Fr Gresham and Our Lady
Fr Gresham used to go on holiday to mainland Europe before I knew him. He said he liked to go for 4 weeks to make the travelling of such distances worthwhile, and that he used to plan these trips for either before or after the Assumption on August 15th, so that he was back in St Paul's Bow Common for this Solemnity, which he used to consider a celebration of Our Lady's 'heavenly birthday'. (See below for his views on the Catholic Church's teaching about the Assumption.)
The church of St Paul's Bow Common had a Virgin of Vladimir Icon in a side chapel, and Fr Gresham once remarked in conversation that it "inspired great devotion" amongst the congregation. Indeed you used to see parishioners light candles and say their prayers before this Icon after the Sunday mass: particularly, I remember, some of the women. I found that sometimes the way Fr Gresham expressed such casual remarks helped you to understand. For instance, this helped me to understand about Icons.
Another example is the sacred heart of Jesus. When I asked what that was about, Fr Gresham explained it as Christ's heart being pierced by a spear at the Crucifixion, including all the wounds received at the Crucifixion. I found this helpful, and now like to pray the litanies of the Sacred Heart and the Precious Blood during the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.
I am not certain of the occasion, but it may have been a reference to the Sacred Heart of Mary that made me ask why there is such a feast for Our Lady? Fr Gresham responded in a rather exasperated way that, "It is because everything Christ has, Mary must have." I understood this as a criticism of the Catholic Church. Fr Gresham seemed to me to have a proper devotion to Our Lady.
Immaculate Conception and the Corporeal Assumption
(from 22/12/05 notes)
Fr Gresham said, "I don't believe in the immaculate conception, papal infallibility or the corporeal assumption of Mary. Dogma that a pope or a council has declared can be reversed. A new belief only comes into being when it is generally accepted by the church at large. That is when a thing becomes true."
"Mary, highly favoured. The translation of 'plenias gratias', full of grace, is ok. But you can't base a doctrine on it, ie the immaculate conception. The distinction is that Mary is 'full of Grace', whilst Christ has the 'fullness of Grace' (John 1:16)."
"The Jesuits said co-redemption, ie Mary has or is a part of it, is a heresy. Though God can only work through us. He can do nothing without us. God has created this self-limited power. God could not have come into the world without Mary's 'yes'."
"The initiative is God's. The response must be man's. God comes towards us and we must move towards God." Fr Gresham demonstrated this with movements of his right and left hands, bringing his fists towards each other.
(From 07/07/05 notes)
"The idea was that Christ would not have original sin passed on to him because of the Immaculate Conception, which says that Mary was born without original sin. Cardinal Newman was not happy about this Papal decree (defined as a Dogma in 1854) which he said was 'defining luxuries'."
(from20/10/05 notes)
"The idea that Mary was free of the taint of original sin originated with the English around 1000AD out of the notion of chivalry, protecting the little woman etc.," Fr Gresham said, and continued, "I am prepared to accept that Mary is sinless. There are some people who lead sinless lives. There are saints who had nothing to confess at Confession. but yet felt in themselves sinful. They are connected with the sin in the world."
(from the 07/07/05 notes)
"The corporeal assumption of Mary. An apocryphal story or tradition has it that St Thomas came and missed the death of Mary, so they dug up the body for him to venerate. But the casket was empty. But they don't think it through. Are they saying that Mary was resurrected and had an ascension? That she had a glorified body? (Or that she went straight to heaven without the period on Earth in a glorified body, and therefore) was 'one up' on Christ? The corporeal assumption was declared a dogma in (?)1890."
Original sin
20/10/05
Fr Gresham said it was made a dogma in (?)1859 by Pope (?). "From Genesis the story of Adam eating the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden is a useful way in picture language to describe the condition of man."
"The Catholic Catechism says original sin is passed on as a taint in the act of conception during sexual intercourse. Rather, consider it this way. A child is part of creation and is born into a society that is sinful. From it's environment it takes the good and the bad, and so absorbs and learns the sins of society. Or, that there is a division in everything and there is also a division within us. We know what is the good thing to do, but we don't want to do it."
(from 07/07/05 notes) "A baby isn't born guilty. It must pick up sins around it."
The Shrine of Walsingham
23/03/2003
Fr Gresham said, "Lady Richelsis was supposed to have had her vision in 1061. But there was no mention of a shrine in Walsingham until 100 years later, and then all the emphasis was on a statue of Our Lady seated with the Christ Child. At that time throughout Europe there was a fashion for statues of Our Lady seated with the Christ Child, and so England had to have one. And so a number of shrines sprang up, Our Lady of Willesden, and others, and also one at Walsingham.
Now 100 years after this there arose the legend at Loretto in Italy of the original house of Our Lady flying intact through the air & landing at Loretto. So this was copied at Walsingham, and the emphasis became on Our Lady's house.
Part of the legend is that when this house was being built, overnight it was moved 100 yards up the hill & completed by Our Lady. This is where there is some truth behind these traditions. Because a river is liable to flood, and it may well be the house was moved to be above the flood plain.
