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Show GENESIS OF THE OXEORD MOVEMENT O'Connell's Emancipation Act Set It In i Mot!on--Eear of Church Disestablishment Disestablish-ment and Subsequent Results. - i (Written for The Intel-mountain Catholic. , The Catholic Ernaneipat ion aci. a-d'in I-J'.' t through the influence and oratorieal powi r- of , ", illustrious Daniel ()" 'onueli, w.i.- ihe chief c.,n-. that led up to the Oxford movement from Uiiii $ Ritualism sprang. It nor only relieved Catholics .,! and Dissenters of civil a in I political ili-al-ilii h -, ' ;c, but it was au inro.-.d on the con.-tiiutioii, which i- ' hitherto made the State and the K-tablishrd chun-h i one and the same. .Xow that a new clement wa s '"if permitted to take part in the making and iinmak- ! irig of new and old laws, they might n- tbei- i-' power and influence in withdrawing financial aid lt- from the Established church. Thi the men of On- r-, ford foresaw, nor were they disappointed in their ? forecast. Soon alter the pacing of the Catholic ' Emancipation act certain Jrili sec.-, to which no bishop wa attached, were siiprc-od. and later i the disestablishment, of. the church itself in Ire-land Ire-land followed. .Mijrht. not ihe .-a me happen in Euc- ' land' The church, which was the creature of the state, was i'- slave. Its members, lo a great e.s- - '. tent, bad lost- faith in the establishment, as a me- ilium to save souls. To remedy those evil t.euden- ip" cies the ().ford movement strove to make t.he church independent of the .state, and to revie the. H sacraments and ceremonies which were abolished after the Reformation. Put this would mean that ?" f for three hundred years the K.-taMishrd church f was wrong, and that pailiament erred in suppress- .l ing Catholic truths which were taught and believed t in Catholic Kngland for a thousand years before j the Reformation. The strong prejudices which ex- ,s f isted against any Catholic tendencies drove many- ; of the movers either into infidelity or into com- " munion with the Non-conformists. Others, real- I izing that the old faith had been changed and the necessity of restoring what had been lost, withdrew their allegiunee from the Anelican church and, un- ' ; der ithe leadership of Dr. Pusey, formulated the "i creed of Ritualism. The claims of Ritualism are T ' (1) that it is the church of Cod, therefore it is in- r. dependent of the state, and (2) it is catholic, therefore there-fore in no way allied with" evangelical churches. mm To be catholic if was necessary to revive old ooso- 'if lete Catholic doctrines that were derided as super- -i stitious. and even pernicious, for three hundred r. f years. The claim was also made to apostolic origin, : and the right to a share in the commission given by Christ to his, apostles to '"go and teach all na- -ifd tions.' But how dispose of the real Catholic church. J! which is catholic both in space and in timei They f! may adopt her creed and wear her garments, but. ,. ' all this does not entitle them either to the Catholic. I name or the commission to teach and save soul.-. I Had the southern Confederacy been successful f during our civil war. and modeled their constitu- f tion on that of the United States, adopting all it.s r hnvs, they would not have been the United, but dis- ' united. States. The Ritualists to be Catholics must 5- be so in fact. But they ceased to be that for thr f hundred years, and nor only disowned but rs-pudi- )" ated the name. Therefore they forfeited all rights t to that name. That the Church in England up to the time of the Reformation was Catholic is im- ' deniable, because she was in. communion with Rome, the center of unity. The same sacraments ; were administered and tlie same ceremonies were ; . observed in England as in Italy, Austria, Spain and " other Catholic countries. The same Christian j ' truths that were preached in St. Peter's at Eom I ( were preached from the pulpit of Canterbury ca- ' thedral. But. all this was changed when Henry t VIII became the spiritual head of the English church. The unity was broken, for England wa I not united with any Christian body outside of th j island. The church was insular, not Catholic. Ca- I tholicity, without unity, would be like a square cir-cle. cir-cle. or a hill without a hollow, i. e., an impoaii- f bility. ; ' The Ritualists admit tiiat valid and legitimate ? t orders are necessary to maintain their standing a "j catholic. Then it follows that they must prove that they. are of apostolic origin, and commissioned L by Christ to teach. Orders and jurisdiction are es- f- senrial before one can assume tho dignity of a minister of the Gospel. MIow can thev pVeach,' ') M-rote St. Paul, "unless they are sent."' Both were t lost in England after the great upheavals caused L by the Reformation. The invisible continuitv j .claimed by Ritualists where there should be a perpetual per-petual visibility rests on the valid consecration of Mathew Parker, who was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Queen Elizabeth. That Mathew Parker was not validly , consecrated has been the general verdict, not only of -Catholics and Greek Schismatics, but also of Anglican divines in England Eng-land at the time. On this point it is well to observe that the controversy in England over the valid con- secration of Parker after his appointment to Can- terbury wai so bitter, and caused so mucl-. trouble ' among members of the establishment, that lie civil power was compelled to interpose and settle the ; matter. How was it settled i Xot by proofs, but by j the royal prerogative of the queen, who made it a penal offense to deny Mathew Parker's valid con- I secration. Her mere say so. though lav person supplied tho defects which were known to exist' Half a century later, when the same controversy ; ' began anew, the Lambeth Register, which has been ' proven to be forged, as adduced in evidence Tf i ' genuine, why not pat it in evidence, during the life- ' ' time of the supposed archbishop, or his powerful ally the queen, or when Bonner maintained that Horn was no bishop. ; Another difficulty romv up as to catholicity ; of Ritualism when the history of the English ! church for a thousand years is taken into conid- j eration. During that period it was in communion ! with Rome. If it was Catholic then it is not now 5 V because it has been separated from the center of i - .(Continued wi Pasc 1.). ' ' T of he iron hnqht (Continued from Tags 1.) unity for three and a half centuries. But if it was not catholic during1 that period of a thousand years it is not so now, because the apostolic succession suc-cession would be broken, there being no possible way through which the Ritualists could descend to the apostles except through Rome, with which alone : ft was united from the advent of St. Austin down to the Reformation. To be catholic at all it must be so in time as well as in space. To be so in time there must be an unbroken succession from Peter down to the present. Sacred orders which imprint an indelible character on the soul are not sufficient without jurisdiction. Catholic bishops, though successors suc-cessors of the apostles, succeed the apostles a3 bishops. bish-ops. There is no apostolic succession. But St. Paul tells us that Christ placed the apostles first, i. c, he made the apostolic authority the source of all authority in the church. From this supreme authority all Catholic bishops receive jurisdiction. Hence a catholic bishop could exercise no episcopal episco-pal function till his diocese is assigned to him by the Holy See. Greek bishops, though validly consecrated, con-secrated, have no jurisdiction, hence no. authority to ,govern the faithful. They lack apostolic succession, suc-cession, which was broken when they separated from the Catholic church. They are not catholic cither in time or space and arc known only as the Greek church. . F. D. ; .a. |