THE P

RTAL

“ May you live in Interesting Times ” is a proverb that is particularly relevant to The Ordinariate at this crucial moment . Even what you read now will most likely have been overtaken by events of the last few days and make my words seem rather dated . But . . .

Ever since the beginning of the Catholic Revival within the Church of England – and traditionally this is often been referred to as from 1833 – the true objective of that movements has always been the hope of corporate reunion of Anglicans / Church of England with the Roman Catholic Church .

Lambeth Conference

Every reaffirmation of this desire – be it the Lambeth Conference Resolution of 1920 , or the constantly repeated commitment made by Synods and Lambeth to ARCIC ( The Roman Catholic / Anglican International Commission ) – has been hailed as an advance to its possible fulfilment .

Regrettably , we now know that much of that ‘ affirmation ’ were ‘ hollow words ’ and often meant nothing more than a statement that “ we all desire unity provided we can go on making our own independent changes ”. The result : Corporate reunion of the whole Church of England , let alone Anglicanism through the world , has been shown / become a dream which we cannot now foresee happening .

But what about ‘ sections ’ of Anglicanism who have remained – sometimes under sufferance - loyal to her orthodox heritage : be they Provinces , Dioceses , Parishes or Groups . Is there any chance that they could achieve reconciliation , even whilst others within the Communion / Church continued on their own divisive ways ?

Unecumenical ?

In the past , whenever this question has been raised diplomacy and decorum have held sway : “ We can never deal with ‘ sections ’ of Anglicanism whilst we are in official negotiation with the whole ”. To do so , would expose us to the charge of ‘ Divide & rule ’ which would be very unecumenical ”. Such a response resulted – in the past – of only two choices : Either the whole of Anglicanism must agree ; or people must act solely as individuals . That was until 4 th November 2009 .

Anglicanorum Coetibus

On that date , the publication of Anglicanorum Coetibus , issued in the name of Pope Benedict XVI dramatically demonstrated that the Roman Catholic Church had listened to ‘ groups ’ who were keen to be reconciled . Now , for the first time in history , without

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Not only is an Ordinariate – the official structure for this process – being created ; but The Ordinary – the person who will be in charge – is being announced . Within weeks from now the practical arrangements for ‘ Groups ’ – remaining with their pastor and staying as a Group – will be worked out .

Difficulties and teething troubles

There are bound to be difficulties and teething troubles . Those who initially courageously commit themselves – in faith to something that has never happened before in the past , and is therefore an unknown – may be few . But once the process and success of the original ‘ few ’ is seen and experienced by others , more will follow . It is undoubtedly the most exciting ecumenical event to have ever occurred in my lifetime .

General Secretary of The Church Union

Some of you may know of me from the past – or at least recall my name . For 23 years I was a priest in the Church of England . For nearly a decade I was General Secretary of The ( English ) Church Union ; then , in the late ‘ 80s and into the early ‘ 90s , I was a parish priest in Kent during which I was Chairman of the Catholic Group in Synod .

Synodical Government

My involvement with Synodical Government culminated in the historic debate of 11 November 1992 which decided ( by a majority of one in the House of Laity ) to ordain women to the priesthood . For me , this was my moment of decision . I felt the time had come to reconciled . If only there had been an Ordinariate then !

Ordained as a Catholic Priest

Despite working with Cardinal Hume at that time to try and create the possibility for ‘ groups ’ to be received