The Anglican Use Society of St. Bede the Venerable

Founding Members of the Venerable Bede Society

The Ancient and mighty Tertullian once asked, "what hath Athens to do with Jerusalem?" We'd like to ask a similar question, "what hath anglo-Catholicism to do with Collegeville?"

Collegeville is an ugly place that unabashedly shoots for a contrived and cozy get-along-with the world complacency. Anglo-Catholicism is about the beauty, or at least it should be.

"Abbot" John Klassen, an inveterate Old Liberal, has given his permission for the Anglo-Catholics to say Mass at Collegeville. You can see from the photos provided at the Anglo-Catholic, that the setting isn't the most appealing. Well, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool them all the time.

But now St. John's has another faux Catholic cyberspot in addition to its other one, "Prey, Tell", that's called, "The Society of the Venerable Bede".

Nevertheless, "charity thinketh no evil," and so we ought to rejoice that something good is coming out of Collegeville; yet, we must ask why the powers that be at St. John's would want to promote ad-orientem, Anglo-Catholic liturgy when such liturgy is opposed to everything they support. Could it be that they hate everything Roman so much that traditional Anglican forms of liturgy are ok? Or is the Anglican Use just the next liturgical experiment in an attempt try something "new"?


The Anglican Use Society of St. Bede the Venerableolic,

Archbishop Koch Says Protestants Have Rejected Real Purpose of Ecumenism

Robert Mickens and Christa Pongratz-Lippitt20 November 2010

Cardinal-elect Kurt Koch, the new president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), has accused Protestants of renouncing the original goal of ecumenism. They have succumbed to a relativistic view of ecclesiology based on shared communion between separate Churches, he said this week, and in doing so have abandoned the proper ecumenical aim of genuine unity.

“It is decisively in this postmodern mentality characterised by pluralistic and relativistic tendencies that is found the great challenge to the search for visible unity of the Church of Jesus Christ,” the Swiss archbishop said on Monday at the opening of the PCPCU plenary assembly in Rome marking the fiftieth anniversary of the pontifical council. In a theologically dense address to his first PCPCU plenary since becoming president last July, he said this mentality was found among not only Protestants but also “many Catholics”.

The PCPCU president, who is to be made a cardinal in today’s consistory, said the current crisis of ecumenism boiled down to what he called the two “profoundly different mentalities” that shape the way Catholics and Protestants describe the nature of the Church.

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Queen's College Concert at St. James' Catholic Church, London

Here's an ecumenical effort that doesn't give ecumenism a bad name. Treat yourself to the glories of Catholic choral music -- sung by one of the finest ensembles in England -- breath in the holy sanctity of the incense, like aqueous clouds floating in the firmament of the Cathedral apses. It's a universe of sound and vision. Special thanks to Royalcello for the mention.

From St James's Roman Catholic Church, Spanish Place, London, with the Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford.

Versicle and Response: Deus in adjutorium (Padilla)
Rorate caeli desuper (Guerrero)
Psalms: 110, 147 - Dixit Dominus (Padilla), Lauda Jerusalem (Patino)
First Lesson: Isaiah 55
Office Hymn: The Angel Gabriel (Basque trad, arr Pettman)
Magnificat (Morales)
Second Lesson: Matthew 1 vv18-23
Nunc Dimittis (Coelho)
Homily: Prof Christopher Rowland
Anthems: Ave Maria (de Cristo); Pastores, si nos quereis (Guerrero); O magnum mysterium (Victoria); Alma redemptoris mater (Fernandez); Verbum caro factum est (Lobo)
Organ Voluntary: Tiento y discurso de segundo tono (Correa de Araujo)

Organ scholars: Benedict Lewis-Smith and Matthew Burgess
Director of music: Owen Rees.

Podcasts and audio available:

Link here...