This epistolary novel is the story of an English Roman Catholic bishop determined to resist, to the extent of his powers, the attempts of 'modernizers' in his church to destroy centuries of tradition and practice and replace them with the latest mod, hip, 'inclusive' liturgical fads and fashions. Unlike many traditionalists, Bishop Forester is defiant, not apologetic. He is not seeking compromise, but defending an ancient treasure. That makes his story surprisingly exciting to read.An example: 'How can anyone dare stamp on other people's sentiments? Who has given them permission? "The hankering after the Old Mass is pure sentimentality." Of course it is, and that is why it is sacrosanct.'And again: ' The very volume of changes in the Church since Vatican II is sufficient to guarantee that most of them are for the worse. It is inconceivable that over the past two thousand years the Church has manifested and expressed the Faith so badly that any and every change must be for the better. If that were so, she would lose all credibility. What is conceivable, on the other hand, is that some of the changes may have been for the better and some not. But this possibility is one which we are not allowed even to discuss. To do so is disloyal, divisive, and conducive to schism. Every change is for the better; there has not been the least error, the slightest slip.'

Mitre and crook

Houghton, Bryan

Arlington House

Saint Edmund: King and Martyr

Dalton

Mitre & Crook

Religion & Spirituality

Roman Catholic Books

Judith's Marriage

Kampmann & Co

Mitre and Crook (Catholic Traditionalist Classics)

Bishop Edmund Forester, looking out over his little diocese of Stamford, was distressed at what he saw. The renewal promised from the Second Vatican Council had produced… disaster. Father Sludge was putting on “Eucharists” with nuns in slacks reading porn from Beardsley and revolution from Marx. Pastors were gutting their sanctuaries and selling off church heirlooms. A cabal of modernist priests was purging diocesan schools of traditional Catholics. It was time, decided the bishop, for his Bomb: a letter to the clergy of the diocese, in which he authorizes the Old Mass to be celebrated regularly, corrects the worst abuses of the New Mass, mandates kneeling for the reception of Communion, and bans Communion in the hand. The Bomb sets off blast and counterblast—all the way to Rome. Opposing forces maneuver for the confrontation.
How the issue gets resolved provides the theme of a novel unique in the annals of Catholic literature. It takes the form of letters from the bishop himself: a tough infighter—and a saint; a man of humility and charity—with a nose for humbug and an eye for the absurd. What emerges from these remarkable letters is a bishop for the ages—not the sort we meet these days. But along with this extraordinary man we are treated to what may be the most incisive analyses of the crisis in the Catholic Church ever to see print. What duller writers take chapters and books to say, Bishop Forester declaims in a few pages. And unforgettably.
With the ever-widening gap between tradition and modernism, Vetus and Novus, Fr. Houghton’s novel proves, if anything, more germane, more humorous, and more thought-provoking than when it first appeared in 1979.
“Fr. Bryan Houghton’s book is both hugely informative about the crisis in the Church that followed the Second Vatican Council and a deeply moving psychological study of the central character, Bishop Forester, in his struggle to respond to it.” — JOSEPH SHAW, President, Latin Mass Society of England &amp; Wales
“Published in 1979 by an English convert priest of ‘gentry’ family, Mitre and Crook has the sort of elegance people associate with a Waugh or a Knox, the deft humor of the satirist, and at times the helpless mirth of slapstick.” — FR. JOHN HUNWICKE
“I read Mitre and Crook on a lark years ago and instantly fell in love: it is the best traditionalist fiction ever penned. Bryan Houghton was the Robert Hugh Benson of the postconciliar crisis.” — PETER KWASNIEWSKI, author of Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness
“An imaginative, boldly original novel about the crisis in the Church. Unlike so many explorations on this theme, Fr. Houghton’s is a work of style and verve, more than a touch of wit, and deep feeling.” — NEIL MCCAFFREY, founder of Conservative Book Club and Arlington House Publishers
“All the erudition, wisdom, experience, and understated British humor of Fr. Bryan Houghton finds full expression in Mitre and Crook. Ingenious and absorbing, it proved invaluable to an earlier generation reeling from postconciliar chaos. Kudos to Angelico Press for making this inspirational testimony available to a new audience.”— ROD PEAD, Editor of Christian Order
“This book meant the world to me as a seminarian. We need this book in 2019 as much as we did in 1979.”— FR. JAMES JACKSON, FSSP, author of Nothing Superfluous

