THE
P RTAL
May 2013
The breeze was blowing fresh from the sea, a game of
rounders was being played with energy and enthusiasm on the
sands, some children were scrambling their way carefully over
some rocks, and I was watching the scene with a delicious ice-cream
cone in my hand. It was a real British seaside and I was enjoying it
all. At some moments, it is possible to feel that everything is really
all right with our country, after all.
disciplinary action
Ghastly and
Wonderful
Page 6
na
wri tes
just given –
ghastly things
at one level, but signs of enduring vitality in the
Church - the Ordinariate places us all at the centre
of a daily drama. This is particularly the case if you
happen to live in London: this has been a wonderful
and happy time for the Ordinariate because it now
has a headquarters church (Warwick Street, where
2013 saw the Ordinariate holding its Chrism Mass in
great style) and also a parish given to its care: Precious
And more: opposition to this from anyone holding Blood Church, Borough, at London Bridge.
any form of public office – a school governor, a local
borough councillor, a head teacher, or even some PB is a delight
Being at PB is a delight: Palm Sunday saw a procession
minor official in a local Planning department – must
be crushed and the person concerned subjected to through the local streets, various renovations are
disciplinary action. And more again: while all this is happening in the church (a restoration of the rather
happening, you and I are paying, through our taxes, fine sacristy with a beautiful ceiling), the atmosphere
for substantial numbers of British children to be is friendly, the year ahead looks full of promise. The
destroyed while still in the womb, and this dreadful church has a rich history and the parish is proud of
thing is widely promoted as a “right” and girls are it, and the local area teems with street-names and pub
taught that any attempt to restrict it in any way is an signs that echo London’s Christian heritage. Vast office
blocks soar upwards – London’s newest landmark,
insult to them.
the Shard, is nearby and dominates – and the Thames
awesome bowing of heads
surges alongside. The local Good Friday Walk of
For a little while, this Spring, we were able to ignore Witness included prayer outside the offices of London’s
some of this as our mass media was dominated by government (Mayor Boris’ HQ). In PB itself, in the
events that, because they involved great and spiritual silent moments of the Mass, you hear trains rumbling
things, and the lives of great and good men, stirred past on the big Borough viaduct which transports
our hearts and lifted our spirits. Pope Benedict XVI thousands of people daily in and out of the capital.
retired, a new Pope was elected, and in the drama and
the poignancy of it all – the love and gratitude shown We need good priests
The Ordinariate is a sign of hope: new life and
to Pope Benedict in that great farewell from St Peter’s
Square and arrival at Castel Gandolfo, the surge of new adventures in the Church in our country. And,
excitement as Pope Francis’ name was announced and oh, goodness, we need this sign of hope. We need
that awesome bowing of heads as he asked for prayers good priests and packed churches, sound teaching,
from the vast crowd – we glimpsed something so huge prayer-based missionary efforts, joyful service, and
and reassuring that it gave out a message of hope to all. an understanding that God is calling us to be faithful
witnesses in times that are not of our own choosing.
the centre of a daily drama
It is a great thing to be in Britain in 2013 and to be
It is very strange to be a Christian in today’s Britain, witnessing the first days of the Ordinariate of Our
and especially to be involved with the Ordinariate of Lady of Walsingham.
Our Lady of Walsingham. Like the juxtaposition I have
Joanna Bogle
But it isn’t. While I stood there, enjoying the first of
the spring sunshine, a Parliamentary committee was
busy working its way through planned legislation to
redefine marriage, because our Prime Minister has
decided that two people of the same sex ought to
marry and the way that we have lived, and every other
known civilisation has ever lived, throughout recorded
history, has got this wrong.