The Afterpiece to the Comedy of Convocation: in Two Scenes

The Afterpiece To The Comedy Of Convocation: In Two Scenes by Edward Josiah Stearns is a dramatic, satirical dialogue that serves as a postscript to the controversial Comedy of Convocation. This text features two scenes where Anglican critics and Roman Catholic interlocutors engage in a debate about Anglican orders, ecclesiastical authority, and infallibility, employing wit and irony to challenge Roman Catholic positions. Scene I takes place in Rome, where Father Kayeo and Father Casula discuss infallibility, the Pope, and the limits of papal authority, interspersed with references to key doctrinal points such as baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the visible church, the Roman church, and confession and absolution. Scene II transitions to O’Kaye’s library, where the dialogue explores Anglican orders, ordination forms, and the historical continuity of episcopal succession, enriched with historical and theological critiques from both perspectives. This work, published in 1870, offers a polemical and humorous examination of Protestant-Catholic ecclesiology and the debates surrounding church authority in the nineteenth century.