Untitled - Rore Sanctifica

96 The Difficulties of Re-union.
natural expression of a people s religion, but
that it is also a most powerful means of teaching
that till
religion; then a congregation is brought
up to the very highest standard in this, their
bound to be ever in advance
Clergy are in duty
of them ; leading them on step by step, as
wisdom and charity may direct. We have an
and one
immensely difficult task before us,
almost as various in its phases as it is difficult.
We have need then of all wisdom, of all charity,
of all zeal, and of all
patience. The work will
need the exercise of every
one of these
virtues before it is accomplished ; and yet
accomplished it must be before England can
be re-united to the rest of the Catholic Church.
How can w r e present ourselves before Churches
which still follow unchanged the great Rite of
S. Chrysostom, and those who have preserved
intact the Order of S. Gregory and S. Ambrose?
How can we present ouselves before these
Churches in all the nakedness of our maimed
Rites and ask for admission to their communion,
or invite them to ours ? The answer would be,
" You
have not on the wedding garment ; we
do not know you."
But there is a difficulty which precedes this
of which we have now spoken ;
and strange to
say it is one in which, as in the other, though
not at all in the same degree, really good
religious people, and many of even the clergy, are