My wife and I just returned from vacation. The first part was taken up in NYC where her sister lives. While there I did a mini "anglo-catholic"/classical Episcopal NY tour of my own making. It included a visit to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, daily mass at Church of the Resurrection, choral evensong at St. Thomas 5th Ave., a tour of St. Mary the Virgin, General Seminary (a picture of the rood screen in their chapel of the Good Shepherd to the left), and Trinity Church. I had been to some of these places before, and skipped some others that I have been to a million times (e.g. Church of the Transfiguration). The history, artwork, and design in all of these places is really unparalleled here in the United States. To a certain extent it makes one feel sad that as a "continuing Anglican" we have few beautiful and historic institutions and churches such as these to inspire the soul and stir up the spirit. We can claim that these are rightfully ours, I suppose, in terms of our history and continuity with Anglican and Catholic tradition, but the fact remains that they are not ours. For we have chosen to walk apart from the Episcopal Church for the sake of the Catholic faith, and so have lost our "rights", as it were, to these places. Some might think that real Christianity doesn't need gorgeous wood carving, floor tile, stained glass, etc.. And to the extent that they do not add to our salvation they are right. But we must not forget that the Catholic faith is incarnational and sacramental, and these beautiful edifices express and communicate the Anglican and Catholic faith and tradition, which is ours. In that sense the beauty of church architecture and decoration is supremely important.
The Tractarians writings and preaching only did so much to restore the fullness of the Catholic tradition to the English Church. The group that did the rest (and had even more of an influence in this area) was the Cambridge Camden Society, who were devoted to the science of ecclesiology (used in its original sense of "church building"), to to matters of decoration and ritual. Without their concurrent work in this area, the influence of the Tractarians would have been less far-reaching. I think those of us who would seek to continue the Anglican and Catholic faith today should pay more attention to the outward and artistic forms of our worship and churches as much as possible. To read our sublime liturgy and sing our gorgeous hymns in a drab and hideous setting not only undercuts its effectiveness, but makes a mockery of it.
