Caring for the least of these

Wonderful, inspiring post over at the Anglo-Catholic by a Roman Catholic monk on Anglican patrimony:

Anglo-Catholicism confounds some of our progressive brothers and sisters
who assume that any people who use incense and say “And with thy spirit” must be
guilty of the unforgivable 21st Century offenses of intolerance, elitism, and
heartless conservatism. Somehow it has entered the received wisdom that, when
the Grinch stole Christmas, he wore a maniple.

I love the looks I get when I tell those laboring under this misconception that 100 years ago there was far more concern that Anglo-Catholics were dangerous socialists agitating among the poor and causing them to have ideas above their station. Most in the States know nothing of the great work done in London’s East End or that, closer to home, Anglo-Catholics created some of the first integrated churches and free
hospitals. Even those of us within the movement can too often forget that we
gained toleration for our liturgical practices only because of the incontestable
good that our predecessors accomplished through years of untiring service to the
poorest of the poor.

As a Roman Catholic Monk, one of my selfish interests in
the success of the Ordinariates is that they have the potential to offer the
wider Church a model of parishes renowned both for the beauty of their worship
and for doing a crack job at the Corporeal Works of Mercy. Too many progressives
find a liturgy full of folksy, earnest clichés to be the sine qua non of
worship, sadly revealing their unstated premise that this is the best that those
in need could possibly understand. Historically, Anglo-Catholics would have none
of this, believing dignified worship also dignified the worshiper who was
reminded whose child he was.