Spare Our Blushes

A very special Palm Sunday. We processed from the hall into Church, the sun shone, we sang wholeheartedly.



Several returned in the afternoon for Evensong and Benediction which was supported by organist and singers from a neighbouring Anglican church. Then, to crown it all, there was an unexpected accolade in the Diocesan Magazine, "Portsmouth People".

The diocese has been very welcoming from the start, and we have received great help and encouragement from Bishop Crispian. Today, though, it was a letter from a parishioner in Southbourne, where we share the church building, which gave us a great boost. It is in the letters pages of "Portsmouth People", headed "Ordinariate Privilege". It shows a depth of understanding about the Ordinariate which is very welcome - and so I dare reprint some of it here. I just hope we can live up to it!

"We at the parish of Our Lady Queen of Peace... were privileged last year to have the new members of the Ordinariate join our parish; they were all (around 25) received into the Catholic church at the Easter Vigil... and they are now fully Catholics, although at the Pope's request they have kept a few features of their Anglican ceremonies, such as beautiful music, or the (optional) use of kneelers during Holy Communion.

These slight differences are merely superficial; the Ordinariate members have been delighted to embrace the Catholic faith completely, while nevertheless adhering to the Poe's wishes that they keep their own masses and services slightly separate so that more Anglicans, particularly those who are unwilling to give up some of the own traditions, may be attracted into the Catholic Church. I have been to the Masses (of the Ordinariate) and they are almost identical to our non-Ordinariate Masses, though it has to be admitted that the singing may be slightly better. It is indeed very enriching for us to have the opportunity to attend Benediction and Mass with them... I would like to thank them for enriching our parish with their presence ... I hope that the Ordinariate may continue to act as a bridge for new Catholics for a long time to come."

For our part, is is very good that some from local parishes join us from time to time - as also today we had help at Benediction from a Server in a local Anglican Church. Throughout the Triduum we have been invited by Fr Gerry to participate in the Parish's liturgies, and I am to preach at them. We pray that this mutual enrichment may prove a great blessing to the whole Church. On Easter morning, when we celebrate again as an Ordinariate at 11.30am, it might seem quite lonely!

A Happy Portsmouth Day

As Bishop of Matabeleland, and then as a Bishop with the TAC, Robert Mercer C.R.brings great wisdom and experience into the Ordinariate. Bishop Alan Hopes came to Portsmouth Cathedral on Lady Day to Ordain Robert a Catholic Priest. I began to write about this on another blog, but a gremlin entered the works, so I shall try to put into this post some of the pictures from the day. (Click on the photograph below and you might spot Fr Robert just ahead of Mgr Keith's linen mitre.)


Very good that there were two C.R. priests from Mirfield to support their brother. Equally, there was a good turnout of TAC members from St Agatha's Portsea (where Fr Robert will now exercise his ministry) and Ordinariate priests from the diocese of Portsmouth and beyond. Good, too, that Mgr Broadhurst was there with Judy giving their support to ex-Anglican Bishop number 6 in the Ordinariate.


Fr Peter Geldard quipped about welcoming this new blood into the Church - he made the move from Secretary General of the Church Union to Catholic University Chaplain in Canterbury many years ago - in time to give great hospitality to those fighting a rearguard action against the forces of 'modernisma' at the '98 Lambeth Conference. With his in the photograph is another pioneer, Fr Christopher Colven, now Parish Priest at St James' Spanish Place in London, but for many of us a real pastor when he was Master of SSC in those troubled years on the '80s and '90s. Certainly some of us have taken too long to see the light: but we also have a good influx of younger members in the Ordinariate who have woken up and smelled the coffee (as they say)more quickly than we did.



Now we have to get organised for our first Ordinariate Holy Week and Easter, and get ready to welcome the next influx of erstwhile Anglicans. What a great time this is to be alive!

Who's for Tennyson?

Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun in the title; though I was tempted by "Watt's Up?" So I should explain. Today we went up to Guildford, to see an old parishioner in hospital. Mary has been in intensive care for three weeks now, is on a ventilator, yet manages (though she cannot speak) to make herself understood. She was full of life, and it was a joy to see her. If you could spare a prayer for her, I know she would be very glad indeed. She was sacristan in Farncombe Church during my time there, but that only hints at her multi-talents. She is enthusiastic abut her garden. She has also been housekeeper to a succession of Catholic priests in Godalming. A lovely woman.

So where does Tennyson come in? Well, we set off from home early enough to visit the Watts Gallery in Compton (the next village to my one-time parish of Farncombe) and there we came face to face with Tennyson - or rather the great plaster statue of him which was eventually cast in bronze for Lincoln Cathedral.



