The Writing on the Wall, II
Kinsman, Frederick Joseph
THE WRITING ON THE WALL By FREDERICK JOSEPH KINSMAN (This is the second of two articles by Dr. Kinsman, the first of which appeared in The Commonweal of August 26.—The Editors.) MUCH publicity...
...In our separate ways we have been trying to make it plain: I in my little preachments for the toleration of all religious dogmas, and you in your magnificent efforts toward the realization of a "house of worship for all people...
...There is nothing ignoble in this attitude, which has been that of many great and good men who have shown a sturdy charity with instincts of faith and hope when grounds for these were lacking...
...Many reverent agnostics do this...
...which has rid itself of all denominational obligations and given itself wholly to the community . . . Bishop Manning believes in One Catholic and Apostolic Church...
...not the place, the man...
...yet because both during its Catholic life and during its Protestant occupation it was used as a place of burial, there are those who think that "an American Westminster Abbey" will be constituted simply by collecting corpses...
...If Manning proves a money-getter, the Virgin Birth may seem "essential" after all to those who wish religion certified by the dollar sign...
...It is only in our conclusions—which, of course, can never be conclusive—that there is any essential difference between two such bishops as Brown and Manning...
...but the two things must be clearly distinguished...
...But such considerations, it seems to me, are quite irrevelant...
...Roman Catholicism gives the one great example of unity in Christian faith and Christian worship...
...he is forced to swim with it, conniving at much he disapproves, and even at times giving it countenance...
...Those who have started down the incline cannot stop or stand up— least of all, move up-hill—and must inevitably land at the bottom...
...all honor to them...
...There are many curious distortions of ecclesiastical terms, one of (the strangest being involved in "an American Westminster Abbey...
...Anyone who gets out on Christmas, Easter and "Mother's Day" is counted an "habitual churchgoer" ; and if, on the special occasions, the auditorium is once filled to "seating-capacity," it is assumed that all is as well as can be...
...It is fair to ask how far the great church of Saint John the Divine will, or can, ever be used as a real cathedral...
...Catholics, on other hand, comprise all classes of all races and nations, agree absolutely in religion, though exhibiting all manner of differences in other things...
...When forced to admonish, he has been courteous, not captious...
...And what is true in the United States is similarly true throughout the world...
...The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine will undoubtedly provide renderings of the offices of the Episcopal prayer-book as beautiful, dignified and moving as can be found anywhere in the world...
...A unity of social amenities goes far to explain the bland ignoring of chasms of cleavage...
...you don't know...
...A cathedral is such by Catholic function, not by mere imitation of Catholic architecture—a centre of Catholic doctrine and discipline, the home of a spiritual father—not mere background for dignitaries...
...reluctant to criticize, though not irresolute...
...How practically can it differ from its Baptist neighbor, welcoming all "irrespective of dogma," except that in the sphere of undogmatism a modern Arius can accomplish more than a modern Athanasius...
...For centuries Protestants assembled to "hear sermons"—indeed they were fined if they didn't...
...but we are fundamentally one...
...the modern sort, evasive but comfortably courteous, are much better...
...Although lacking artistic accessories common in Protestant churches, the Mass draws the Catholic millions in a way with which nothing competes...
...If, however, it rests on Divine revelation, it involves submission of the human intellect and will to God through Christ...
...Absolute license for individual views is often made substitute for this—but it is no equivalent...
...It is quite true that I have been adjudged guilty of heresy...
...These offices, with their great blocks of Catholic devotion from missal and breviary expressed in majestic English, are very edifying to those who do not know the Catholic realities for which they are substitutes...
...One of the most significant changes effected by Protestantism was the supercession of the Mass by the sermon...
...The old-fashioned preachers, each postulating personal infallibility, are unjustified...
...MUCH publicity has been given to the activities of Bishop Manning and his efforts to deal with manifestations of modernism in the Episcopal church...
...Bishop Manning, always loyal to the Catholic doctrine of God, has a truly Nicene sense of the dangers of Arianism...
...vision" of I see a church free and independent...
...merely my theology (that is, my rationalization of religion) was brought to trial...
...This is a noble expression of the High Anglican aspiration to serve as medium of unity for all Christendom...
...The prevailing temper and tendency, time and tide, the real indications of non-Catholic principle, move the other way...
...Church" is a form of Sunday entertainment...
...They have been doubly criticized...
...There have been difficulties and even doctrinal disputes in connection with the drive for funds for the new cathedral...
...Bishop Manning has more sturdy loyalty than most—but he has found himoelf identified with what is largely a dead letter...
...Creeds and canons may be cherished as individual views, but not imposed: ancient terminology must always be nullifiable by modern interpretations...
...Religion, we are both agreed, is deeper than intellectual belief...
...The Bishop re388 THE COMMONWEAL September 2, 1925 fuses to visit the church...
