In our time, the ex-Lutheran Louis Bouyer of the French Oratory is a renowned theologian. Many of the things which he stood for and lived by in his generation are things to which Christians continually need to be recalled as the centre of their lives. Many made their first confession to Keble at a time when the idea of confession was ridiculed and attacked as a popish perversion. It is in some respects easier to depict the Oratory by saying what it is not than by saying what it is. Its members are not under any formal obligations of obedience as regards work or residence, though they have a moral obligation of consultation and of considering the general welfare of the Oratory.
Some corporate help is available for brethren with special needs.
The Manual of the Oratory describes the aim of the Oratory as 'the adoration of God in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ and the imitation of His most holy life' and it offers for the guidance of its members the seven 'notes' of fellowship, Liberty, Stewardship, Labour of the Mind, the Love that makes for Peace, Discipline and Joy. Speaking for myself I can at least say that without the Oratory I would have spent much less time in prayer than I have spent and would have been a much less satisfactory priest than ever I have been. All this is beautifully summed up in a famous Tractarian's free translation of a prayer for conformity to the life of Christ, by Fr. Condren of the French Oratory and M. Olier, that found its way into an Office Book for ordinands of the Church of England. The point for us is that the Oratorians were characterized principally by their spiritual focus on the priesthood rather than on solemn vows.