THE
P RTAL
January 2013
Page 4
Brummie visit
Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane visit the North Birmingham Group
It is hard to visit one’s own Group, but recently both Jackie and I have had to do so. First we visited Jackie’s
Group in Oxford, and this month Ronald’s Group in North Birmingham. Really it is Sutton Coldfield. Until
the past thirty or so years Walmley was a real village on the outskirts of Sutton Coldfield, now it has been
swallowed up by the conurbation. Holy Cross and Saint Francis is an uninspiring building some distance
from the centre of Walmley. It is home to the North Birmingham Ordinariate Group.
a delicious lunch
1230 Mass not
convenient
Mostly, but not exclusively,
from Emmanuel, Wylde Green,
the Group is about thirty-five in
numerical strength. Our visit was
on the First Sunday of Advent and
after a beautiful Mass we, and the Caroline Sykes
congregation, repaired to the Church
Hall for a delicious lunch of home
made pâté, turkey and home made
Christmas Pudding. Steve Shaw
members of the
Ordinariate Nicola Brown
Jane Ware
As we allowed this to digest,
we spoke with members of the
Ordinariate. Dr Elaine Calvert is a
Management Consultant and the
mother of two teenage children;
Caroline Sykes (69) is a retired
teacher; Janet Shaw (62) a retired Donna Powell
local government officer; John
Kearney does IT for a Christian
Charity; Tim Powell is a building site
manager and father of two teenage
children, and Laura Magson (35) is a
transport modeller.
Jack Bucher
small, but cohesive
John Kearney
Elaine Calvert
Mass at 1230 on Sunday was
not convenient for anyone. Janet
said one had to “live with it”, and
Elaine said “it restricts the whole
day.” Caroline said, “We just have
to make 1230 work. My daughter
and grandchildren find 1230 very
difficult”.
we have not missed a
Sunday
As to whether the Group would
grow it was pointed out that seven
people had been received into
the Catholic Church through the
Group, and four had decided to
become Diocesan Catholics. Laura
pointed out that attendance at 1230
Mass was steady at eighteen to
thirty each week.
Tim expressed the view of the whole
Group when he said, “We need a
regular priest. This is much more of a
problem than the time of Mass.” John
felt life without a priest was, “pretty
poor! Without a priest we have
little liturgical cohesion”. However,
he went on to say “Despite all the
difficulties we have not missed a
Sunday Mass. Every Sunday since
being received into the Catholic
Church, we have held our Mass at
1230.”
Caroline felt the best way to
describe the Group was, “small,
but cohesive and with no priest”.
Janet felt the word was “erudite”
while Elaine said the Group
was “persevering in the face of Tim Powell
Fr Chris Marshall
adversity. It is remarkable that we
are still together given the circumstance
important to know
of not having a priest!” They all said the
that we are Ordinariate
welcome they had received was warm.
Janet said that Diocesan Catholics attended
They all felt being without a priest and
the Ordinariate Mass. Tim said that some
having people leave the Ordinariate for the
Diocesan Catholics had wondered why we
Parish Mass mattered. If the Group had
kept ourselves to ourselves and had our
wanted to be Diocesan Catholics they could
own mass.
have been. “But we joined the Ordinariate as
Janet Shaw