Bishop Ratteray chastised the Church in the West for its “utterly confusing and conflicting messages that are being sent out with regard to sexual morality,” including homosexuality.

“For our disunity, our seeming lack of cohesion on doctrinal matters and in others areas is seen as a sign of considerable weakness and a reason to pay us little or no attention,” the bishop told the congregation.

Bishop Ratteray told the gathering that instead of the world telling the Church to accept its moral standards, the Church should be bearing witness to the Gospel, calling the world to repentance, and defending its own time-honed doctrines and morality.

“We do have a Gospel to proclaim, and that Good News is centered on the fact that Christ is Risen and that He is Lord and King. This was essence of the preaching of the Apostolic Church, and who are we to change that?” the bishop asked.

Bishop Ratteray contrasted the timidity, misdirection and backwardness of today’s Church leaders with the leaders of the Apostolic Church. “[W]ithout the enthusiasm, the dedication and fierce faith of the Apostles, the Church would not exist!” he said.

“The Church in our day needs the same level of courage, determination, enthusiasm and faithfulness that drove the Apostolic Church and caused her to spread so widely and rapidly in the early years,” Bishop Ratteray said.

“The spread of the Church in her early years was largely due to the conviction of the disciples that Christ had been raised from the dead. Had there not been that firm belief there would not have been a Church,” Bishop Ratteray said.

“Only because of this were they able not only to travel widely preaching and teaching, but also were willing to put their lives at risk in the process. That could not have happened on the basis of some myth or spurious belief. But they were driven by a sure and certain experience of the Risen Christ. For they were witnesses of that fact,” the bishop told the gathering.

Bishop Ratteray noted that a passion for the Gospel has spread rapidly in Africa and enabled the Church there to “be a bright and burning light in a world that is so full of darkness and misery in these days.”

Bishop Ratteray said the Church was under assault from within by those who had abandoned the doctrines and moral standards of the faith. “The creedal statements of the Church are no longer held in the esteem of old. To say nothing of disrespect for the Sacraments of the Church.”

The Bishop of Bermuda faulted the movement among Anglicans in Australia to allow lay people to celebrate the Holy Eucharist as an example of the Church drifting away from its moorings.

More than 100 participants, most from Baltimore and its surrounding cities and towns, attended the festival.

Mount Calvary was one of the first parishes in North American to realize the devotion of the second Oxford Movement in the late 19th century. Mount Calvary was also reportedly the first Anglican parish in North America to celebrate the mass daily.

The parish has remained faithful to its Anglo-Catholic calling and heritage under its present rector, Fr. John Klein, SSC, and assistant priest, Fr. Charles McClean, SSC.

The festival was attended by members of Mount Calvary, as well as Grace and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore and other parishes in the Maryland diocese.

There were also representatives from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Bladensburg, Md., the Church of Ascension & St. Agnes in Washington, D.C., St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on K Street in Washington, D.C., and Christ Church in Willliamsport, Pa., among others.

Following the mass, the participants heard a lecture on the liturgy and theology of baptism from Fr. John D. Alexander, rector of St. Stephen’s Church in Providence, R.I. and a testimonial by Sister Mary Charles of All Saints Convent in Catonsville, Maryland. In the afternoon, there were workshops followed by the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

The music of the mass was Missa Tertia by Hans Leo Hasler. The mass was sung by the choir, congregation and celebrant. The service began with an elaborate procession from the sanctuary through the congregation. Most of the congregants joined in the procession, which is the practice at the parish.

Mount Calvary relies on Rite One from the 1979 prayer book with additions from the traditional Anglican service book.

The Bishop of Bermuda was resplendent in a 19th century white damask and crimson velvet cope emblazoned with the initials of the sacred name (IHS) in gold thread. The bishop’s stole was a beautiful example of pre-Raphaelite ecclesial needlework.

Fr. Arthur Wooley, SSC, former rector of St. Luke’s, Bladensburg, and Fr. McClean, SSC, acted as bishop’s chaplains, both in white copes. Fr. Michael Heidt, rector of St. Luke’s, Bladensburg, also processed. Fr. Klein acted as celebrant.

The procession stopped for a prayer at the Marian shrine to the right of the sanctuary before resuming.

Mount Calvary is a cathedral-style Gothic church that was built in stages. It lost its steeple in a hurricane nearly a century ago and it has not been rebuilt.

The church is graced with handsome classical 19th century stained glass windows on the walls on either side of the pews.

The sanctuary features a marble and mosaic tile raredos with twin angels and a central marble and onyx tabernacle. There is a hanging Rood (Christ on the Cross observedby the Virgin Mary and the Beloved Apostle John) suspended from the sanctuary arch, behind which hang seven sanctuary lamps.

The altar was aglow with candles. A relic of St. Edward was placed for adoration at the epistle side (right side) of the tabernacle.

Reflecting the style of the Rood, both the Lady Chapel and entrance to the sacristy were adorned by images of Christ and the saints.

Mr. England is an Anglo-Catholic writer living in Washignton, DC.

END