...We need a synthesis of the truth for which Saint Patrick's Cathedral, the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, the Russian Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine stand...
...nobody knows...
...Is it not reasonable for the pastor of the Community Church to view it askance as a rival, possibly infringing his own patents...
...Episcopal intervention, save for purposes of publicity, has no place in a system of virtual Congregationalism...
...Bishop Manning strives in vain to stem the tide...
...But when interpreted in working terms, the Community Church and Bishop Manning's cathedral propose to go about things much in the same way...
...let us make a new one...
...City churches are crowded from four to eight times every Sunday morning with a correspondingly good showing in smaller places...
...The New York services will doubtless exhibit the highest degree of artistic perfection, proving objectlessons to Episcopalians everywhere, doing missionary work in conversion to canons of good taste...
...and he would always wish it used in the interests of definite Christianity...
...This conformed to the assumption that Christianity was embodied, not in the Church but in the Bible—of which the sermon was exposition...
...but what will he be able to accomplish, and what about his successors...
...but he must not interfere with any who chooses to expound something different...
...Critics may allege that benighted Papists, being priest-ridden, simply pay their dimes at the door to avoid fires of the Inquisition...
...Yet he finds himself surrounded by many who rejoice in the erroneous and strange, and by many more who object to processes of banishing...
...Moreover, much talk of a cathedral must stimulate thought as to what a "cathedral" is...
...but this hypothesis does not explain the facts...
...Bishop Manning has noble ideals of possible uses of the great church for all sorts of people...
...Bishop Brown, who holds "Christianism to be but one version of the solar myth," and has been condemned by the Episcopal church for so doing, wrote to Bishop Manning— It is my hope, as I believe it is yours, not to insist upon the acceptance of one cut-and-dried set of opinions, but so to awaken the religious life of the people that all sorts of diverging opinions may exist side by side in an atmosphere of spiritual unity...
...The bishop makes a cathedral of any place whatsoever, basilica or catacomb, from which he chooses to exercise his pastoral authority— the man making the place...
...the correlative of Catholic bishop, the church in which the bishop elects to set up his "chair...
...The policy for preaching will probably combine evasiveness with alternation of contradictions—colorless canons interspersed with special preachers representing opposite extremes...
...Abbey" and "minster" imply monks Westminster the Benedictines...
...When will there be duplication of such successive throngs as crowd the hourly Masses in a hundred Catholic churches in New York...
...It is, after all, only one of the various pan-Protestant experiments at conglommeration of the intellectually and ethically vague...
...It simply repeats the Reformation cry—"The Church is corrupt...
...They have been given rope with which to hang themselves, but merely use it for self-exaltation in the public eye...
...free of tradition, independent of conformity . . . which will take no sectarian name, recognize no sectarian allegiance, achieve no sectarian work...
...Yet how, under existing conditions in the non-Catholic world, can he prevent his "house of prayer for all people" from becoming a house of talk for all teachers—or even a house of fads for all fanatics...
...Non-Catholics often belong to one class of society in one nation, all on friendly terms though disagreeing radically on many religious principles...
...We have now what Christians had when our Lord was on earth...
...Holmes, who invited Bishop Brown to his church, frankly repudiates the historic church and well expresses the non-Catholic ideal in his the church of the future...
...Some prefer unity in social status and manners to unity in faith and worship, age-long and world-wide...
...but this does not destroy our fundamental religious unity . . . We understand that—but the public does not...
...The Bishop, attempting to deal with defiant clergy, has found himself hampered by canonical technicalities and confronted by a compelling sentiment against heresy-trials...
...let us get along without one...
...We are not in the world without God and without hope...
...The authority of Divine revelation is expressed in Catholicism...
...but it is still true that the chief idea many have of worship is listening to talk...
...If theology be mere* private speculation, it should not divide men of good will...
...Those who build on sand cannot depend on spontaneous formation of concrete...
...May not the interpretation thereof be something like this...
...He is one who regards the true faith as sole guarantee of true freedom, and would see necessities of "drawing the line somewhere...
...Many efforts have been made to redress the balance...
...Possibly it is...
...The sixteenth century saw a great apostasy from the Mass—the twentieth a similar apostasy from the sermon...
...For Catholics now, as of old, the Mass is the centre of their life...
...Anglican clergy and musicians are masters of devotional art...
...I don't know...
...From time to time there will be "unsectarian" exercises of a patriotic and philanthropic character, but vaguely religious, fighting shy of downright Christianity...
...never going out of his way to pick flaws, though assuming in others the will to obey prayer-book and canons which he exhibits himself...
...He has done nothing which was not required by official duty...
...and it is quite possible that you concur in the judgment and intend to vote for my expulsion from the Christian ministry...
...On a basis of judgment which affords no foundation for a dogmatic superstructure, this is reverence and common sense...
...by those who think he has not done enough, and by those who think he should have done nothing at all...
