A Conversion Course

'For the avoidance of confusion I have to say that as far as the Diocese of London is concerned there is no possibility of transferring properties'.
So Bishop Richard Chartres at his Diocesan Synod last week.

By contrast, here is the Property Page of the Daily Telegraph four days later:
'A recent survey conducted by a property website declared that churches are the nation's favourite conversion'.

Now London, of course, is a special case. Not that its churches are bursting with eager worshippers; indeed, it is reckoned that the average worshipping congregation across the diocese numbers fewer than forty people. No, it is its bishop which makes London different. He has fought to keep churches open, even in the City where there are few residents, and for this determination he deserves much credit. But...

In his address to the Synod the Bishop related unhappy experiences of attempting to share a church building. 'The late Cardinal Hume, whom I greatly revered, brought to an end the experiment of church sharing after the Synod’s decision of 1992'. On the evidence of that handful of failed experiments the good Bishop is prepared to condemn every attempt at church sharing.

There was similar episcopal resistance nearly fifty years ago when in a Surrey parish we dared suggest to our Bishop of Guildford and his opposite number of Arundel & Brighton that our parish church might be useful to the Catholic community. Eventually, and a little grudgingly, the two bishops permitted the experiment. So it was that between our 8am celebration and the later Parish Communion, Catholics met in the Anglican Parish Church to say Mass.

Some of the friendships which developed from this modest experiment continue to this day. I am not sure if the sharing arrangement still flourishes; but it certainly did so for more than thirty years.

It takes a very special sort of leadership to feel unthreatened by such events yet when they are entered into with generosity and charity on all sides they can produce great results, so that even non-churchgoers can begin to say "How these Christians love one another!" - and say it, for once, with no trace of irony.

The present Bishop of London is famously implacable in his views. How stoutly he recently defended the Royal Family when one of his Suffragans dared to suggest they did not always produce the most stable of marriages. There is little prospect of any of the churches in his dioceses playing host anytime soon to a Catholic Mass; even though in many of them it might appear to be the Catholic Mass which is celebrated. There are seven years before age will force him to hang up his mitre if neither he nor the Almighty has decided it should happen earlier. Then will it be economic or ecumenical pressure which determines the fate of the underused churches of London Diocese?



A shared place where Anglicans and Roman Catholics have worshipped

Fareham Licensing

Bishop Keith Presiding: Fr Woodman setting the Altar

Once again the powers that be have downgraded a major parish by licensing a priest in charge instead of inducting a new Incumbent. This time it was in the Parish of SS Peter and Paul Fareham, and I am not sure what the excuse was for suspending the living. Something, no doubt, about 'pastoral reorganisation'; or perhaps the diocese in in the process of selling off the Vicarage, and does not want there to be an incumbent with the power to stop it. Fr Christopher Woodman SSC comes to Portsmouth from Chichester diocese.

The parish has fairly recently passed the third resolution, so Bishop Keith was there resplendent in cloth of gold to celebrate the Mass. The licensing took place within the celebration, but instead of simply getting over the legal requirements we were subjected to the CofE's notion of 'commitment': to Renewal and Growth - a little walk to the font where a Churchwarden had to say "We, the people of this parish, for our part must, by word and example, encourage those who are baptized to be active .... and so on and so on." Then, a walk to the Lectern (there being no pulpit - is that legal?) and another little quintet (it would be better set to music) for Bishop of Dorking, Area Dean, Priest-in-charge designate, churchwarden and lay chair, leading into another choral offering by The People of The Parish "We will, with the help of God".

Kenneth Stevenson, lately retired, was of course a leading light in modern liturgy, so no doubt most of these golden phrases came from his erudite pen. The See is now in vacancy, and it was for the Bishop of Dorking, Ian Brackley, to operate (for the last time, he said) as Commissary.

We had further commitments; to Prayer. As I recall this used to happen at a litany desk; you don't come across them much nowadays, so the procession was to "the body of the Church" - that is to say, the Nave.

The bit about the Eucharist was called "Commitment to Unity". This had been the theme, too, of Bishop Ian's sermon; how the parish must play its part in the town and among the other parishes. The catholic element in the CofE was very important, he averred, and "we" were doing everything to enable catholics to remain loval Anglicans. Bishop Keith did not look terribly enthralled by what the Commissary was saying - and told him so in very direct Liverpudlian after the mass.

The new P-P

I did notice one happy phrase; something about "Don't just find the beauty of holiness in catholic worship: find the beauty of human beings touched by grace" - it was a faint echo of Frank Weston's words at an Anglo-Catholic Congress. But of course what Weston envisaged was a Church of England reclaimed for the Catholic faith. Since that is now no longer possible, we must all look elsewhere to find our Catholic home.

It was good that there were SSC brethren there to support the new parish priest. Fr Graham Smith, local Vicar of the Chapter, assisted at Communion. Fr Ron Gwyther, the ancient of days, has helped greatly in the parish for many years, and it was good to see him in conversation with Fr Kenneth Forster. Kenneth had been an NSM priest in my Hull parish decades ago and now he too is landed in Fareham, where he has family. Good, too, to have Fr Waller from S Saviour Walthamstow gracing the procedings.

Altogether, a curate's egg of an evening. Some good hearty singing - but a turgid bit of Taize, a well-ordered Mass, and at the heart of it those increasingly impossible claims that "The Church of England is part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church". I hope Fr Woodman kept his fingers tightly crossed as he made the Declaration of Assent.

Another Day, Another Chrism

Fresh back from Perth, today I headed off to Portsmouth for our own Regional Chrism. Bishop Keith was in good form, and there was a real sense that this was a very special day; for it might well be our last such celebration together before a parting of friends. Bishop Keith ended his address with this as his theme, reminding us how the Archbishop of Westminster had spoken warmly of the parochial priestly ministry of John Henry Newman - most of which ministry he exercised as an Anglican, at the University Church in Oxford and then at Littlemore.

This Regional Chrism revolves around three dioceses, Winchester, Guildford and Portsmouth. Until 1927 they were all part of the one ancient diocese of Winchester, and some of us hope that late development might one day be reversed. Today was Portsmouth's turn to host us, in their little Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury. Four dozen clergy gathered round our Bishop, supported by a nave full of lay people from across the region - many from overseas - for the Isle of Wight is part of Portsmouth Diocese.

The three dioceses have often had bishops representing them at the Richborough Chrism. Today, though, Portsmouth awaits its new Bishop, so the Dean was there to greet us in his stead. With him were an Archdeacon from Winchester (the Diocesan having lost two suffragans in the past year and so being too busy to be with us), and Bishop Ian of Dorking from Guildford Diocese.

It was an especially happy occasion for me; many of those present were old friends, from my time as PEV for the Region, but there were also many new and younger friends present. The singing was supported by the men of the Cathedral Choir, Fr Gary Waddington was there as priest MC to ensure everything ran smoothly, and a good time was had by all. Afterwards Jane and I took friends to see some of the sights of Old Portsmouth - Ferries were buzzing in and out of the harbour, there was plenty of sail around, the sun shone and the breeze blew. Altogether a refreshing and uplifting occasion for us all.

Now Bishop Keith is gearing himself up for the next two similar events. He was in the Midlands yesterday, on Monday it will be Chelmsford and on Tuesday, Canterbury. The seriousness with which people in our parishes value this event, and turn out to support their parish priests, will be part of the Anglican Patrimony which we look forward to sharing in a wider communion and fellowship. May it be soon!

[I discover there is an account of a Chrism Mass of Bishop Andrew's. which included many Welsh participants: http://allgassandgaiters.blogspot.com/ ]