Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Tuesday 16 November 2010

The Five Bishops and the Ordinariate

A friend has forwarded to me an expanded, online, version of an article by Professor Diarmuid MacCulloch about the Five Bishops (as I write that I wonder if they will be remembered like the Seven Bishops of 1688) and the Ordinariate from The Times of last week. You can read it here.

My reaction is, I think, to quote the immortal words of Mandy Rice-Davies "Well he would say that would n't he? "

I would merely add to that the point that if that is how their fellow Anglicans view Anglo-Catholics you can hardly blame the latter for seeking the full ecclesial unity that their position is predicated upon. The problem surely is for those who want to stay in a communion where they are not wanted.

Fortunately many, on both banks of the Tiber are praying for the success of the Ordinariate and those planning to avail themselves of it.

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