Notes on the 2006 Anglican Use Conference Audio CD set

I've had the pleasure of listening to four of the talks given at the recently Anglican Use conference held in Scranton, PA. In June 2006. The CD's were produced in conjunction with the St. Thomas More Society.

To begin, let me note that not all the talks from this conference are present in this audio CD set. One of those not included was that of our very own Matt Alderman of the NLM – however, given the visual nature of his talk, which pertained to a proposed Anglican Use church, this is understandable. That being said, four wonderful talks are included: those of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Fr. William Stetson, Fr. Carleton Jones, O.P., and David Mills, editor of Touchstone Magazine.

In the case of three of the four CD's, the talks given are essentially that of conversion stories. Avery Cardinal Dulles discusses his background prior to being received into the Church, as does Fr. Carleton Jones and David Mills. Conversion stories are often quite popular – most likely because they are generally interesting as well as being self-affirming with regards our own faith. I personally enjoyed listening to the various backgrounds of the three different individuals, as well as the different trials that they went through in their journey into the Church. It should come as no surprise that the recent Anglican Use conference is so dominated by conversion stories, after all, the Anglican Use is a movement based upon converts.

The fourth CD by Fr. William Stetson, a priest of Opus Dei, and a life-long Catholic, is an interesting chronicle of the pre-history of the pastoral provision, which, in detail, goes through the historical events and personages which led up to the approval of the pastoral provision by the Holy See. Quite interesting to say the least.

It is a most interesting CD set and details the interesting journeys of those who, like Cardinal Newman, sought at first to stay within the “via media” that the Anglican communion understands itself to be, but in the end realized that they must swim the Tiber to Rome. Whether or not one is particularly interested in the Anglican use (and I must say that I personally am), these Newmanesque conversion stories will at very least be of inspiration to you. However, for those who are particularly interested in the Anglican use movement, not only will there be much to meditate upon in that regard, but Fr. Stetson's detailed history will be of immense interest.

For the minimal donation that the St. Thomas More Society is asking for the CD set, its worth it.

Fore more information on ordering the CD's please visit the St. Thomas More Society of St. Clare Church