THE
P RTAL
November 2012
Page 3
The Pastoral Council
in The Year Of Faith
by Jackie Ottaway
Unlike a
Catholic Diocese, the
Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is
mandated to have a Pastoral Council comprising
priests and laity. A preliminary meeting of what
will become this Council met in Oxford recently.
disappointing
Every Ordinariate Group was invited to send
a priest and a lay person, so it was disappointing
that barely forty people were present at this
historic meeting. However, every cloud has a silver
lining and the quality of the speakers more than
made up for the lack of numbers.
an inspiring talk
After Mass, the first to address the Council was
Mgr Keith (yes, another one!) Barltrop, Parish Priest
of Saint Mary of the Angels, Bayswater in London.
He is a former Rector of Allen Hall Seminary. Mgr
Barltrop took as his theme the Year of Faith and the
New Evangelisation. It was an inspiring talk given in
his distinctive under-stated style that is so engaging.
As well as good teaching Mgr
Barltrop teased us and made
us laugh.
Blessed John Paul II
Mgr Barltrop quoted Blessed
John Paul II to the Bishops of
Latin America in 1983. The
Holy Father used the phrase
the New Evangelisation and he
had three points: Method:
he gave a number of examples
of modern communities
finding new ways to spread the Faith. Expression:
such as the use of the internet, film, video (DVDs),
mobile phones, mime, dance and story telling.
Ardour: Quoting JPII again he said, “Rekindle in
ourselves the impetus of the beginning!” He related
the Pope’s words to the ardour of the first Pentecost.
three avenues of approach
He asked what it all had to do with the Ordinariate
of OLW and suggested three avenues of approach. 1.
Do not be afraid of smallness. 2. Smile a little bit. 3.
The Marian dimension of the Ordinariate.
overall strategy
He was followed by Mgr Keith Newton who
summarised where we had got to on this adventurous
journey and where we might be heading. He spoke
of an overall strategy for the Ordinariate and that
each Group ought to have a strategy for growth. He
suggested: a) welcoming people [from?] the C of E,
b) welcoming back the lapsed and c) welcoming
those who had no faith at present. In order to achieve
this, Mgr Newton said we needed four things. Faith
- Confidence - Commitment - and Prayer. It was
stirring stuff. The two Monsignors had set us on the
right road, a road that would
fulfil the hopes and ambitions of
the Holy Father when he invented
the Personal Ordinariates of Our
Lady of Walsingham, the Chair of
Saint Peter and Our Lady of the
Southern Cross.
financial position and
Customary
Mgr John Broadhurst gave a
passionate presentation about
the seriousness of our financial
position before Mgr Andrew Burnham told us about
the publication of the Customary.
totally committed
After lunch we looked rather more closely at the
Ordinariate ... positives, problems, negatives and
what the future might hold. Some areas were able
to elect their lay representative to the Council.
There was time for some questions before we all
departed with a desire to be totally committed to this
wonderful project called the Ordinariate of O ur Lady
of Walsingham.