Evening star., 1933-10-24
OXFORD MOVEMENT
ITO SAVE Church"
Primary Object Outlined at
Cathoic Congress of Epis-
copaI Church.

~ the Associated Press.
PHILADELPHIA. October "a 4-Ten
Thousand Episcopalians were told last
night that the primary object of the
Oxford Movement was to save" the
church. not to change it.
Addressing the opening session of the
Catholic Congress of the Episcopal
Church celebrating the centenary of
the Oxford Movement-the religious
revival which had its birth in England
q century ago-Rev William A. Nc
Clenthan of Baltimore asserted that at
the time of the movements inception
devotional life was at low ebb and
the government was hostile.
Loyal Spirit Revived.
"We shall miss the point of the begin
ming Of the movement if we think that
1t was an effort to turn Low Church
into High Church and to introduce
ritualism, he told the huge gathering
pointing out that the movement started
at time when some definite attempts
had to be made to revive a spirit of
loyalty and devotion to the church.
Bother Father McClenthan and Rev
Frank Gavin of the General Theological
Seminary. New York. stressed the need
for asserting and explaining the divine
origin of the Episcopal Church. The
address of each expanded the evenings
theme, THE Awakening tracing the
movement from its origin to its later
developments.
The congress was called upon today
In a message by Rev. D. Carl Colony,
who recently retired as priest in charge
at the Church of ST. John Chrysostom,
Philadelphia, to "denounce Hitlerism
and its persecution of Israel"
-
America" the message asserted. Here
is a challenge for the Catholic Con-
gress."
Father McClenthan explained that
the familiar instinct for fixed ami
yersaries led to the adoption of July 81,
1888, as the date of the beginning of
the movement-the day John Keble
preached the now famous sermon to
his maJesty's judges"
Religious Problems Felt.
But we shall not have things
straight in our minds if we think OF
that sermon and the first tracts as
something sudden, with no preliminaries
behind them he said. o"There is am
pie evidence in letters and biographies
before 1888 that the problems of reli-
gion and the church we're felt and
analyZed."
The divine origin of the church and
the method by which it was perpetu-
ated through the centuries had to be
asserted and explained, Father McClen-
than said
1T had to be fearlessly taught that
the Church of England, not forgetting
the Protestant Episcopal Church in the
United States, was not a Protestant
sect, and that, in spite of defects, it
was part of the Holy Catholic
Church." he continued. 1T had to be
taught that the true doctrines of the
church were and are the same as those
of the first centuries of christendom.
when the church was not divided"
Father Gavin, discussing ritualism
within the church, declared nothing
so potently expresses the difference
between Protestant and Catholic chris
tianity as their respective types of wor-
ship"
Catholic worship is GOO -centered.
Protestant worship is at best a strong
man-ward reference" he explained.
The congress opened its four-day ses-
sion Monday after two days of meet
ings. The sessions continue through
/ Thursday. with the high point today
At a congress mass in Philadelphia
Convention Hall.