We had been to the Watts gallery forty years ago, when it was mouldering and the pictures were in real danger from leaking roofs. In the past few years, thanks to money from the Lottery and a galaxy of donors it is resplendent and shows the pictures off to their best advantage. The Portraits had some real winners among them - I particularly liked Swinburne. You could see why he might have been the model for Bunthorne in Gilbert & Sullivan's 'Patience' - and in a recent show at the V&A there was a teapot surely based on his extraordinary visage. But G.F.Watt's great allegorical works left both Jane and me quite cold. Something very repellant about those slimy insubstantial images There is also a mortuary chapel, the work of Watts' wife and a host of locals who worked at the gallery making pots. I once conducted a funeral in that chapel, a train-crash of a building - Byzantium meets Arts and Crafts with a dash of Theosophy, and the acoustic of a swimming bath.... but go and see for yourself. It and the Watts Gallery are just off the A3 a couple of miles south of Guildford.

In case you think I am taking life too easy, be reassured. Tomorrow it is Bournemouth in the morning for Stations and then Mass, and in the evening a Liturgy of Reconciliation over in Ringwood. Our Parish Priest, Fr Danny, has broken his shoulder, so I shall also be saying Mass here in Lymington on Friday. You might spare a prayer for him, too; he is in a deal of pain, and barely managing to sleep at all. Thanks.

Sway - Quietly

The Ordinariate Group from Bournemouth had its Lent Quiet Day today, with the Dominican Sisters in Sway. The weather was perfect, and Fr John Lee who led the day hit exactly the right note. (below contemplating our equine cousins)


We were fifteen in the party, including a couple of "cradle" Catholics from Our Lady Queen of Peace in Southbourne.



We prayed, and rested, walked and sat in the sunshine, and had a quite lovely time. Then just as the Mass was ending one of our number felt bit queasy - in the end we took her to outpatients where she was given a thorough going-over, and reassured there was nothing seriously wrong.



It meant though that we did not have a full complement for our group photos. Still, it may be that those attached to this blog may gain a little impression of the day, a real taste of Spring in the New Forest.



Occasions like this are marvellous for building up the sense of belonging for a Group comprising members from half a dozen previous Anglican churches. We are beginning to feel very much a family now. Tomorrow, Mgr Burnham (former Bishop of Ebbsfleet) visits us, so we'd better smarten up the liturgy!

Busy, Busy

Quite a week after the Pilgrimage to Rome. The priests in Bournemouth and in the Avon/Stour Pastoral areas had asked me to help them with a quiet day. When eventually I found them in a retreat house in Westbourne I gave them a couple of reflections on the Ordinariate Pilgrimage; taking them first to Subiaco and the beginnings of Western Monasticism, then to St Gregory's to remind them about the Missions of Augustine and his companions. We had an interesting discussion on how far the Catholic Church should be triumphalist (the gospel for the day was about not hiding light under a bushel) and how far it must be modest and ready to give way to the Established Church. I had suggested we need to be ready to claim our rights as the natural Church of this land.

The same evening I went back to Bournemouth to celebrate Mass for the local Catenian Circle. They had come, I think, expecting a different liturgy; instead they found the new translation of Mass celebrated not quite as they are accustomed. "How good not to have any guitars" said one; "Liked the singing" said another; "We don't often have incense said a third" - and I think he approved that we do.

After Mass in St Agatha's

Today was a trip East, forty miles to Portsmouth. Fr Jonathan Redvers-Harris is currently engaged on a course in Canon Law, and is in the midst of a residential fortnight in Leeuven (Brussels). We are so short of Ordinariate priests in this area that he was coming back on the Eurostar tonight in order to say Mass for the Isle of Wight Group tomorrow - then off in the afternoon to Belgium again. They will certainly be glad when (Bishop)Robert Mercer C.R. is ordained into the Catholic priesthood - which I understand is to be in Portsmouth Cathedral on Monday March 26th (the Annunciation, transferred from Sunday).

Annunciation Tympanum in St Agatha's

(Fr)John Maunder and some of his people have begun preparation for reception (and in his case, I hope, Ordination) so the Portsmouth Group is looking increasingly healthy. As always, the preparations John had made for me to say Mass were immaculate, and his welcome most warm and generous.


The present shortage of priests, though, gave me the opportunity of celebrating at mid-day according to the Use of the Book of Common Worship, in that wonderful church of St Agatha, Portsea.

Picture (left) Wendy Redvers-Harris who in her husband's absence ensured things went smoothly - despite delays with the ferry. The hovercraft was full and some coming from the Island were delayed

Rome Pilgrimage

Fancy us, being here! That was the constant cry from members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham throughout last week's Pilgrimage. There were around a hundred of us, incuding two deacons, ten priests, our Ordinary, and representatives from many of the Groups in England and Scotland. There are pictures elsewhere - find them from the Ordinariate's web page - so I shall just add a few of my own. We did not have much spare time, but on the afternoon of Ash Wednesday I managed half an hour in front of Saint Peter's to make a scribble - chiefly because you look more carefully and remember better when you have a pen or pencil in hand.


