The first principle of the Ordinariate is then about Christian unity. St. Basil the Great, the Church’s greatest ecumenist, literally expended his life on the work of building bridges between orthodox brethren who shared a common faith, but who had become separated from one another in a Church badly fragmented by heresy and controversy. He taught that the work of Christian unity requires deliberate and ceaseless effort...St. Basil often talked with yearning about the archaia agape, the ancient love of the apostolic community, so rarely seen in the Church of his day. This love, he taught, is a visible sign that the Holy Spirit is indeed present and active, and it is absolutely essential for the health of the Church.

- Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, Homily on the Occasion of his Formal Institution as Ordinary

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Interview with Fr John Saward on the restoration of SS Gregory & Augustine

January 20, 2009
by Joseph Shaw

[Note: Fr. Saward will be one of the speakers at the 2009 Anglican Use Society Conference to be held June 11-13 in Houston, Texas.]

(For a previous post on Fr Saward, who is a widely published theologian, in the NLM see here; for the parish website, with more photographs of the church including what it looked like before the restoration, see here.)

Fr John, can you tell us a little about the history of the church, and what it was like when you became Priest in Charge?

The parish of SS. Gregory and Augustine – traditionally called “St Gregory’s” for short – was established in 1912. It lies to the north of the Oratorian parish of St Aloysius, and includes in its boundaries the village of Wolvercote. St Gregory’s has many literary connections: former parishioners include Graham Greene, the poet Elizabeth Jennings, and J. R. R. Tolkien; Monsignors Ronald Knox and Vernon Johnson also came here as visiting preachers...
Read in full at The New Liturgical Movement blog.
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