THE
P RTAL
November 2011
worried about their future. We don’t want to lose that
family.”
We also spoke with some men
who had welcomed the Group to
Our Lady of Lourdes Wanstead.
Paul Millen, Kieran Marum and
Roderick Sime were enthusiastic
about the Ordinariate. They are not
sure how it will all work out. They
recognised that all Christians share
a common Baptism, and each is on
their own spiritual journey, despite
various schisms and breaks. They
are excited about the Ordinariate as
a great ecumenical gesture.
Earlier we had spent some time
with Fr Rob Page. Not surprisingly,
he has no regrets about coming into
full communion with the Catholic
Church. He brought 103 from a
C of E congregation of 120, and
on average 80 come to Mass each
Sunday.
His people know that the Church
requires them to go to Mass on
Sundays, they do not have to
attend an Ordinariate Mass. They
know what it is to be Catholic. It
is nevertheless hard to keep tabs
on people, some are settled at
Wanstead; the journey to Clayhall
from Leytonstone is difficult.
The C of E has appointed a priest
for Saint Margaret’s and it is someone
Fr Rob has known for twenty years!
They get on just fine. Fr Rob said,
“He drank my gin!”
Problems
Fr Page knows that his Group could
never pay for itself. “They couldn’t afford it
as a C of E congregation. We are an Inner-
City group. Wanstead is a prosperous
suburb. There is a big difference. Wanstead
is one of the wealthiest areas in the Diocese
of Brentwood, Leytonstone one of the
poorest. Yet everyone, priest and people, at
Wanstead have been so good to us.”
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our own patrimony our own distinctive history. Now
we are in one of the busiest parishes in the Diocese,
we cannot have the same impact as before. We have
to be the leaven in a wider context.
Priest and people are on a journey
together. Is the object of the journey
to get there; or is it to stay together?”
We turned to the tricky question
of absorbed or not? Fr Page said,
“If they are just absorbed, it will be
those with a C of E background who
become Catholics. We now have our
own Mass once a month, but it is at
1pm. That is hardly an evangelistic
time! It is a real problem, there is
just no time at Wanstead, however,
if they come to Saint John’s the
journey is harder and we are more
remote.”
Life in the Spirit
Despite all the difficulties, Fr Page
does have plans for Mission and
Evangelism. “Already we have a YP
programme,” he told us, “It is very
popular. We are feeding people
through the Parish Education
programme, and we have just done
a Mission.
It was a ‘Life in the Spirit’ course.
These people are good at speaking
about the Faith quite naturally. I am
aware that I cannot pastor them as
I did. So they visit and pastor each
other.”
Turning to the three Groups that
have become two, Fr Page said, “Fr
Waller and I worked closely in the
C of E. The sadness is that we did so with
Fr Jonathan Ravensdale. He was part of it
all. Now he has moved, it is not the same.
Relations with Fr Waller are important, as
they are with Catholic priests. Fr Selvini,
an old friend, is nearby.
Fr Rob was excited about the prospect
of a National Ordinariate Family Day, and
felt that they would support it wherever it
might be held.
Fr Rob thought about the purpose of his group. “I
Finally, we asked him where his Group would be in
thought of our own building, our own worship. It is ten years time. “I have no idea!” he declared, “and I
to offer worship, to evangelise and catechise. We have don’t care! That is God’s problem, not mine!”