![\"\"](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/SnwgGjQnTTI\/AAAAAAAADx0\/ZnLIbqT54CM\/s1600-h\/quarr.bmp\")
<\/a> Interior, Quarr Abbey Church<\/div>\n\n
It was the early 1990\u2019s and I was a country vicar on the Isle of Wight in England. One of my favorite haunts was the Benedictine Abbey at Quarr. I made my annual retreat there, used to visit with Fr Joe Warrilow, and Abbot Leo Avery was my spiritual director. By this time in my spiritual journey I had embraced (I thought) the essentials of the Catholic faith. My understanding of priesthood and the sacramental life in the Anglican Church was \u2018Catholic\u2019. I was much influenced by Catholic spirituality and although I wasn\u2019t a card-carrying Anglo Catholic, I considered myself to be \u2018a Catholic within the Church of England.\u2019 I simply wanted to follow what C.S.Lewis called \u2018Mere Christianity\u2019. In other words, I wanted to be part of the ancient faith in England, and it seemed right that the way to do this was to be \u2018a Catholic in the Church of England.\u2019<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I mentioned this in passing to Abbot Leo and he gently stopped me, \u201cYou know, I think it\u2019s marvelous that you want to be Catholic, but we Catholics define what being a Catholic is rather differently than you do.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cYes?\u201d I replied.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cWell, we think that at the heart of being Catholic is obedience to the teaching of the Holy Father.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cBut I am<\/em> obedient to the teachings of the Holy Father!\u201d I protested. \u201cIn fact, it seems that I am more of a faithful Catholic than most Catholics I know! I follow the Pope\u2019s teaching in my marriage, I follow the teachings of the Catholic church in my celebration of the liturgy, in my prayer life and in my doctrinal and moral beliefs. I am obedient to the teachings of the Pope.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Abbot Leo smiled, \u201cYes, but what about the teaching of the Pope that to really obey the teachings of the Pope you have to be in full communion with him?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Well, if Peter was the Rock, then I was between a Rock and a hard place.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Abbot Leo and Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Interior, Quarr Abbey ChurchIt was the early 1990's and I was a country vicar on the Isle of Wight in England. One of my favorite haunts was the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/08\/abbot-leo-and-me.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Abbot Leo and Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Interior, Quarr Abbey ChurchIt was the early 1990's and I was a country vicar on the Isle of Wight in England. 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Interior, Quarr Abbey Church It was the early 1990\u2019s and I was a country vicar on the Isle of Wight in England. One of my favorite haunts was the Benedictine Abbey at Quarr. I made my annual retreat there, used to visit with Fr Joe Warrilow, and Abbot Leo Avery was my spiritual director. By […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n