The Portal February 2016 | Page 3

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