Restituere Id Quod Amissum Est

As Leader of the Movement for the Restoration of Christian England it is incumbent for us to say a few words. Above is our episcopal armorial shield, designed for the occasion of our consecration as bishop for Ecclesia Vetutsta Catholica. Our elevation to the episcopate took place in October 1991. 

Our spiritual odyssey is comprehensively chronicled in The Grail Church: Its Ancient Tradition and Renewed Flowering (1995), so we shall spare the reader such details here. It might suffice, however, to mention that we belonged to an Anglican choir whilst a school pupil. This was concomitant to our leadership of a Boys Church group within the same parish, a spearhead of activists at St Luke's.

Due to a disenchantment in our youth with Anglicanism owing to the manifestation of advancing modernism and liberalism, we converted to the Roman Catholic Church where we were (re)baptised at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, and confirmed at Westminster Cathedral. In our youth we were part of a Christian Movement where Traditional Anglicans, Traditional Catholics and some Orthodox people were found among the membership. It faded into the mist of time with the changing mores. This included the reforms of Vatican II which took down with it many of the crucial signposts, and made me again reconsider my position owing to a creeping modernism and liberalism in that Church. 

Decades later, and now in Holy Orders, we attempted to resurrect the traditional ways and old values known only in previous times when England was a kinder and truer Christian country. This group of activists, comprising priests and laity, was given the nomenclature Christian Restoration Movement. 

The CRM was the foundation for the broader Movement for the Restoration of Christian England, created but a few years ago; yet inexplicably dormant until now. Suddenly, and at a moment when the distressed cry of Christian Englishmen everywhere was loud enough, the Movement has been restored to life. At its heart is a desire to reclaim what has been seemingly lost and breathe the spirit of our past into it. What we have almost lost is precious beyond words. It is who we are. It is the flame of our existence, our belief, our culture, our heritage, our tradition, our identity, our way of life.