Arnold Harris Mathew and the Old Catholic Movement in Enland 1908-52
JOHN KERSEYmaterial from my earlier work A History of the Old
Catholic Movement in England (European-American
University Press, 2010) with an intention of providing a
more accessible historical volume aimed at the general
rather than the specialist reader. At its heart is a
biography of Arnold Harris Mathew, and the work then
goes on to consider some of the major extensions of his
movement, specifically the Old Roman Catholic Church
of Great Britain and the Liberal Catholic Church. In
addition, a profile of the Old Catholic Orthodox Church
is included. The period considered is demarcated for
convenience by the death of Bernard Mary Williams in
1952, which marked a period of significant change for the
Old Catholics and indeed which poses a considerably
more complex task for the historian, given that it is
during the 1950s and 1960s that churches which had
hitherto been united divided – and indeed sometimes
reunited - in a number of ways. Nevertheless, where
necessary and practicable in brief terms, certain later
events have been outlined for clarity’s sake.