or quaint?  Obviously I don't think so.  Indeed as a young man I was captivated when I walked into an Anglo-Catholic parish and discovered High Mass.  And I believe an Anglo-Catholic parish and its worship - particularly High Mass - still has the power to captivate.  And that is because what we do at Mass teaches something.  The acolytes do seem like a grilled army and you certainly sing like well grilled troopers. But the fact is what we do here has enormous meaning, which teaches something.  And that is why some churches have changed - because they want to teach something else.  And what we are doing here is what we have received through generations in this parish and the wider church.  Passing on that tradition which goes back to the apostles. Indeed, the meaning of the word tradition is to hand on.  And that is why we have tradition here - and that is why we are proud to call ourselves traditionalists.   

Sure - the language is old, and sometimes the music might be a bit slow, and the incense does smell, and the ceremonies are not the sort of thing you would do in the streets.  All of these convey a spiritual and religious meaning.  And great truths, which we believe are also found in the bible. 

When you include genuflecting and making the sign of the cross several times, one might say: why all this fuss on a Sunday morning?  Yes all this fuss…….because Jesus said "this is my body" - the most awesome words one could contemplate.  That is what we are proclaiming.  We believe that when Jesus said it he meant it.  Here we are not gathered around a table for a meal in memory of our dead hero, Jesus, saying how good we feel about ourselves.  We are here offering a sacrifice, the one true perfect sacrifice.  The life, death and resurrection of Him who is God made man. 

The very example of the way we do the Eucharist shows the difference here.  We take Jesus at his word.  We believe that when