Looking for H

Brilliant news: the author of that most erudite blog, Fr Hunwicke’s Liturgical Notes, is to be ordained deacon on 26th May. Like many of those who commented on Fr Ray Blake’s post, as soon as I saw the item from the Ordinariate, I looked most particularly for his name on the list.

May he, and all his brethren who are the latest candidates for ordination to the Catholic priesthood in the Ordinariate, be blessed with many joys. May they bear – indeed, continue to bear – wonderful fruit.

Father Hunwicke on Councils and The Council

Father* Hunwicke has re-published his series of blog posts from 2011 on the significance of Vatican II, with reference to earlier Church Councils. They are a splendid read.

*John Hunwicke lives at present as a lay member of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. I intend to continue referring to him as Father, as a personal honorific, in acknowledgment of his many years of ministry in the Church of England.

“The Council” 1
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Financial Support for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has not spent the £1 million transferred to it from the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament.

The full story is in The Church Times, and has been posted here, on the Ordinariate Portal blog.

In eternal terms, I think the Good Lord will provide the Ordinariate’s spiritual lifeblood. But a more prosaic form of lifeblood is derived from the financial support of its members and well-wishers. However modest each person’s donation may be, even a small amount each month, multiplied by as many donors as possible, will make a substantial contribution to the fruitfulness of the Ordinariate’s ministry.

Here are the links to the donation pages of the Ordinariate, and of the Friends of the Ordinariate. Donations can be made to either or both. I received the following explanation as to the difference between the two, in reply to an enquiry I made to the Friends:

“The difference of the two links is that the Ordinariate is for the support of the clergy for everyday expenses. The Friends Charity will give to the Ordinariate any projects it wants to do.”


Picture from catholicnews.org.uk via Google Images

God bless all who are being received this week

Amidst the greatness of Holy Week, we also have the particular joy of knowing that so many people are being received into the fullness of the Church during these days. Here in England, in addition to those who are joining within the various dioceses, a large number will become Catholics of the Anglican Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. May I wish them all the most wonderful blessings. There are great adventures ahead!

The St Barnabas Society: £100,000 to Help Ordinariate Clergy

If you have a little money to spare in these straitened times, may I urge you to consider making a donation to The St Barnabas Society? The Ordinariate Portal has just reported that this fine charity has set aside £100,000 to help Anglican clergy who join the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

In the Society's own words:

The St Barnabas Society, a registered charity, operates in Great Britain and Ireland and exists to provide pastoral and financial help on behalf of the whole Catholic community to former clergy ministers and religious from other churches, who live in Great Britain and Ireland, and who have been led by faith and conscience to come into full communion with the Catholic Church.

The website provides a link for online donations for this most worthwhile cause. I should mention that the introductory text is slightly confusing. It refers to making an online payment “to your parish”, but if you click on the link you will see that in fact the payment goes direct to the St Barnabas Society.

So happy ...

Congratulations to A Reluctant Sinner for his fascinating report on the Ordination Mass at Westminster Cathedral today, for the inaugurating priests of the Anglican Ordinariate.

I had hoped to make the journey from Gloucestershire for the event, but was unable to do so because I haven’t been too well this week. I have been waiting with great anticipation for the reports to arrive in the blogosphere.

How lovely, and simple, and fitting, that the name is to be The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. I am starting to get a hankering to go there again on pilgrimage.

The standard of knowledge and belief among those who will inaugurate the Ordinariate

May I draw your attention to this marvellous article which has been posted today on William Oddie’s blog on the Catholic Herald website. The following extract is particularly important in view of the surprise and concern expressed in one or two comments on other blogs, at the speed with which the newly-received former “flying bishops” are to be ordained.

What this new development demonstrates, apart from anything else, is the degree of knowledge, gained by the former Cardinal Ratzinger after a decade and a half of discussions with these men, of their already existing understanding of and belief in Roman Catholic doctrine and practice (entirely based, since its publication, on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and on other essential Catholic texts). The Pope is well aware that the Anglo-Catholic clergy who will inaugurate the world’s first ordinariate already have a degree of authentically Catholic priestly formation which some of our seminaries are today far from achieving or even attempting.

