European-American University™

"...there are groups that exercise genuine pastoral ministries, often among poor and marginalised groups. Bishop Francis Glenn's ministry in Battersea in the 1950s was of this kind."
"Oversight, but no see", Revd. Dr. Kenneth Leech, Church Times.

Bishop Francis Everden Glenn, O.S.C., was consecrated by Bishop Victor Schoonbroodt in 1957 and then sub conditione by Mar Georgius (de Willmott Newman), Patriarch of Glastonbury and Catholicos of the West, in 1959. He was a remarkable pastoral priest of strongly traditionalist views. His church was known by various names over the years, with its predominant title being the Catholic Episcopal Church, and specialised in ministry to those society had rejected and marginalised. Many will remember his Church of Christ the King on Battersea Rise, which he restored and where he built up a loyal following for Christ. Youth groups in the inner city, ministry to offenders and ex-offenders, drug addicts and alcoholics were all at the heart of outreach. Soon, the prison and probation services were sending people to Father Francis, as he said "not because we are a 'soft touch', but because we believe that human life is a sacred gift of God." In addition, he set up a publishing-house, "Mathew Publications", which issued professionally-produced books and booklets on history, teaching and apologetics.

+Victor Schoonbroodt, consecrator of +Francis Glenn	+Francis Glenn
Church of Christ the King, Battersea Rise	Induction of a new priest-in-charge at Christ the King
Ordination day group for the Catholic Episcopal Church	+Glenn with a youth group outside Christ the King in the 1960s
Church of the Nativity, Sutton	Diaconal ordination of +Ian Clayton by +Joel Blumberg (Mar Paulos) at Christ the King, 1960s
+Blumberg with +Clayton	Left to right: Fr. Tony Clavier (Vicar General), +Ian Clayton, unknown

Christ the King had been a former Welsh Congregational Church, where the CEC moved in 1963 after having used a converted house in south-west London (known as the "Chapel in the Upper Room"). After this, more oratories were established; three in the Brighton area, one in Feltham, one in Walthamstow and one in Baron's Court. The second CEC church, the Church of the Nativity in Sutton, opened and quickly began an energetic ministry. de Groote House in Walsingham was bought for the use of the CEC's Order of the Servants of Christ. This growth was accompanied by consistent and at times overt hostility on the part of many members of the established Churches.

Due to financial and other reasons, the CEC lost both the Battersea and Sutton churches. A permanent move to the former tithe barn church in Barnet, where Mar Georgius had been worshipping, was precluded by two anonymous hate campaigns. A further attempt to set up in West London was aborted when a violent mob all but destroyed the building, causing three thousand pounds of damage in a single afternoon. Eventually, in 1987, the CEC found a new home in the small Chapel of Christ the Saviour and Our Lady Queen of Peace, Crystal Palace. Bishop Francis' poor health was one cause of the formal closure of this chapel in 1994, with a "Covering of the Altar" Mass on 20 November. He had also been greatly distressed by what he saw as the abandonment of the Catholicate of the West by Mar Georgius' successor ('Apologia', Outreach no. 31 Michaelmas 1994, pp14-20) who had recently united with the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate ("Whatever jurisdiction you may find yourself in now, beware, because you may shortly find yourself in a union stitched up with those you always thought not of the same Faith" ("The Shattered Cross: A Pertinent Critique", Outreach no. 31 Michaelmas 1994, pp9-13)). The final issue of his long-standing magazine 'Outreach' at Christmas 1994 brought to an end his public ministry, and he eventually entered a nursing home after some years of sad decline. In his last years he had regrettably become involved with the Penge-based Independent Catholic Church of Great Britain under the late Archbishop John Simmons.