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Angelico Press

Bishop Edmund Forester, looking out over his little diocese of Stamford, was distressed at what he saw. The renewal promised from the Second Vatican Council had produced... disaster. Father Sludge was putting on "Eucharists" with nuns in slacks reading porn from Beardsley and revolution from Marx. Pastors were gutting their sanctuaries and selling off church heirlooms. A cabal of modernist priests was purging diocesan schools of traditional Catholics. It was time, decided the bishop, for his Bomb: a letter to the clergy of the diocese, in which he authorizes the Old Mass to be celebrated regularly, corrects the worst abuses of the New Mass, mandates kneeling for the reception of Communion, and bans Communion in the hand. The Bomb sets off blast and counterblast--all the way to Rome. Opposing forces maneuver for the confrontation.\nHow the issue gets resolved provides the theme of a novel unique in the annals of Catholic literature. It takes the form of letters from the bishop himself: a tough infighter--and a saint; a man of humility and charity--with a nose for humbug and an eye for the absurd. What emerges from these remarkable letters is a bishop for the ages--not the sort we meet these days. But along with this extraordinary man we are treated to what may be the most incisive analyses of the crisis in the Catholic Church ever to see print. What duller writers take chapters and books to say, Bishop Forester declaims in a few pages. And unforgettably.\nWith the ever-widening gap between tradition and modernism, Vetus and Novus, Fr. Houghton's novel proves, if anything, more germane, more humorous, and more thought-provoking than when it first appeared in 1979\nFrom the Back Cover\n"Fr. Bryan Houghton's book is both hugely informative about the crisis in the Church that followed the Second Vatican Council and a deeply moving psychological study of the central character, Bishop Forester, in his struggle to respond to it." -- JOSEPH SHAW, President, Latin Mass Society of England & Wales\n"Published in 1979 by an English convert priest of 'gentry' family, Mitre and Crook has the sort of elegance people associate with a Waugh or a Knox, the deft humor of the satirist, and at times the helpless mirth of slapstick." -- FR. JOHN HUNWICKE\n"I read Mitre and Crook on a lark years ago and instantly fell in love: it is the best traditionalist fiction ever penned. Bryan Houghton was the Robert Hugh Benson of the postconciliar crisis." -- PETER KWASNIEWSKI, author of Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness\n"An imaginative, boldly original novel about the crisis in the Church. Unlike so many explorations on this theme, Fr. Houghton's is a work of style and verve, more than a touch of wit, and deep feeling." -- NEIL MCCAFFREY, founder of Conservative Book Club and Arlington House Publishers\n"All the erudition, wisdom, experience, and understated British humor of Fr. Bryan Houghton finds full expression in Mitre and Crook. Ingenious and absorbing, it proved invaluable to an earlier generation reeling from postconciliar chaos. Kudos to Angelico Press for making this inspirational testimony available to a new audience."-- ROD PEAD, Editor of Christian Order\n"This book meant the world to me as a seminarian. We need this book in 2019 as much as we did in 1979."-- FR. JAMES JACKSON, FSSP, author of Nothing Superfluous

Judith's Marriage (Catholic Traditionalist Classics)

The tale of an English girl who falls in love with the Catholic faith shortly before the Conciliar reforms of Vatican II, Judith's Marriage recounts the experiences of an unassuming young saint who must watch as the most profound aspects of her faith are stripped away. At turns lighthearted and profound, but never heavy-handed, this is a story of quiet strength and grace even as the joy of her conversion fades in the wake of upheaval in the Church. But Judith's Marriage is not only a beautiful telling of faith, it is also a charming romance, providing an intimate look at the close relationship between religion and family life. Long out of print, it remains as relevant now as ever, a perfect example of how true faith will live on despite attacks from without and within. This novel by Bryan Houghton is a splendid addition to Angelico Press's "Catholic Traditionalist Classics" series.

Christian Books & Bibles

Unwanted Priest: The Autobiography of a Latin Mass Exile

"Fr Houghton’s memoirs are the greatest find in traditionalist literature for decades.”—PETER KWASNIEWSKI\nFr Bryan Houghton’s life was fraught with momentous transitions. As a Protestant child educated in a Catholic school, he gradually awakened to the truth of the Faith and eventually converted. He responded to the call to priesthood, which he understood in its traditional sense as an office of offering sacrifice, reconciling sinners, feeding the spiritually hungry, and preaching divinely revealed truths. When the Second Vatican Council hit, and even more the successive waves of liturgical reform in the 1960s, Fr Houghton was brought to a crisis of conscience: how was all this lust for change compatible with the rock-solid Faith to which he had given his life? Why must the Church’s noble, ample, orthodox rites of worship be hacked to pieces? A man who placed great store by the maxim lex orandi, lex credendi, Houghton watched the dismantling of liturgical tradition with growing dismay, and when the substance of the Mass was changed beyond recognition and he could not bring himself to say a rite that belied his faith, he resigned his curacy and drove to southern France, where he bought a house in which to live, pray, offer the Tridentine Mass—and, fortunately for us, compile his memoirs. 
The never-published English manuscript of the resulting book, unique in its blend of entertaining stories and precise critiques, was long thought to be lost, with only its authorized French translation still in print; but the recent discovery of the original manuscript allows us access to this masterpiece decades later, when the situation in the Church is eerily like the one that faced its author in his time. A stable priest contented with tradition in the midst of mandated modernizations, Fr Houghton offers us in his autobiography a moving and insightful account of why a priest would choose rather to be “unwanted” than to betray his innermost convictions.\n“Finely observant, devastatingly honest, and wittily entertaining, Unwanted Priest is the greatest find in traditionalist literature for decades.”—PETER A. KWASNIEWSKI\n“A book that will encourage priests and people of today to resist tyranny in the difficult times that undoubtedly lie ahead.”—FR JOHN HUNWICKE\n“Fr Houghton’s touching account of his personal journey in the Faith is accompanied by a spiritual insight of enormous value into the crisis of the modern Church.” —JOSEPH SHAW\n“Divine Providence and the old Mass! Abandonment to the former and adherence to the latter are the leitmotifs of the extraordinary life and work of ‘the unwanted priest,’ Fr Bryan Houghton.”—ROD PEAD

