W. Robert Godfrey

And so when we look at the conviction of the ancient church, the early medieval church, as to what the principal role of the clerical leadership of the life of the church ought to be, it was still a conviction it ought to be preaching.

Preaching might not have...

quite lived up to our standards theologically, but there was still this sense that was the work.

That will be progressively lost as the Middle Ages wears on.

Partly it will be lost because of an ever declining level of education in the common parish clergy.

There will still be very educated people in the church, but the clergy as a whole, the priests as a whole, will see a real decline in their education as the Middle Ages wears on, and

If you're not very well educated, you still may be able to memorize the Latin canon of the Mass so you can recite it at the altar, but you won't be much of a preacher if you're not well educated.

And that's what happens as time goes on.

But for Gregory, preaching was still critical, was still central.

Another thing for which we can commend Gregory is his continuing commitment to Christian missions.

He was aware that there were still significant parts of northwestern Europe that were not yet evangelized, had not yet really heard the gospel and responded to the gospel.

And Gregory was one who, amongst others, really promoted a mission to England.

And I mention that because the man he sent to England was a man by the name of Augustine, who became Saint Augustine, but not to be confused with Saint Augustine of Hippo.

This is Saint Augustine of Kent.

And this Augustine went to England to do missionary work.

He arrived in Kent, and the capital of Kent in those days was a city called Canterbury.

and he became the Bishop of Canterbury, and that was the first major sea in connection with Rome in England, and that's why to this day the Archbishop of England is the Archbishop of Canterbury.

That is still the historic foundation of England's Christianity, and in some ways that goes all the way back to Pope Gregory, who saw the need to see

missionaries sent further and further north and west in Europe and encouraged that in dramatic ways.

Now, the need for missionaries was because parts of Europe were still pagan.