The Portal Archive March 2012 | Page 16

THE P RTAL March 2012 Perhaps, and perhaps I write in ignorance, the Ordinariate should work to make itself better known to Catholics. I am sure, although there will always be exceptions, it will receive a welcome. The popular Catholic press seems to do its best and reports regularly on your news. I am sure the Holy Spirit will guide you, Fred Beddow Shewsbury Treatment of the Ordinariate Lent is almost upon us. May I reflect on the situation since Lent last year? It appears to me that, as an Ordinariate layman, the Church in England and Wales has treated the Ordinariate most shabbily. The Church in England and Wales faced a difficult manpower shortage. The creation of the Ordinariate offered a way out of this problem. At one go 60 priests became available, without even the cost of training them. Unfortunately the price was the lay-people that came with the priests. At the parish level we have received a whole-hearted welcome: the problem seems to lie in the higher reaches of the Church in this country. Ordinariate priests are increasingly used to provide replacements for vacant parish clergy posts, often leaving their Ordinariate groups to flounder. This appears to flout the intentions of the Holy Father. It very much seems that it is hoped that Ordinariate laypeople will dissolve into their local congregations. Page 16 We former Anglicans are now no longer Anglo- Catholics nor yet cradle Catholics. In this country, unlike the USA, there are no Anglican Use parishes, so there seems to be no way of expressing the ‘Anglican patrimony’. Again, unlike the USA Ordinariate, we don’t have a main church - the Solemn Evensong in January at Spanish Place showed how much one is needed. We are the non-jurors of our time, doomed to disappear in less than a generation. I very much regret having to express these misgivings but this how it seems a year down the road - the high hopes we once had have been dashed. Our Ordinary and Ordinariate priests may not feel able to express these opinions but I hope this ‘man in the pew’ can. Name and address supplied New English Hymnals The small Ordinariate Group based in Ipswich are in need of about 30 copies of the New English Hymnal. Is anyone aware of second hand copies surplus to requirements in any Anglican or Catholic parish. Please contact me if you are able to help. David Banister [email protected] The views expressed in these letters are not necessarily those of the Editors Letters for publication should be sent to: The Editors, T he P ortal , 56 Woodlands Farm Road, Birmingham B24 0PG [email protected] The Ordinary’s Diary for March 2012 The Right Revd Monsignor Keith Newton 6 Mellish Gardens, Woodford Green, Essex IG8 0BH Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] 1030 Formation Programme Allen Hall 8 1030 Ordinary’s Council East Hendred 10 1200 Preach, Order of St Lazarus Investiture, Guards Chapel, London 11 1730 Mass Cornwall Group, St Augustine’s Church, St Austell Monsignor John Broadhurst 19 Spencelayh Close, Wellingborough, Northants NN8 4UU Tel: [phone] [email protected] Email: [email protected] 14 1115 Finance Council, Eccleston Square 15 1930 Lent Course, Our Lady Immaculate, Chelmsford 19 1130 Anniversary Celebrations, St Joseph’s Cathedral; Swansea 20 1030 Formation Programme Allen Hall 24 1200 Flame Congress, Wembley Arena Monsignor Andrew Burnham Tel: [phone] Email: [email protected]