In England during the mid 19th century, a high-church movement swept the Church largely influenced by the Tractarians at Oxford University. Their architecture was Medieval Gothic. Their theology was orthodox. Their foundation was Scripture. Their worship was lofty and steeped in the traditions of the Church begun during the earliest days of the Church in the West and the Apostles of Christ. The Church, in their eyes was the Body of Christ, and as such they also believed that they had a responsibility for mission and social outreach. It was the high-church, Anglo-Catholics who went into the slums of London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester and ministered to the underclasses of the industrial revolution; Anglo-Catholics played a major role in bringing the Gospel and Anglicanism to Africa, India and Southeast Asia; and apparently the Anglo-Catholics are still at it in West Hollywood, CA.
Note this bastion of orthodoxy, high-church Anglicanism in a place that is certainly not known for such things: St. Thomas the Apostle. Also note who is coming and is active in this parish which features incense and Latin and an eastward facing Altar: they are those who have rejected the vacuous, anything goes attitude of the previous generation. People are hungry for the truth; they are hungry for churches that say and do things differently than the society around them.
That's what I think, anyway.
Fr. Michael+
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