Also there is a dispute about the location of the Holy House. The Roman Catholics maintain it is a few hundred yards away in the grounds of the abbey. But when Hope Patterson was having the Shrine built he found an old well. When it was uncovered it began to flow again; there was a spring there. And old pilgrims' shoes were found, so he maintains it is the right site for the shrine."
My comment:-
Fr Gresham once said it is the use to which things are put, or the prayers said in places, that make them holy. So of course Walsingham can become a holy place of pilgrimage through the worship and prayers of the pilgrims, whether or not the legend about the place is true.
Some years ago I attended an evening study course at a central London Roman Catholic church. We watched and discussed a series of videos showing Marian shrines around the world. The cinematography was beautiful, and the presenter's (a popular American bishop) commentary was engaging and informative.
But I remember wondering at the way the American bishop spoke with such conviction and enthusiasm about Mary appearing in person to the children at Lourdes, for instance. If he had given a similar teaching video about the Incarnation or Resurrection, I don't see how he could convey any greater conviction or enthusiasm for those mysteries than he had shown for the Shrine appearances of Our Lady.
But we believe the Nicene Creed is true; whereas, to state it mildly, the various legends of the Marian Shrines may not be true. So surely there is a danger in treating them with equal fervour? What witness are you giving to the reasonable outsider? Perhaps the reasonable non-churchgoer might be put off by these accounts of relatively modern apparitions of Our Lady? She or he might not believe in them. And be put off the Christian faith entirely.
Again, the Virgin Birth and Resurrection are necessary beliefs; but nothing, really, depends on a belief in Mary's appearances at the Shrines. The Roman Catholic Catechism does not require a belief in them.
Fr Gresham, orthodox in his beliefs, also said he wanted "to have to believe as few things as possible".
Walsingham again
10/07/2003
When I told Fr Gresham I was going to visit Walsingham with the Church Union for the day, he made the passing comment that I was "going to unreality".
A Heresy, and Legends
30/06/06
Fr Gresham was sceptical about the notion that at Fatima the Virgin Mary had set the sun spinning. And he said, with some disapproval, that the vicar at Winchmore Hill had taken parties to Fatima.
I said I had attended an east London church service during which the priest had given a homily about how the Marian shrines, Mary appearing, had brought about the downfall of the Communist empire. Fr Gresham said this was a form of the Pelagian heresy, that man could save himself by his own efforts. "In this case the heresy is that Mary, one of us, saves us. Whereas orthodox belief is that salvation is through Christ the Son of God. Of course Mary and the other saints have a part in it. Mary's obedience, Mary's 'yes', is important. And God can do nothing except through us."
Fr Gresham mentioned the cathedral at Boulogne and the legend of the statue of Mary coming into the shore in a boat in (?)673AD, "the dark ages, when there were all sorts of strange beliefs and happenings. Civilisation had died between the the end of the Roman Empire and about the year 1000AD. England had broken up into small tribes all fighting each other. Only the monasteries kept some learning and an ordered way of life alive, and they became good farmers."
He continued, "People will believe anything. No wonder people will believe the 'Da Vinci Code' (a popular book at the time) when they are asked to swallow legends like that at Boulogne cathedral."
Put down the mighty from their seats
06/04/2006
Jack Putterill was the son-in-law of the Reverend Conrad Noel, and took over as vicar of Thaxted parish church when Conrad Noel died. He was the incumbent at Thaxted from 1942 to 1973.
Fr Gresham said, "When a young man came to Jack Putterill to ask him to sign an application form for membership of the 'Society of Mary', Jack asked him, "Do you intend to fight to put the mighty down from their seats?" (Part of the 'magnificat' exclaimed by Mary in the Gospels.) When the young man hesitated Jack said, "Come back when you have thought about that." "
Mary ever virgin?
(from 26/05/05 notes)
"The Roman Catholic Catechism says Mary remains virgin before, during and after the birth of Christ. This belief is from one of the apocryphal Gospels. The idea is to reflect the resurrection from the tomb. But if Christ did not have a normal birth he is not fully human. And Christ was fully human and so went through a normal birth experience."
I asked why they should want Mary to remain ever virgin?
"It is fear of sex; the idea that sex is unclean."
"The Churching of women. In the Prayer Book this is a perfectly good service of thanksgiving for the safe delivery of a child. But it came to mean a cleansing or purification of the woman after childbirth. And it was thought unlucky if an un-churched woman entered a house or other premises. In the war one was kept out of an air-raid shelter by other women."
A useful alternative formulation
Fr Gresham pointed out on another occasion that where the phrase "blessed Mary, ever Virgin" comes in the liturgy, it can be replaced with "ever blessed Virgin Mary", which has the same number of syllables and so keeps you in rhythm with the service, as well as making an orthodox statement of belief in Our Lady without declaring she is ever virgin. I think he himself said "ever Virgin", but I am not sure.
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