This makes me think of the idea of enrichment, which the Holy Father’s initiatives have envisaged in the liturgical sphere. It would be a tremendous thing if it could be broadened to include other areas of the Church’s life, such as our seminaries, as an additional fruit of the Ordinariate. It will require a cheerful, humble and fraternal spirit on the part of all who are involved; and especially on the part of those who currently have the task of training our priests.

The Ordinariate, and a happy memory of Anglican pilgrims in Rome

As many readers know, the Holy Father’s General Audiences, on Wednesdays in St Peter’s Square, are delightful occasions. I particularly love the series of introductions, listing the groups attending that day. Those who are introduced may sing a song; or produce musical instruments and play a tune; but most of them simply leap from their chairs to cheer and wave. It is all very unsophisticated and innocent and happy.

At the audience my husband and I attended, on 7th May, 2008, there came a point in the introductions when the priest announced a group from England, saying: “We welcome a group of Anglican pilgrims from the parish of …”. They jumped up from their seats and waved to the Holy Father, and cheered him with great excitement. He looked for them and saw them, and smiled, and waved back, and blessed them. And they sank back onto their chairs, their faces shining with pleasure.

It was beautiful. My eyes filled up, as they do when a thing of spiritual beauty washes over me; and as they are doing now as I remember the scene.

I wonder how that little group has fared since then? And whether, at some date in the near or distant future, one or more of them may make their way along the path to the Ordinariate? By far the majority of Anglicans will not, I am sure. But those Anglican pilgrims had the desire to be there in Rome, to see Pope Benedict, and to take part in this wonderful, familial gathering; and they experienced, by the look of things, all the joy and gladness of the day. Who knows what the good Lord has in store for them?

It is a fine thing that the five Anglican bishops have announced their intention to be a part of this grand adventure. They are a vanguard of experienced men, of considerable seniority. This is just what the embryonic body needs. Their presence and leadership, whether in an official capacity or simply by virtue of their moral status, will help to give it a sense of shape and strength, which can only serve to encourage those who are at an earlier, more tentative stage of the journey. May God bless them each step of the way.

Of doves and serpents: the road to the Ordinariate

Pastor Emeritus and others have drawn readers’ attention to this article about the Ordinariate, which appeared in The Daily Telegraph on 21 Oct 2010, under the name of the paper’s Religious Affairs Editor, Tim Ross. The source for the article was an interview with Dr Rowan Williams, Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, in The Hindu newspaper.

In a surprise announcement, Dr Rowan Williams said he wanted to establish a new joint group of Roman Catholic and Church of England figures to oversee the conversion process.

The proposed group would be designed to enable smooth and less painful transition for those who want to leave the Church of England to become Roman Catholics in protest at the ordination of women bishops. …….

“As this is now being implemented, we are trying to make sure that there is a joint group which will keep an eye on how it's going to happen. In England, the relations between the Church of England and Roman Catholic Bishops are very warm and very close. I think we are able to work together on this and not find it a difficulty.”

It is understood that neither the Church of England nor the Roman Catholic authorities in England and Wales have yet agreed to Dr Williams’s proposal for a joint group to oversee the Ordinariate.

"Come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly", wrote Pastor Emeritus, which made me laugh. Far be it from me to hint (perish the thought!) that any such thing is in their minds, or will be part of the remit of the proposed ecumenical group. I very much hope that the E&W bishops are not, either alone or in combination with the CofE bishops, attempting to take control of the Ordinariate. I’ve no doubt that helpful things can be contributed by all parties; but there is a limit.

As I understand it, the Anglican-Catholic Ordinary will have as direct and unmediated a right of access to Rome as any Latin-rite English or Welsh bishop. Neither the Ordinary nor any other bishop is subordinate to the Bishops’ Conference. And certainly not to a joint Catholic-Church of England group which seeks to “work together on this”.

Charity in all things, of course. I have no doubt that this will be the watchword of many if not all of those involved. Nonetheless, I am reassured by the thought that those who are approaching the banks of the Tiber on this beautiful and grace-filled journey are both as gentle as doves and as intelligent as serpents. I have confidence that they know how many beans make five.