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

"Fr Houghton's memoirs are the greatest find in traditionalist literature for decades."—PETER KWASNIEWSKI\nFr Bryan Houghton's life was fraught with momentous transitions. As a Protestant child educated in a Catholic school, he gradually awakened to the truth of the Faith and eventually converted. He responded to the call to priesthood, which he understood in its traditional sense as an office of offering sacrifice, reconciling sinners, feeding the spiritually hungry, and preaching divinely revealed truths. When the Second Vatican Council hit, and even more the successive waves of liturgical reform in the 1960s, Fr Houghton was brought to a crisis of conscience: how was all this lust for change compatible with the rock-solid Faith to which he had given his life? Why must the Church's noble, ample, orthodox rites of worship be hacked to pieces? A man who placed great store by the maxim lex orandi, lex credendi, Houghton watched the dismantling of liturgical tradition with growing dismay, and when the substance of the Mass was changed beyond recognition and he could not bring himself to say a rite that belied his faith, he resigned his curacy and drove to southern France, where he bought a house in which to live, pray, offer the Tridentine Mass—and, fortunately for us, compile his memoirs.\nThe never-published English manuscript of the resulting book, unique in its blend of entertaining stories and precise critiques, was long thought to be lost, with only its authorized French translation still in print; but the recent discovery of the original manuscript allows us access to this masterpiece decades later, when the situation in the Church is eerily like the one that faced its author in his time. A stable priest contented with tradition in the midst of mandated modernizations, Fr Houghton offers us in his autobiography a moving and insightful account of why a priest would choose rather to be "unwanted" than to betray his innermost convictions.\n"Finely observant, devastatingly honest, and wittily entertaining, Unwanted Priest is the greatest find in traditionalist literature for decades."—PETER A. KWASNIEWSKI\n"A book that will encourage priests and people of today to resist tyranny in the difficult times that undoubtedly lie ahead."—FR JOHN HUNWICKE\n"Fr Houghton's touching account of his personal journey in the Faith is accompanied by a spiritual insight of enormous value into the crisis of the modern Church." —JOSEPH SHAW\n"Divine Providence and the old Mass! Abandonment to the former and adherence to the latter are the leitmotifs of the extraordinary life and work of 'the unwanted priest,' Fr Bryan Houghton."—ROD PEAD\nFrom the Back Cover\n"Finely observant, devastatingly honest, and wittily entertaining, Fr Houghton's memoirs—the English manuscript of which had been finished in 1990 but went missing until its rediscovery in 2020—give us a whole new perspective on the sea-change in the Catholic Church before and after the Second Vatican Council. It is all the more poignant because we are right back in the midst of the ecclesiastical 'cancel culture' that he himself lived through, suffered from, and described with incomparable clarity. Unwanted Priest is the greatest find in traditionalist literature for decades."—PETER A. KWASNIEWSKI, editor of From Benedict's Peace to Francis's War\n"Fr Bryan Houghton was a convert Catholic priest whose principles never allowed him to celebrate the post-Conciliar edition of the Mass. At the end of his life he wrote an autobiography in which the reader will meet many key players of twentieth-century Church life in England and abroad. You will agonize with the confessor as he worries about penitents who use the Pill, and how a priest should respond to the liturgical calamities emerging from Rome. You will hear Fr Houghton weighing the difficult choices made by Archbishop Lefebvre and Dom Calvet. It is a book that will encourage priests and people of today to resist tyranny

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Houghton, Bryan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Houghton, Bryan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Houghton, Bryan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Mitre and crook

Saint Edmund: King and Martyr

Mitre & Crook

Judith's Marriage

Mitre and Crook (Catholic Traditionalist Classics)

Mitre and Crook (Catholic Traditionalist Classics)

Judith's Marriage (Catholic Traditionalist Classics)

Judith's Marriage (Catholic Traditionalist Classics)

Unwanted Priest: The Autobiography of a Latin Mass Exile

Unwanted Priest: The Autobiography of a Latin Mass Exile