapel, The Vatican (public domain) Scripture narratives are not just narratives. They don’t just tell us about persons and events: they are also reflections on the meaning of those events for faith; and this significance is conveyed by the way the story is told, by the selection of details, and the choice of words to describe them. A good preacher will bring out the significance of these stories for faith; and some of the best preachers … [Read more...]
Choral Evensong with Reflection for the Commemoration of St Thomas Aquinas
Image above taken from the upper tier of a polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) painted by Carlo Crivelli in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche, now in the National Gallery, London, originally placed with Saint Francis at the opposite end of the altarpiece with both looking up at the Lamentation over the Dead Christ, which was originally in the centre panel of the upper tier (now in New … [Read more...]
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – Address and Vigil service
The sisters of the Community of Grandchamp in Switzerland were invited by the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity to produce the liturgical material for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity this year. The link below may be used to access the Audio of a webcast from the 2nd of three Vigils held over the course of the week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in this case held jointly (online) by the congregations of The Grosvenor Chapel Mayfair and the … [Read more...]
New Archbishop of Dublin makes waves – on women Deacons, Priests, same-sex unions and clerical celibacy
Considerable interest has been generated far beyond the shores of Ireland by the recently announced appointment of Dermot Farrell as the new Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, in succession to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin a former Vatican diplomat. The Archbishop elect gave a long interview to the Irish Times that has occasioned alarm among traditional Roman Catholics who understood him to have stated that he is "in favor of women deacons and married priests. He does not find in … [Read more...]
The Revd. Dr. Robert Crouse remembered
The Rt. Revd Anthony Burton, of the Parish of the Incarnation in Dallas, yesterday noted the tenth anniversary of the death of the Revd. Dr Crouse with this tribute on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bishopburton The Rev. Dr. Robert Crouse, one of the most influential Canadian theologians of his generation, died ten years ago tonight in his rural childhood home on Crouse Road, Crousetown, Nova Scotia, where his family had lived for more than 200 years. He was 80. He … [Read more...]
Choral Evensong upon the occasion of the Feast of St Aelred of Rievaulx
Illumination from a manuscript of St Aelred's Life of Edward the Confessor Showing St Aelred in monastic habit kneeling before King Henry II To hear the Audio please click on the link below: https://soundcloud.com/user-140188366/evensong-upon-the-feast-of-st-aelred-of-rievaulx Opening Anthem: Memento mei Paweł Łukaszewski (born 1968), Mark Dwyer, conductor Memento mei, Domine, dum veneris in regnum tuum. Remember me O Lord, when thou comest into thy kingdom. (cf … [Read more...]
Why follow the Anglican Way? A question answered in the writings of Dr Peter Toon
The Revd. Dr. Peter Toon (1939-2009) A long serving President of the Prayer Book Society and Editor of its Magazine WHY FOLLOW THE ANGLICAN WAY? The Anglican Way is both Ancient and Modern In religion what has been believed, taught and confessed for centuries and what has been prayed, tested and performed during two millennia is more likely to be a sound guide in our quests to find God than modern insights which pay no attention to “ancient wisdom.” In the Anglican Way, … [Read more...]
“A Prize Charlie” – A. N. Wilson on the Archbishop of Canterbury
The Crisis in the Episcopate “I do not suppose there is a single person in the country who finds Justin Welby an inspiring figure. Whether we think of his egotistical gesture of celebrating the Easter liturgy from the kitchen of a dismal flat in Lambeth Palace, or his recent suggestion that centuries-old church monuments, many of great beauty, should be gouged out in order tosatisfy his judgmental reading of history, the Archbishop of Canterbury seems like a prize Charlie.” So wrote the … [Read more...]
Of Alcuin and Antiphons…..
Raban Maur (left), supported by Alcuin (middle), dedicates his work to Archbishop Otgar of Mainz (Right) From the 9th Century Fulda - Manuscript: Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, cod.652, fol. 2v A reflection with Advent Choral Music including two settings of the O Antiphon: O Sapientia Organ Voluntary: Prelude on Rhosymedre -- Ralph Vaughan Williams Hymn: On Jordan’s bank (Winchester New) O Sapientia (the first of the “O Antiphons”) as set by Paweł Łukaszewski … [Read more...]
What is Common Prayer – by the Revd. Dr. Peter Toon
What is Common Prayer? The word “common” is used in all kinds of ways, and so what do Anglicans mean by the word “common” when it is associated with public prayer and worship? Since we are referring to the worship of our Creator and Redeemer, Almighty God, we can dismiss quickly the popular meaning of “common” as that which is ordinary, undistinguished or even of inferior quality. The texts of the services and rites used before God to address him are surely intended to be of high not low … [Read more...]
Richard Hooker on The Book of Common Prayer:
An extract from the "judicious" Mr Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book V, There is here a notably heavy emphasis upon the priority of corporate over individual prayer, of the importance of the holy place where worship occurs and of the vocation and holiness of the minister/priest who conducts the worship. Extempore prayer in comparison with the written Common Prayer is very much deprecated Private and public prayer This holy and religious duty of service towards God … [Read more...]
Reflecting on the life to come…
A Reflection on the Last Things interspersed with choral music (The image above - public domain - is part of The Last Judgment a triptych attributed to the Flemish painter Hans Memling and painted between 1467 and 1471 now in the National Museum in Gdańsk in Poland) To listen click on this link below https://soundcloud.com/user-140188366/a-reflection-on-the-last-things-for-the-grosvenor-chapel-in-the-parish-of-mayfair-london Hymn, Now is the Evening Introit: Almighty and … [Read more...]
Same Sex Unions: Pope Francis and Bishop Love
Same Sex Unions: Pope Francis and Bishop Love Some reflections It has been a curious week in regard to the topic of same sex unions which has so long excited contemporary culture. It opened with Pope Francis in Rome seemingly coming out in support of civil unions, in a documentary about him called “Francesco”, in which he observes “Homosexuals [are] children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out of the family or have a miserable life because of … [Read more...]
In Quires and Places where they sing,…..
The latest e-mail updates from the Society feature a number of Reflections and Evensongs featuring Choral music that we have been making available through the course of the current Pandemic. These webcasts have usually had a particular focus of which the figures above are illustrative as they have all been referred to: From Left to Right, on the top row: Bishop George Berkeley, James Boswell, Samuel Johnson then on the bottom row: Bishop Lancelot Andrews, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and the … [Read more...]
Choral Evensong with Sermon, Commemoration of Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667)
Choral Evensong with Sermon upon the occasion of the Commemoration of Bishop Jeremy Taylor, on 12 August, 2020, for the The Grosvenor Chapel in the Parish of Mayfair. Officiant and Preacher: The Revd. Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff To hear please click on the link below: https://soundcloud.com/user-140188366/evensong-sermon-commemoration-of-bp-jeremy-taylor-12-august-2020 Prelude: the Corrente from Bach’s Cello Suite no. 1 in G major_BWV 1007, transcribed for the Viola, … [Read more...]
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