...Holmes...
...If Baptist and Presbyterian contributors wish Baptist and Presbyterian trustees, why not...
...You are presumably most orthodox, while I, by judicial decree, am an extreme heretic...
...If contributing Jews choose to wear their hats in the cathedral, why not...
...What we need today is a new manifestation of the spirit of brotherhood which will draw us into fellowship, not only with our fellow-Christians of all names, but with men of all races and faiths, realizing that we are all children of one Father and all created in His image and likeness...
...but as he does not dance and as Confirmation as a "turn" is tame, the Boweryites go their rhythmic way rejoicing...
...Here is a phenomenon in the religious life of the nation calling for thoughtful scrutiny...
...Fundamentally we are one...
...The great Benedictine church in London ceased, strictly speaking, to be an abbey when Henry VIII suppressed the monasteries...
...Together we are looking for the highest, the most abundant life...
...There is handwriting on the wall...
...Shirt sleeves and lawn sleeves have shouldered the same burden— undenominationalism—and both have abandoned the conception of Christianity as a definite faith and life embodied in the Catholic Church...
...Old-fashioned Bible sermons have ceased to draw, but "snappy speakers" are in demand...
...And, more important, what are the realities of Mass, priesthood and espiscopate which a cathedral implies...
...Agnosticism is the necessary attitude for those who know religion only as a conflict of interpretation...
...I believe that deeper study of these values will show that they are not as antagonistic as they appear on the surface, but that in a great degree they are complementary to each other...
...So far as the criticisms are just, they apply not to the Bishop personally, but to the system he is set to administer...
...They assist regularly, and frequently receive Holy Communion in obedience to an ecclesiastical precept, believed to perpetuate a Divine command...
...But the Episcopal church as a whole is not back of him...
...they have only received a much-desired advertisement...
...he has done all that could be done in his circumstances, and done it tactfully...
...There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds...
...It is different with Catholics...
...They observe fifty-two "everybodygo-to-church" Sundays each year with half a dozen other days of obligation thrown in for good measure...
...The Episcopal xhurch affirms the Nicene Christology: and its bishops are under vow to "banish erroneous and strange doctrines...
...Their descendants are more intermittent...
...In a sermon preached in a Presbyterian Church he declared— I believe the time has come for a new synthesis of the deep religious values represented by all Christian communions, both Catholic and Protestant...
...the anarchy of private judgment emerges in agnosticism...
...but when closely analyzed, does not his own "vision" fall into the same category with that of Dr...
...and acting on this postulate, Catholicism naturally centres everything about the sacraments...
...The postulate of Divine revelation and of the Church as interpreter of that revelation, changes all that...
...The "Reformation" is a toboggan-chute leading from the one to the other...
...Bishop Manning will wish everything to move in a Catholic direction, having the sympathy of many individuals, of a party, of sporadic congregations...
...Money-raising, which covers a multitude of heresies, ought also to cover a modicum of orthodoxies...
...You are presumably most orthodox, I am extreme heretic...
...Many go to Mass every day...
...Nothing is more characteristic of Bishop Manning than the reiterated disclaimer of any "surrender of Christian truth...
...None who have flouted doctrinal standards and authority have been displaced or silenced...
...The Anglican system must only be applied so far as is consistent with unfettered private judgment...
...Yet the demand for "a new synthesis," "a Christianity larger, nobler and truer than any we have yet attained," natural enough September 2, 1925 THE COMMONWEAL 389 in one who has never held the church-principle, is in itself a surrender on the part of one who holds that Our Lord instituted One Church which has never ceased to exist...
...Fastidiousness as to the special tenets of contributors to a building fund would be like looking a gift-horse in the mouth—yet money talks, and when it talks religion, there are complications...
...This might serve the interests of the true faith...
...From the Catholic point of view, this is delicious nonsense, but it presents a serious practical problem for those who make similar presuppositions...
...Bishop Manning would wish it to be...
...Saint Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie defies all precedents of decorum and goes in for vaudeville...
...You and I, in the public mind, may seem to be at loggerheads...
...But you and I know better . . . My religion has never been questioned...
...Back of it is the assumption of three "branches," and also recognition of the good wood in severed twigs...
...There need be no splits, for there is nothing to split about...
...With no grounds for aught but scepticism and pessimism, if we keep bare vestiges of faith, hope and charity, we do well...
...Bishop Manning deserves neither form of censure...
...Holmes goes further, saying in effect—"There never was any church...
...and the known divergence in our point of view, in case you were to invite me to speak in the cathedral, would emphasize the truth I believe, better than it could be emphasized by anything either of us could say...
...Similarly, "altar" is the correlative of Sacrifice of the Mass—many altars implying many Masses and the persistent piety of many priests...
...The Bishop may expound Nicene theology, if he chooses...
Vol. 2 • September 1925 • No. 17
