A comment on Eric Lafferty's Article, "A Channel Apart: Contrasting John Henry Newman and Félicité Lammenais on the Dilemma of Church and State in the Nineteenth Century," Newman Studies Journal 16.1 (Summer 2019): 28–50

Abstract

A comment on Eric Lafferty's Article, "A Channel Apart: Contrasting John Henry Newman and Félicité Lammenais on the Dilemma of Church and State in the Nineteenth Century," Newman Studies Journal 16.1 (Summer 2019): 28–50 Claudine Blanchard (bio) The issue of the relationship between the church and the state was at the core of Catholic concerns in 1830s France after the accession of King Louis-Philippe to the throne. Following W. G. Roe, Lafferty presents Lamennais's political thought compared to Newman's more practical views and explains the influence Lamennais may have had on Newman.1 I would like to complete this study, looking from the French side of the channel and ask a question: If Lamennais was not interested in liturgy, but rather in politics, and if it is true that his doctrine influenced the Tractarians, then what made the Oxford Movement a liturgical movement? In the first decades of the nineteenth century, France's eyes were turned to England, which appeared to have made political and ecclesial choices that were both modern (constitutional monarchy) and dangerous (a schism with Rome). Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821), one of the first theorists of the European counter-revolution, believed the pope should be the arbiter of the restored rulers of Europe. The submission to Peter's successor was for him the guarantee of a truly orthodox Christianity. He went so far as to think that Protestantism, in its schismatic tendency, produced revolution.2 Maistre invited his readers to "compare this strength and fertility to the absolute nullity of this same Church detached from the root."3 He called for unity and the gathering of all Christians around the pope: first the French Catholics (especially the so-called "Gallicans"), then [End Page 117] the Protestants in general, starting with the Anglicans who, according to him, were to open the way back to Rome. The Church of England was then shown as the typical example of what would become of the Gallican Church if she cut herself completely from her source: that is, Rome. The English example was then brandished as a threat. Maistre inspired several generations of Catholic thinkers, starting with Félicité de Lamennais who himself had disciples such as Charles de Montalembert, Henri Lacordaire, and Prosper Guéranger, the (re) founder of Solesmes Abbey in 1833. On the other side of the channel, the Oxford Movement in the 1830s raised the issue of the establishment of the church. The so-called "Tractarians" published 90 tracts (leaflets), mainly from 1833 to 1841, on subjects such as the church, theology, and liturgy. This movement started at Oriel College and was led by John Henry Newman (1801–1890), Hurrel Froude (1803–1836), John Keble (1792–1866), and Edward Pusey (1800–1882), all of whom were respectable clergymen of the University of Oxford. As ardent defenders of the Anglican Church, Newman, Keble, and Froude initially reacted against the 1829 law on Catholic emancipation, which they considered an inacceptable interference in the affairs of the church: How could the Church of England subsist as such if Catholics were now allowed to sit in parliament? In that context, Erastianism4—the subordination of the church to the state for religious matters—appeared to be failing. They embarked on research about the true nature of the church and decided to go to the source, reading the fathers of the church to seek the real foundation of their national church. The fruit of their research appears in their tracts in which they invoked the need to find the foundation on which the authority of the church is built.5 The question was about the nature of the church and tradition: What provides authority and defines the true church of Christ? French Catholics were wondering what was happening in England as they were also trying to rethink their relationship with the state after the still-recent trauma of the revolution. They looked to the Oxford Movement with great interest and hope. John Henry Newman had begun to read the fathers chronologically and critically, beginning in July 1828. He had discovered the liturgy by reading The Christian Year published in 1827 by his friend John...