ragon
THE
P RTAL
September 2012
Page 8
Different,
but not strangers
“If people
genuinely realise that they want to be Roman Catholic, they should
convert properly, and go through catechesis and be made proper Catholics. This kind of
creation [the Ordinariate] -- well, all I can say is, we wish them every blessing and may the
Lord encourage them. But as far as I am concerned, if I was really, genuinely wanting to
convert, I wouldn’t go into an Ordinariate. I would actually go into catechesis and become a
truly converted Roman Catholic and be accepted.”
T h e s e
breathtakingly
insensitive public
remarks from a senior Anglican
cleric are a couple of years old now,
but sadly the level of ignorance
about the the Ordinariate of Our
Lady of Walsingham that lies
behind them persists at large.
‘proper Catholics’
Again recently I had a lady
suggest to me that those who
are members of the Ordinariate
are not ‘proper Catholics’. She
was very frank in expressing her
views - more frank than she might
have been had she known that
I was one those whose Catholic
credentials she was calling into
question – and made it quite clear
that she would not be having anything to do with it.
At the end of our fairly lengthy conversation, during
which I tried to introduce the idea that communion
with the Holy See might be an important consideration
when thinking about these things, I concluded that the
lady’s objection to the Ordinariate was based on little
more than the fact that the Ordinariate is different.
cultural exchange that benefits the
different groups.
great diversity of
Catholic cultures
In the Church we see a great
diversity of Catholic cultures and
populations, among them now
those of the Ordinariates, many
of which celebrate rites different
from the Roman Rite, but all in
communion with Rome and the
Pope.
The ancient and rich heritages of
Catholics from all over the world
can be found in our communities
and neighbourhoods. Yet instead
of celebrating and using these to
help enrich and deepen our faith
in Christ, very often we keep
the different at arm’s length and as a result remain
strangers to one another.
learn from our children
As is so often the case, we could learn from our
children and not be afraid to embrace that which is
different from us and all we have ever known. To the
lady with doubts about the Ordinariate I want to say,
let me learn about your cradle English Catholicism
celebrating the diversity
with its particular customs and traditions and be
Walk into any school in any big town or city these enriched by it.
days and you are greeted by wonderfully colourful and
vibrant posters and displays celebrating the diversity
Let me appreciate those ways beloved to you that
of cultures that make up the school community. In the have made you the Catholic you are today. But let me
classroom children and teachers enthusiastically learn also share with you the customs and traditions and
about one another’s languages, foods, dress, music, ways beloved to me that make me the Catholic that I
religion and traditions.
am today.
The presence of different cultures appears not to
Let me celebrate our Catholic faith in ways slightly
be a cause of anxiety about the stability of a single different to yours. Allow us to be different without
identity; rather it is embraced as an opportunity for being strangers.