Sir: A. N. Wilson's article (23 July) has, joyfully, laid
bare the bones of the silent majority.
What price the Oxford Movement if the Church of England is allowed to progress, unwittingly, towards a unity with Rome, in form, if not in recognition?
If I wish to attend a Methodist service, I know where to go. If Rome is my choice, the choice is all too evident. Entering a Church of England, you ask the form of service: is it rite this, or rite that?
If we must dress up, how nice it would be to see a bishop, on formal occasions of course, dressed as a Protestant — all black and white: as Cramer might have dressed. And as for unity of service; who would offer 1549?
Mr Wilson is so right: the Church of England is no more. The wound inflicted by Keble has got peritonitis with the death of the Prayer Book. Vancouver will hardly provide any first aid. Charity to enemies is one thing: encouraging them is another.
Is there a voice to unite us in our Protestant tradition? Is there a voice to recapture, for the silent majority, the Church of England?
Bruce Bennett
101 Fox Lane, London N13
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