THE
P RTAL
January 2016
Page 24
Where do we go
from here?
Geoffrey Kirk points the way
We can
– for the time being - take a short rest from synods of bishops
and all they entail. (What’s the betting that clerical celibacy will be the
subject of the next one? And no prizes for guessing the position of the German
bishops on that.) There is time, now, to take stock of the Ordinariates.
The hot news, of course is the appointment of Steven
Lopes, a cradle Catholic, as the first ordinariate bishop.
Was there no native born ex-Anglican in the US up to
the job? Lopes is a good man, entirely sympathetic to
the patrimony; but he is not of it. Does this matter –
and more importantly, does it set a precedent?
a standalone. We need, at the same time as refining and
expressing our distinctness, to continue the process of
integration into the common life of the Church in our
dioceses and localities.
That means, above all, more parish churches in the
care of the Ordinariate – places where patrimony can
The pressing question has to be: what are the be shared and where it can make a difference. The
ordinariates for? Have they a hopeful and necessary ordinariates in America and Australia will doubtless
future, or are they, like the position of surviving have other plans and priorities. But that surely must
Catholics in the churches from which they emerged, a be ours.
mere holding operation until death subvenes?
The time has come, it seems to me, to talk up the
patrimony. We need to celebrate the tradition from
which we come, from Laud and Cosin to Farrer and
Mascall. And we need to engage cradle Catholics in a
re-evaluation of those Anglican roots. The task cannot
be left to Aidan Nichols!
What I propose, to focus the mind and steady
the nerves as the ordinariates move forward, is a
sizeable volume – something like More and Cross’s
‘Anglicanism’ – describing and illustrating precisely
where we are, in terms of the places from which we
have come.
There is a colourful and instructive tale to tell – of
Anglo-Papalism, of British Museum religion, of social
involvement, and of scholarly reflection. And then
there is the patrimony in terms of art, architecture and
music. The book itself, of course, when handsomely
produced, would be a fitting festschrift for our beloved
Pope Emeritus.
You will say that dwelling on the past is no way to
secure the future. Of course, by itself it is not. But a
remnant, as scripture shows, can only confidently claim
its future when it is fully apprised of the significance of
what has gone before.
Such a project, of course, should not be envisaged as
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