Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

the Protestant Reformers protested against what Rome never actually held.He gave many examples of doctrines to which Protestants objected and triedto show that what Roman Catholics actually held was not what Protestantsthought they held. He was unlikely to win over true Protestants by most of theexamples he gave, and his footnote that the dogma of the ImmaculateConception of Mary promulgated in 1851 was not an innovation and did not gobeyond ‘the original deposit of revealed truth’ is very unconvincing. And heavoided the really big issue: is salvation sola fide (by faith alone), or is unionwith the Catholic Church necessary for salvation?Connop Thirlwall (1797-1875), 97 a ‘Broad Church‘ man, eminent historian andBishop of St David’s, writing in 1870, saw clearly that the recent decree of theinfallibility of the Pope put paid to any idea of union between the Anglicansand Rome. Only unconditional submission to Rome would satisfy theascendant Ultramontane 98 position.Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892) was a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford.He had an unusual spiritual journey, from Evangelicalism to an association withthe Tractarian Movement, and, though he was hostile to Roman Catholicism,to conversion to its communion in 1851, becoming its head in England asArchbishop of Westminster and Cardinal. He was a strong ultramontaneadvocate of Papal infallibility at Vatican Council I (1870). The imposing butsomewhat stern brick Westminster Cathedral is one of his many legacies toEnglish Roman Catholicism.Manning wrote an open letter to Dr Pusey, a leading Tractarian, on the subjectof the workings of the Holy Spirit in the Church of England. It contained adevastating critique of the Church of England’s doctrinal position. Pusey97Thirlwall (1797-1875) was made a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1818; he was aneminent classical scholar. After studying law he was ordained in the Church of England in1828. He wrote an 8-volume History of Greece (1835-44) and was appointed Bishop of StDavid’s in 1840. He was a liberal Churchman in the sense of not being either in theEvangelical or Catholic camps of the Church. He stood for liberal measures like the removalof disabilities for Jews, and supported the Government’s giving a monetary grant to theCatholic College of Maynooth in Ireland and it’s not condemning outright the views of theliberal Bishop Colenso on the composition of the Pentateuch, yet he was cautious about thevalue of the liberal Essays and Reviews in 1860. Thirlwall was one of the many clergymen,‘liberal’ and Evangelical, who were worried about the growing influence of the RomanCatholic Church, especially after 1870, when the infallibility of the Pope, speaking as Teacherof the Catholic Church, became a dogma.98Ultramontanism. A religious philosophy within the Roman Catholic community thatplaces strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope.Page 127