There is a strong pastoral insistence on the unity of the Church Militant, wherein a deep family relationship exists between priest and layman, monk and secular; hence the Englishness of the Gilbertines and Margery Kempe's Norfolk. Our distrust of clericalism and authoritarianism is no shallow - or modern - trait, but the result of a long pastoral heritage, based on the doctrine of the Body of Christ. When the squire objects to the parson's biretta and lace cotta, or the Churchwarden rejects the advice of the vicar, we are inclined to say that they do not understand the Catholic faith and have no respect for the priesthood. That may be true, but their attitude is not wholly inconsistent with a truly theological tradition: Margery Kempe would agree with them, so would Richard Rolle, and possibly Aelred of Rievaulx as well.
The principle underlies the ascetical structure of the Book of Common Prayer. Seen as a system, not a series of services, it is the common basis for the Christian lives of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Superior of Mirfield, and all the schoolgirls who were confirmed yesterday. It embodies the pastoral spirit and domestic emphasis of the Benedictine Rule.
It follows, logically and inevitably, that Anglican spiritual direction must be empirical, not dogmatic; not as something amateur or watered down, still less because it is rather nice that way, but because our spirituality demands it.
Martin Thornton, 1915-1986
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