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St Nicolas' is one of those parishes in the Church of England
inspired by the Catholic movement which flowered at the end of the
19th century.
This renewal movement affirmed that our Church too is part of
the whole Church of Jesus Christ. 'Catholic' means
'universal'. The essential authenticity of tradition has
been maintained from before the Reformation, throughout history,
fanned to a more conscious awareness in the 19th century, and is
still alive and well today. Despite what some say, we are
not beleaguered and struggling. Anglicanism is a thoroughly
progressive and forward-looking form of the Catholic tradition,
showing how it can engage with some of the good and valid insights
of modern society.
Our Anglican forebears have deposited a rich spiritual capital
for us, and we hold our open and engaged approach to it in trust
for the wider Church.
So cessation and Roman Catholic 'personal ordinariates' are not
for us. We retain the widest vision for Christian unity,
encouraged by Pope Benedict's own deep desire for the healing of
estrangement in the Christian family, but looking to a Catholic
ecumenism in which Anglicans will take their own honoured place.
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