Sue sponsored Barbel and I sponsored Brian at their Reception

For our Bournemouth group the highspot was the Confirmation of Brian and Barbel Copus. They have been waiting for a year and more to have their marriage convalidated. That happened just days before we left for Rome, so Mgr Keith was able to confirm them - to their delight that occurred in the church of St George in the Marsh (San Georgio Palabro) which was the titular church of John Henry Cardinal Newman, our Patron. Their happiness was infectious, and the whole Pilgrimage rejoiced with them.



Perhaps, too, we should mention the Papal Audience - when, on our name being announced, we all stood and sang a verse of 'Praise to the Holiest' - not sure what the thousands present made of it, but they applauded and the Holy Father waved to us, and it seems we were also on the Tele. So that bit of the Patrimony has gone world-wide, thanks to EWTN. It was good to see Mgr Keith up among the great and good, and he conveyed the Pope's good wishes to all members of the Ordinariate.


Pope Benedict looked bigger on screen!

So much else to tell you about; a wonderful trip up into the snow (while the sun shone warmly) to see the Monastery of Scta Scholastica, and the Cave where St Benedict spent three years in preparation for his great work of founding Western Monasticism.

I had the good fortune to preach there, so I append a version of the sermon. You may skip it and just look at the pictures if you'd rather.


Vesting again!


SERMON in SUBIACO

We are just overwhelmed – so much to see, so much to take in. Here, for instance, the very birthplace of monasticism, where the Offices of the Church began to become distinctly Christian, growing away from their Jewish origins. There are those who claim that the Anglican Patrimony at its best is Benedictine, and that in Cathedral worship those monastic ideals continue. So should we look at Benedict and his sister, and learn lessons from them? Well, we could think of the complementarity of male and female, and how as Scholastica’s nunnery paralleled her brother’s monastery as much later Clare’s foundation underpinned the work of Francis – or again looking to England consider how important the dual foundation of Whitby was for the church of our land, and how Hilda exercised great influence – without ever being a priest! But then we have heard from the Abbot so much more about the history of this place, and our Tour guide has blown much of the story of Scholastica clean out of the water!



But time is short - so let’s focus on one small thing, the newly translated prayer for Scholastica’s feast day. There had been an ancient prayer recalling how Benedict had seen her soul ascend as a dove to heaven. By the 1980s there was instead a very pedestrian little effort; “that by her example we may serve you with love and obtain perfect joy”. Well, forget that. Look instead at what the new Translation has given us:-
‘That, following her example, we may serve you with pure love
and happily receive what comes from loving you’.
Not ‘perfect joy’ you see, that is altogether too trite, Better than that, we ask for what comes, whatever comes, from loving God. There’s a wealth of meaning in that sentence. The lives of Benedict and of Scholastica are lives of pure love for God; and that is what we ask for ourselves – “that we may happily receive what comes from loving you”. So what does come from loving God? Not just joy, surely. John Wesley understood it well – he is part of the Patrimony, a part we should not forget: here is what his followers pray each New Year:

“Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal”.

That is genuinely asking to love God.

Love is not without pain. There are those refuse love for fear of being hurt, people who can never commit themsleves to another person because it might bring pain.. Not so the saints, not so Scholastica. They risk loving God, for the joy of being loved in return. The pain that love brings them is worth it; love like that Jesus spoke of “A woman when she is in labour has sorrow – but as soon as she is delivered of the child she remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a man is born into the world”. (John 16.21) Can we pray too, that ‘we may happily receive what comes from loving you’?


The Shrine at Subiaco

What an excuse!

We have our grandson with us for half-term - which gives us a perfect pretext for doing new things. Today we went to the Southampton Aircraft Museum (I did not even know where it was) and spent a fascinating hour or two there. Huw (the grandson) sat in the pilot's seat on the Sunderland Flying Boat, which is the centre-piece of the display. I remember seeing these amazing aircraft taking off from Plymouth Sound half a century ago. My aunt and uncle flew in one down to South Africa - making, as I recall, two overnight stops, one on the Nile, the other on a Lake in Central Africa. The sheer space for passengers makes Laker & co the cheapskates they are - then there was real leg-room, to say nothing of the ashtrays built into the armrests of all the seats.

On Sunday next we fly from Gatwick to Rome on Pilgrimage; would that the journey was half as comfortable as those Flying Boats. Not all new things are genuine progress. And I bet our aircraft will not have an anchor in its nose.

It was a bit disconcerting though to see the very uniform I had worn as a Pilot Officer (Fighter Control) when doing my National Service put on display as a historic relic - and the cockpit of a Chipmunk rescued from scrap. Those aircraft were the ones we used for air experience during our training. How quickly the new becomes history! But then, I can remember air raid shelters during the war....