The "Naughty" Church - St Mary's Bourne Street, Belgravia

Bourne Street is my first “comment” recommended visit (thanks @philpackwood1011).
My visit followed hard on the heels of my visit to St Olav’s (see the last three weeks of videos) and I found myself continuing with Fr Sam some of the conversations begun with Fr Magnus - particularly on the subject of communion.
As a rather “Catholic” Anglo Catholic, Fr Sam dug deep on this subject too, extending similar themes from my visit to All Saints Margaret Street.
It's also a profoundly Anglo Catholic Church (with the emphasis on the second word) - but the priests have the wit and wisdom to be self aware about this and celebrate any anachronism.
Many thanks to Fr Sam Korn
#belgravia

[@fhugheveleigh2]

A most fascinating account from a rather wonderful priest. Learnt much. Thank you.

[@hereticatious]

Thanks for the feedback - my videos are only as good as the people to who take me round and Fr Sam was great.

[@matthewprovost5938]

What a lovely, genuine, erudite priest! Thank you for posting. Cheers!

[@hereticatious]

Thanks for the kind words - keep watching - more coming next week.

[@denisebutler4289]

Once again I'm amazed by the amount of information and the wonderful.way it is delivered

[@hereticatious]

This was a video where I struggled to make it shorter because so much Fr Sam said was fascinating.

[@liturgicalpodium]

I wish I could give this coverage 1000 thumbs up. The priest is very vast and knowledgeable about everything. Also, thanks to you for this wonderful episode.

[@hereticatious]

Saying a 1000 thumbs up is good enough for me. Thanks.

[@IanWard-rp6to]

If only all Anglican churches were like this. ❤❤❤

[@buffytoft3500]

It's genuinely intoxicating when you get to study not just the aspects of a London church but the speech and knowledge of a uniquely niche man. How do we all end up doing what we do?

[@hereticatious]

In my case I've just followed a random walk. I think I've been pretty lucky.

[@PaulCohen-m9j]

I used to go to St. Mary’s Bourne Street. Beautiful music. Beautiful liturgy.

[@maryc267]

Wonderful! 👏👏👏 Loved the John Wayne joke.🤣🤣🤣 and the clip-on clouds! ☁🙏 Looking forward to part 2.

[@hereticatious]

Awwwe - you're too kind!

[@markcooke729]

Fascinating! The church I go to is Anglo Catholic but not to this extent - I LOVE it! An Anglo Catholic church were I used to live went one further and had confessionals!

[@hereticatious]

@markcooke729 Bourne Street also has confessionals! Keep watching - I've got a whole video covering this coming shortly!

[@chriswade7470]

We have one

[@markcooke729]

@@hereticatious can't wait!

[@fortissimo49]

Fr Sam is wonderful, as is St Mary's, Bourne Street!

[@hereticatious]

I definitely left the church skipping.

[@dianapatterson1559]

The Oxford movement to the 10th power.

[@timbobsm]

As a Roman Catholic, I would love to stop in this church for meditation as I do in my local church. There are so many what we call sacramentals that allow us to meditate on all aspects of our faith Sadly so many Catholic Churches in the US have stripped so much of the sacramentals from the Nave, the Narthex, and the Sanctuary. I think that the pendulum is swinging back as some RC churches have been restoring some of these sacramentals.

[@hereticatious]

I think this church is open to public visitors in a generous way. People dropped in and quietly spend some time as we toured.

[@gerrymaher4594]

Very interesting beautiful church.

[@Paul9443]

Beautiful Church. I love the story behind it. 🙂

[@michaelriordan8265]

Many years ago I went into a church I thought was RC, they had Solemn Mass, Benediction, Rosary, Vespers and Confessions but there was something about it that made me feel uneasy, it turned out to be an Anglican church and they sometimes had a Latin mass, the building is still there but it's now a climbing centre, there were other churches similar with their beliefs, most have closed down, some are used for other purposes, this happened because the church of England decided to ordain women

[@hereticatious]

Keep watching - I've a detailed video coming very soon about C of E confessions at Bourne Street.

[@judithwhitehouse2149]

Enjoyed that! NB - recent Bourne Street Corpus Christi Mass online - with 'O Salutaris Hostia' sung lustily (by the whole congregation) to the tune of Parry's 'Jerusalem' shows just how very English they are...

