THE
P RTAL
October 2015
but all that dreadful music! I welcomed the
Ordinariate when His Holiness Benedict
XVI set it up. It was wonderful.
“Ordinariate people are lovely. Quite
a few Diocesan Catholics attend the
Ordinariate Mass. There are various
reasons for this, Fr Jonathan, and the time
of Mass among others. Our Parish Priest Liz Stephens
here. Fr Anthony is lovely too. We have
the Extraordinary Form of Mass two or
three times a week. He is very traditional.
“The Ordinariate is a perfect combination,
a return to the True Church and a dignified
approach to worship with the Anglican
tradition or patrimony.
I belong to the Catholic History Society Graham Targett
here. At Glastonbury I was involved with
the Glastonbury Theological Society. There
I met church people who did not believe
the Christian Faith. They had no belief in
the Incarnation or the Resurrection. I knew
then my days in the CofE were numbered.
The people were lovely, but with a real lack
of belief.
Interviews, cakes and refreshments over, Kate Busch
we drive to East Cowes as the Redvers
Harris’ had kindly invited us to lunch. This
was a splendid meal. We have, of course,
known Fr Jonathan and Wendy for many
years. They are lovely people. After lunch
we all repaired to Fr Jonathan’s study.
We thanked them for their kindness Fr Jonathan and
and set out with the obvious question. Wendy Redvers-Harris
“We’re at the end of an era here aren’t
we really?” Fr Jonathan replied, “Yes we are
really, in terms of being in Ryde. We’ve been
there for over four years now haven’t we?
For a weekly Sunday Mass I think I’ve only
missed two Sundays in that whole time, but
needs must.
“The group is very small and I’ve been
appointed now to two diocesan parishes. Marian Owen
I think our Ordinariate group graciously
and realistically realised that one cannot be
stretched three ways and so they have come
to realise that relocation of the group was
needed - we are the Ordinariate on the Isle
of Wight and our people don’t all come from
Ryde. So there’s a bigger point there and we’re
going to have a monthly mass at Ryde to keep
our Ryde connectedness because that’s the Sue Mawson
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place where we all made the journey into full
communion with the Church.
“Fr Anthony is there. He’s been very
hospitable and gracious to us. That’s been our
spiritual home and we want to keep that alive
as long as he is there. They’re going to come
now here to East Cowes for a vigil mass, or
some of them will do, on a Saturday evening.
“I’m adamant that there must be a weekly
Mass for the Ordinariate. I think it would be
totally wrong not to. That’s my first love and I
was incardinated into the Ordinariate and am
soon to be the Chancellor of the Ordinariate!
- so it would be absurd if we couldn’t have a
mass on the Isle of Wight every week.
“We’ve not tried Benediction yet, but there
will be Evensong. We’ve had a few Choral
Evensongs, which have actually been quite
popular, quite successful. And they have
attracted some more singers. Fr Anthony
at St Mary’s, Ryde, is very keen and joins us
for Choral Evensong when we’ve had it. He’s
very supportive, and we’ve had singers from
the parish choirs in Ryde joining, so it’s been
joint Ordinariate and parish Evensong in
terms of the choir.
“The group has been, on the whole,
very committed. Very loyal. The people
are older so it’s a fragile group. We have
good bonds with some people from the
Portsmouth part of our group so we
aren’t simply the Isle of Wight group.
Some of our people have moved away
to the mainland because there aren’t the
opportunities for employment on the Island
so that’s a difficulty.
One interesting thing is the flower festival
that we held here. It was the idea of my
wife, Wendy and Sister Marguerite from the
nearby convent. We held it here in July and
the Catholics here had never heard of a flower
festival in the way Anglicans have. It’s pure
Anglican patrimony. As also is the role that
Wendy plays as “vicar’s wife” because people
now relate to Wendy in a different way to
simply being a member of the lay faithful.”
Wendy said, “I still feel like the vicar’s wife.
I’ve always been quite sort of discrete. I’m the
wife, I stay in the background and contribute
in the way I can.”