Joseph P. Duggan: Levi and Rebecca Ives—America’s Forgotten Newman Story?

Posted by Kendall Harmon

For those who have just witnessed Pope Benedict's beatification of John Henry Newman, a relevant, and heretofore largely neglected, story is that of Levi and Rebecca Ives. Today married Anglican and Episcopal clergy converting to Rome frequently are admitted to the Roman Catholic priesthood. This did not happen in the 19th century. Today departures of clergy from Canterbury to Rome are taken graciously by the Anglican side. In 1853, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church denounced Levi Ives as an "absconding and apostate delinquent."

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History

3 Comments
Posted September 28, 2010 at 6:45 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. wvparson wrote:

Hobart wasn’t an Anglo Catholic and was disturbed by their claims. He was a High Churchman of the Seabury genre.

September 28, 8:03 am | [comment link]
2. Ralph wrote:

Living in the 21st century with the 1928 and 1979 BCP and their theology, it’s hard to realize how intense the war between Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics was back in the 19th century. The Lewes Riot is a case in point, as is the Onderdonk-Carey incident at GTS.

There was some concern (perhaps genuine) that Rome wanted to take over Anglicanism. Any sign of “popery” from an Anglican brought about fierce retribution from the more mainstream Evangelicals. I haven’t studied the Ives incident well enough to opine on whether he could have stayed in the PECUSA, while holding his papist views.

The Oxford Movement hit the US hard. More than one shoebox Colonial church got a chancel, and vested lay choir.

September 28, 12:01 pm | [comment link]
3. Archer_of_the_Forest wrote:

No. 2,

Well, yes and no about the Oxford Movement in the US. In terms of liturgical usages such as you suggest, yes. In terms of the social aspect element of why such things were important to the original Oxford Movement leaders, that was largely lost on the American demographic.

September 28, 4:49 pm | [comment link]
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