[@271250cl]

Sadly I cannot get to St Mary's as often as I'd like (about once every seven years since I was 18!) but one thing I always remember about Sunday High Mass (apart from the lovely music and the splendid liturgy) is that the sermons were often laced with dry humour.

[@hereticatious]

I think humour is such a stand out feature of so many of the people who take me round - it grounds so much of what they say. Fr Sam and I definitely laughed the whole way round - and it emphasises the earnest bits when needed. Lot's of people have talked up the music at Bourne Street - I'll see if I can do something about it.

[@271250cl]

@@hereticatious Yes, the music is very fine at St Mary's and must be a big draw, I think. A feature on the choir would be very interesting. I've never spoken to him but Fr Sam comes across as a very engaging person!

[@xenia367]

Brought up Anglo Catholic I wish this church was in my area. Both church and priest are delightful.

[@RichardSmith-gp8zp]

It may well be time for this Community to come home to Holy Mother Church

[@RogerYng]

Or maybe stay Anglican, which is still part of “Holy Mother Church.”

[@crispinpemberton6951]

It would immediately lose its magic, being required to conform to HMC's liturgy. Broad Anglicanism allows this extreme expression to have place within the church family.

[@GordonSymons-BEYOND]

They will need an ordained priest, tho.

[@GordonSymons-BEYOND]

Jesus only gave the authority to forgive sins to his apostles -and they handed this on to their successors.

[@GordonSymons-BEYOND]

Jesus only gave the authority to forgive sins to his apostles -and they handed this on to their successors.

[@jeffreyhoward879]

Very informative!

[@FrJarelRB]

You should come and visit St German's Cardiff :-)

[@hereticatious]

Get them to invite me - I'll make the journey! It looks great.

[@user-ds8no1ro2q]

I could easily see this was not a Catholic church. The seating for parishioners had no pews or kneelers since Catholics stand, sit, and kneel during those parts of the Mass where the theme makes it appropriate. To one side of the altar would probably a flag of the Church of England instead of a flag of the Vatican. Apart from that, it felt Catholic, especially due to the beautiful altar with the crucifix prominently displayed. This was very enjoyable. Thank you!

[@hereticatious]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm just beginning to develop a vocabulary to distinguish this stuff. To me it's still just a really nice place.

[@samuelbcn]

These people treat the Catholic faith like a hobby. You can't just make up your own rules like it's fusion cooking.

[@hereticatious]

But I LOVE fusion cooking.

[@stephanottawa7890]

This is very good. One suggestion is not so many diversions and digressions (bloody flamingos and Big John). You have really some profound insights when you just stick to the subject at hand.

[@hereticatious]

But those are my favourite bits!

[@edwarddeburca8034]

I like the pulpit. There are too few of them in churches these days.

[@hereticatious]

I struggle to understand the controversy around this particular one.

[@edwarddeburca8034]

@@hereticatious Fascinating video, by the way. Many thanks!

[@philpackwood1011]

This is wonderful .Thanks Hereticatious ,where are you heading next?

[@hereticatious]

Feel free to suggest another - this one went very well! Thanks.

[@philpackwood1011]

@@hereticatious St Magnus the Martyr London Bridge is on my list but I'm not often in London,also St Silus Kentish Town would be of interest,bothl equally "High up the candle" Anglo Catholic Church’s. Thaxted Church in Essex has an interesting history due to Conrad Noel the "Red Rector",an anglo catholic socialist who flew the red flag and sinn feint flag alongside the St George's flag on the church!

[@angelah2083]

At 4:04 you insert a caption explaining that BCP is the Book of Common Prayer, except that you haven’t quite finished your typing - maybe go back and finish? It just looks untidy left as it is. Thanks so much.

[@hereticatious]

Well spotted - unfortunately KZbin doesn't really let you edit videos once make public - so I will just have to grind my teeth in dismay every time I see it from now on. I still prefer to know though.

[@ransomcoates546]

The hymn ‘Pange lingua’ of Corpus Christi was composed by St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. Quite naughty not to know this.

[@hereticatious]

I just listened to it - fantastic. I'm always trying to find ways to get sacred music on the channel - here's one place to start kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5nEd5tjgJlqe6c

[@FrSamKorn]

As it happens, I *do* know this! I can't remember what I said in the video as I can't bear to watch myself in it, but if I said anything different then I made a mistake during filming.

[@chriswade7470]

The High Altar Rerderos at Bourne Street is papier-mâché.

[@hereticatious]

But surely the clip-on-clouds are solid gold?

