THE
P RTAL
February 2012
Page 3
Portal News
A month of Celebration
by Will Burton
Far be it for The Portal to become the sort of magazine that reports on High Mass here, and Solemn
Evensong there, and a host of other exotic acts of worship elsewhere. We fill our pages with events and
teachings of a rather more immediate concern. Nevertheless: when five hundred people make their way to
Saint James’s Spanish Place in London for the Ordinariate’s celebration of Solemn Evensong and Benediction,
we have to take notice.
One Year Old
for the Week of Prayer
for Christian Unity. Once
The occasion was the
again Mgr Keith Newton
first anniversary of the
gave an inspiring address.
Ordinariate of Our Lady
The Fisher House Choir
of Walsingham. Mgr Keith
sang the Office to music by
Newton gave the Homily
Orlando Gibbons. It was a
and it was a splendid affair.
wonderful occasion, all the
Of course, Saint James’s is
more poignant because of
a splendid building in its
L
to
R:
Mgr
John
Broadhurst,
Ronald
Crane,
Jackie
Ottaway,
Gibbons’ association with
own right, and its Rector,
Mgr Keith Newton, Fr Mark Woodruff and Mgr Andrew Burnham
both Cambridge (he sang
Fr Christopher Colven is
an old friend of the Ordinariate – if a body just one year in the choir at King’s College Cambridge from 1596 to
old can have an “old” friend! Mgr Keith is on the cover 1598) and the English Church.
of this issue and you may well have seen the pictures of
The New Evangelisation
this grand occasion elsewhere on the internet.
In his Homily at Fisher House, Mgr Keith Newton
We celebrated the first birthday of The Portal in stressed the importance of Christ’s flock being one as
January. Gathering at the Crypt in Gordon Square by Christ and the Father are one. He went on to point
the kind permission of Stephen Parkinson – himself out that this was so that the world may believe. This
a friend and advisor of The Portal – and Forward in linking of Unity and Evangelisation is at the very
Faith, we drank the health of the magazine.
heart of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
As Fr Keith has said many times in the past year, if
Prayer For Unity
the Ordinariate is not Evangelistic, it is nothing.
Fr Mark Woodruff of The Catholic League, another It has been a momentous and exciting year. Much has
friend and advisor, spoke, in his address, of the happened since January 2011 and those never-to-be-
importance of Unity for the Church. He gave a most forgotten scenes in Westminster Cathedral. Yet, much
interesting account of the history of Unity and The remains to be done. The finances of the Ordinariate
Catholic League, before wishing The Portal well in are a constant worry. The absence of a Church building
the future.
in London, the fact that many Ordinariate groups are
“camped out” in welcoming Catholic Churches, the
Mgr Keith Newton thanked the Editors and Editorial need to start our mission of bringing the Gospel to
Board for their work and initiative, the writers and those who have not heard it, or will not be able to hear
sponsors for their assistance. He then announced it: all need out attention.
that The Portal will no longer by just an independent
magazine serving the Ordinariate. From now on The
2012 will, no doubt, be another momentous year. Be
Portal is an official magazine of T he Ordinariate. We assured The Portal will be here to report and inform
have come of age, and – from the bottom of our hearts our laity on what is happening, when, and why. We
- are grateful to all those who have made this possible. shall also continue in our role of Catholic education.
Fisher House in Cambridge was the venue for
another Solemn Evensong and Benediction: This time
May Our Lady of Walsingham and Blessed John
Henry Newman pray for us all.