A friend of mine has been reading ‘Catholics in Crisis’ by Francis Penhale. Written in 1986 it was part of a Mowbray’s series on the Church of England. (At one time I had another book in the same series, ‘Evangelicals on the move’ by Michael Saward). My friend had been struck by the author’s portrayal of a movement on the decline and fearful about its future. ‘But I don’t remember it being like that in the 1980’s!’

Neither do I, which is why in this post I want to reminisce a little about the two Conferences held at Loughborough University in 1978 and 1983; and then the Caister Conferences, held annually (with some exceptions) between 1996 and 2008.

I was not at the first Loughborough Conference: my vicar at the time went, and brought me back copies of the addresses. I remember being deeply moved by one entitled ‘Consecration’, delivered by Richard Holloway. I recall his remark that priests usually make lousy prophets: they cannot see the wood because they are too busy caring for the trees. The second Loughborough Conference I did go to, though I remember little of it, except the evening hour of adoration led by the Charismatic Group (and presided over by a Bishop) – the first time I had experienced open prayer and the tongues in front of the Blessed Sacrament. A powerful combination I thought at the time – and still do.

The Caister Conferences (held at a holiday camp in Norfolk) were the initiative of the then Bishop of Horsham, Lindsay Urwin. He had felt the need for something that combined the elements of a Conference, teaching and fellowship, with a Retreat, worship and times of prayer. The Conferences were received with acclaim: with the daily centrepiece being an hour of prayer in silence before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. There was much getting-together and much laughter, as you would expect of Anglo-Catholics. (I am reminded that the first night of the first Conference the bar ran out! They had had a well-known Evangelical Parish there the previous week – bar closed – and were stunned to discover that it was back to normal consumption with this group of Anglicans!) Attendance at the Conferences varied between 500 and 1,000. Not bad for a Movement judged from outside to be on its last legs.

Good modern liturgy, hymns and songs from Gregorian chant to Graham Kendrick, orthodox teaching and lively presentation – all stuff which one could take back to the parish. The current obsessions of the C of E were far away. It felt as if we were on the move – and perhaps we were, though not in the direction that we imagined. For a time it seemed as if the promises made by the C of E about ‘mutual flourishing’ would be honoured. Twenty years later I am inclined to agree with another friend who remarked, “It wasn’t so much that Anglo-Catholicism was dying, but rather that it wasn’t being given the space to breathe.”

Many of us now find ourselves swimming in the much larger sea of the Catholic Church. In the early days of formation for reception we were wisely advised to try to put behind us the controversies which had filled our time as Anglicans and I hope that posts like these do not reveal an obsession with the past. But I do want to give thanks for all the blessings heaped on us during difficult times, and for the joy and hope which I myself shared with many others. And I hope that the patrimony represented in the liturgy, prayer, teaching of fellowship of Caister is something which we can bring into the Catholic Church.

I have been reminded of the great gathering of Anglo-Catholics in East London to welcome and celebrate the Millennium in 2000, “Christ our Future”. The Mass filled the 10,000-capacity London Arena, and was concelebrated by the Archbishop of York, David Hope, with more than 35 other bishops and 750 priests, and the preacher was the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres. So many clergy (visible in those days by the collar and often, the cassock) crowded on to the trains and tubes approaching the Arena that people stopped to ask what was going on. It was said to be the largest gathering of Anglicans to celebrate the Millennium. Significantly, it received little publicity in the Church or secular press. In spite of this, gatherings like this are of great value at the ‘celebration’ level (‘the more the merrier’ the books say) and Anglo-Catholics have been good at organising them).