[@lozspennymoor]

There is no link to that Apostolic Church because of the use of the edwardine missal

[@liturgicalpodium]

OK we have heard you.

[@RogerYng]

If you want to play the missal game, or more accurately the Eucharistic Prayer game, you can’t avoid the fact that even the Apostolic Church used a few prayers that might not have met all marks of Catholicity.

[@hereticatious]

Thanks for this insight - I've just read the wikipedia article on Edwardine Ordinals. Now how can I turn this into a video I wonder.....?

[@liturgicalpodium]

@@hereticatious there's an organisation called Prayer Book Society chaired by Bradley Smith. It may be worth contacting him as well as parishes that are in the Prayer Book tradition, often called Prayer Book Catholicism.

[@GordonSymons-BEYOND]

“Naughty” is right Like innocent little children imitating their parents

[@hereticatious]

Ah - but some turn naughtiness into lifestyle. I did (although in a completely different way of course).

[@GordonSymons-BEYOND]

I sense a longing in some of the comments to come Home.

[@hereticatious]

Nice place to visit....,

[@margaretstewart5538]

Imagine having to work this hard to refuse to submit to Rome

[@pasavant]

Subtitles would be nice.

[@hereticatious]

I'm interested - I know the autogenerated ones aren't perfect - but they are pretty good. It's a lot of work to create my own subtitles - but if lots of people demand it - you could talk me into it.

[@stephanottawa7890]

May I note that we Orthodox Christians although we do believe that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Divine Species, we do not think it necessary to have a day called Corpus Christi. Basically we celebrate the real Christ, but not the theological aspects as does the RC church. The same could be said for their new feast of Christ the King. Of course, we believe that Christ is King, but we do not need a feast day to highlight it. Christ is always king.

[@dalegriffin6755]

In the United States the western rite vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox have the feast of Corpus Christi, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and the Feast of Christ the King.

[@hereticatious]

Interesting - but you do have some feast days?

[@dalegriffin6755]

@@hereticatious Yes of course, but they correspond to the Western calendar.

[@GordonSymons-BEYOND]

Oh dear. Do you know the origin of Corpus Christi? The miracle in whiz blood flowed from the consecrated host.

[@hereticatious]

Interesting, I guess it's this one en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_of_Bolsena . I still demand the photographs.

[@user-rq4iz5vg6l]

Is this a C-of-E church? I thought the church of England definitely does not subscribe to any form of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament based on their believe (or unbelief) of the literal presence of Christ in the mass. The C of E’s own 39 articles describe this belief as ‘repugnant’ so I’m always slightly bewildered by Anglican churches who go to such efforts to emulate something that fundamentally they have broken away from. I suppose what I’m really trying to say is rather than being a ‘naughty’ Anglican Church, why not become a ‘good’ Catholic one?

[@hereticatious]

More naughtiness next week (and the week after!).

[@peterchaloner2877]

Manse, you could say. Or chapel-house.

[@johngreatbatch6441]

This is a Protestant church

[@user-dt4cv6ey9x]

A somewhat ignorant interviewer? Has he been in a church before ?

[@hereticatious]

@user-dt4cv6ey9x certainly true. Of course the difference is I know I'm ignorant.

[@peterchaloner2877]

Naughty = your Transubstantiation effort is a dud. Failure to launch.

[@richardsaintjohn8391]

The Holy Ghost doesn't care about your narrow mind.

[@logos9434]

As an Orthodox Evangelical Anglican, it is full of cheap tat.

[@RogerYng]

“Orthodox” is a term used that has nothing to do with actual Orthodoxy.

[@logos9434]

@@RogerYng This has nothing to do with Scriptural authority and the pattern of the apostolic church.

The majority of the north eastern churches are Anglo Catholic if you are evangelical you are non conformist.

[@hereticatious]

@logos9434 What you say is not COMPLETELY unfair - not every artefact is a masterpeice (I don't think Fr Sam would pretend it was) - but the thing about Bourne Street is the ensemble. Together it all feels highly cohesive and well thought out.

[@logos9434]

@@hereticatious I prefer my church to focus on the cross not crucifix, the Communion Table and the pulpit. Statues do nothing for me.

[@PaulCohen-m9j]

I used to go to St. Mary’s Bourne Street. Beautiful music. Beautiful liturgy.

[@davidwilson4434]

Me too, Paul! Many years ago!