The Mayflower sailed from Rotherhitheand the River defines London
More travels; this weekend it was Rotherhithe; the occasion, a 20th of priesting. But Fr Nicholls who was the birthday boy was actually born in the year of my deaconing. The 50th anniversary of that is on Saturday next. O tempora, O mores! Especially the tempora bit.
So, since it was Corpus Xti, I spoke about the passing of time, and the need to keep our Wills up to date (how good the Visitation of the Sick is about keeping our affairs in order). Then, naturally, to the Last Will and Testament of Our Blessed Lord - who gave it to us at the Last Supper.
What a great Sanctuary; though it would be easier using it as intended, Eastward facing. For all that, the whole occasion was lovely, with a Procession and Benediction to conclude.
I spoke about Executors; no use relying on friends, they can die before us. Institutions like Banks can be very
expensive - and as we have seen recently, they may well not survive. Our Lord relied on his friends, but not just them; on their succession. Which brings us, of course, to the problem of who is and who is not a bishop. I left the question hanging - for the people and their priest to resolve. What a lovely and diverse bunch they are there on the South Bank of the Thames; and mercifully untainted by "South Bank Religion".I'd like to be buried in a graveyard with a slide in it.
Was a joy to welcome you on Sunday Bishop Edwin! And once again sorry i fixed your Crozier wrong!
ReplyDeleteWayne (M.C At St Mary's Rotherhithe)
I would like to make a comment - one which I hope is not considered impertinent.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to write so inteliigently and eloquently about Ang Coet and all the various views and opinions surrounding it. I sense that it will be the road for you ...
But you may be more ready than you think. What would be the value of waiting for the Ordinariate (when we still don't know for sure what it will look like) when you could 'go over' now? Your treatment would be the same (maybe better) and you'd be able to enjoy - sooner rather than later - the inevitable life to which you so courageously and evidently spire.
And what might your advice be to me if I was to say that I (as a priest) was in the same position?
God bless,
MNM
My advice, for what it's worth, Maurice, would be to do what you are advised to do by the PEVs; which is to say, wait for the Ordinariate and join it enthusiastically - not least because it will ensure that you are able to exercise a priestly ministry again far more quickly than if you simply 'submit to Rome'. In the Ordinariate we are responding to the Holy Father, not waiting interminably, as some converts have had to do, on an English Catholic Diocesan.
ReplyDeleteAs to 'what it will look like' that will depend on the quality and numbers of those who join it; the more the merrier. +E