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.
Understanding aspects of the present Pontificate
The Rorate Coeli website, which always makes for provocative reading, has an interesting post around a report by an established Vatican watcher. This seesk to explain the thinking, as yet not officially declared, behind the inquiry into the Franciscans of the Immaculate and various other moves, seemingly hostile, against others of a Traditionalist stance within the Church. It can be read at Influential
Italian Vaticanist, bewildered, reaches shocking conclusion: "In the
Catholic Church, it's now Open Season on Conservatives"
This assessment appears to make sense, given the "Court Culture" as it describes it - not a culture of outward ceremony and deference, but rather the underlying ethos of any such hierarchy, sacred or secular, of the left or the right, whether now or in the past, whereby officials seek to conform their actions to what they believe (rightly or wrongly) to be the attitudes of their superior.
No comments:
Post a Comment