THE
P RTAL
February 2016
Page 3
Portal Comment
from Will Burton
Anniversaries
This month’s interview
At the start of January we at The Portal celebrated
five full years of publication. Hosted by our CoEditors, Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane, and with
many guests, the party was held at Golden Square.
It is not every day that one meets a truly saintly
person. But during January our Co-Editors visited,
met and interviewed The Right Reverend Michael
Nazir Ali. The first part of that
interview is in this issue of
The Portal. Next month we
shall have the second part of
the interview.
During the past year The Portal has averaged 6,551
visitors to our web site each and every month. That is,
of course, the minimum number for our readership.
Each computer that downloads our magazine
may well be read by more than just one person.
In addition, we know people print it off and leave
copies in the porch of the local church. Therefore, as
is pointed out in the report “Growing Up, Growing
Out”, our true readership could be as many as 20,000!
When one considers that the Ordinariate
membership in the UK is between 1,200 and 1,400,
The Portal is doing very well. We are reaching our
target readership: Ordinariate members, Catholic
friends, and Anglicans who are interested in the
Ordinariate. Of those who visit our web site about
70% to 75% are resident in the UK. About 10% are
in the USA, rather less than 5% in Australia, with the
rest scattered around the world.
The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
celebrated its fifth birthday with a mass at Precious
Blood, Borough (below). The Friends of the
Ordinariate welcomed our new Missal with a mass
at Westminster Cathedral. You can read more about
these events elsewhere in this issue of The Portal,
and on the internet.
Bishop Michael is a
remarkable man who is active
in assisting those who are
persecuted for their Christian
Faith. He is also a recognized authority on Islam and
has important views on the relationship of Islam with
Christianity and indeed the west in general.
Fr Mark Woodruff
From next month, we
introduce our new columnist,
Fr Mark Woodruff. He is active
in the are