Newly Elected

The Rite of Election yesterday was a great event; I wrote about it on the Anglo-Catholic blog. But now, I have been sent such a marvellous picture taken by Barry Hudd, the Diocese's official photographer, that it seemed churlish not to share it. So above you will see Bishop Crispian addressing the new members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, groups from Ryde and Portsmouth with their shepherd, Jonathan Redvers-Harris, from Reading with David Elliott, and from Bournemouth & Christchurch with Raymond Smith. It really did feel as though some of the wounds of the Reformation were being bound up, and a historical moment of the Ecumenical Journey was beginning. Now I must abandon blogging for a while to attend to an engagement in Texas: more of that in a week or so, I hope. Meanwhile, to pack.

Bishop x 2

Bishop Crispian and Fr Keith Newton flank the new priest and Jane

Yesterday he laid hands on me in Ordination; today he was visiting the Parish as part of his farewell tour of the diocese. So of my three Catholic masses, two have been concelebrations with Bishop Crispian - the other was at Brockenhurst, where they told me apologetically that everyone was away for the end of Half-Term. With sixty communicants and a good number of children it did not seem very empty! Maybe they are used to a squash most Sundays. There certainly was not room for many more at Lymington, where latecomers usually find they have to stand throughout. There was a great farewell reception for Bishop Crispian after the Mass.



We had the Sevenoaks photographer Fr James Bradley, in attendance, so until I get copies of the official Portsmouth Diocesan photos, here is a link to a great series of pictures he took and has published on Flickr:
http://ordinariateportal.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/photos-from-the-ordination-of-fr-edwin-barnes/



I have written about an aspect of the Ordination at the Anglo-Catholic blog (see link at the side of this blog). Meanwhile, since some of my American readers still seem to misunderstand what a Bunfight is, here is a picture of the one they put on for the Bishop today in Lymington. Very good it was, too.

Fr Danny was a little nervous, I fancy, before the Bishop's visit; but all went very well, and the Bishop reassured us all that he was not here to tear us off a strip! Below you will spot Fr Danny in the doorway, trying to shepherd some of the flock into the other room where a presentation was to be made to the Bishop.

First and Last

Brockenhurst, this morning; the Catholic Church of St Anne (l) is run from Lymington, so today I was there for a first visit - and my last as a Deacon. Next Sunday, God willing, I shall be back at St Anne's to celebrate Mass for the first time as a Catholic Priest. Then there will be a mad dash back to Lymington, where Bishop Crispian is making his last visit before his retirement - and I will hope to concelebrate with him and our parish priest, Fr Danny McAvoy. This morning Fr Danny asked me to preach in Our Lady of Mercy in Lymington for the first time. "Think of us as Christ's Servants" said St Paul to the Corinthians - so I spoke about being a deacon, and how it was not a demotion as some supposed from being a bishop to becoming a deacon. Quite the contrary. Being a deacon, a servant, is the epitome of the Christian's call, the very thing Jesus tells us all to do; and inasmuch as we have done any service to one of the least of our brethren, we have done it to him. I might have said something about the bishop wearing the deacon's dalmatic beneath the chasuble, to remind him and us of his servant ministry - but you can't say everything all at once. There will, I hope, be other opportunities.

Just to cheer up anyone who has stumbled on this blog, here are a couple of local New Forest residents whom I met on the way to Mass in Brockenhurst. They don't look terribly happy, despite the sunny morning - perhaps because they were heading away from church rather than towards it.

Get Me To The Church On Time!

Thanks, John-of-Hayling, for reminding us about Portsmouth on a Saturday. Especially when Pompey are at home. On Saturday March 5 they will be playing Sheffield at Fratton Park (funny, I thought Sheffield only played on Wednesday?)
So here is what our helpful commentator had to say: 'Assuming that you can't get a place in the Cathedral car-park, then the best solution is to head for the Cascades shopping centre car-parks (£5).
From the M275 keep left at two roundabouts until you see that the left lane is marked Cascades Car Park.'

He is right, the Cathedral car-park is very small, and apart from a few reserved places it will be first come, first served. The Cathedral is approached by road via a one-way street (Edinburgh Road)and its car-park is on the right. There is a park-and-ride scheme from just off the M27 but I have no experience of it. Some such schemes are very unreliable. The best solution would be to let the train take the strain; maybe park at some station on the Waterloo-Portsmouth line such as Liss or Haslemere - or somewhere East or West of Portsmouth, like Chichester or Fareham. At all events, the station for the Cathedral is PORTSMOUTH & SOUTHSEA and it is only a few hundred yards from there to the Catholic Cathedral.

From the front of the station, cross Commercial Road, go down the street ahead of you (Stanhope Road) and so first left into Edinburgh Road, where the Cathedral is on your right.
Kick-off at Fratton Park is 15.00 hrs; we are half an hour earlier at the Cathedral, 2.30pm. There is to be some sort of bunfight afterwards - I hope if you make the journey you can stay long enough to say "Hello!".

You might like to print this page and file it for March 5th

Buckfast Ordination

The clans gather: the Ordinary in their midst

It was a tribal gathering on Friday at Buckfast. The Bishop of Plymouth has an area which includes three Anglican dioceses, right across the SW peninsula from the Scilly Isles to Dorset. It is the old territory of the Dumnonii (Exeter in Latin was Isca Dumnoniorum) and many from across the region and beyond gathered to witness the Ordination the the Priesthood of David Silk.


The Candidate, with another deacon's wife

With breathtaking speed, David Silk was advanced from the Diaconate which he attained on Tuesday to the Priesthood on Friday. The Abbey Church at Buckfast was filled with friends of David and Joyce, and it was unusual to see four mitres being sported, and only two of them by bishops.


Bishop Hopes, The Abbot of Buckfast, and our Ordinary, Keith Newton (l-r)

The first was Bishop Christopher Budd of Plymouth, who ordained David, the other Alan Hopes, Coadjutor of Westminster, who has been the link between the Ordinariate and the Conference of Bishops of England and Wales. The Mitred Abbot of Buckfast was the third, and it was very good to see the Ordinary himself properly attired. Quite like old times.



If you have not visited Buckfast (“the fourth most popular Tourist Attraction in the West Country”) then you should at the earliest opportunity. When the religious life was re-established on that Holy Ground, the monks themselves erected the Church following the plan of the long-demolished Cistercian Church which had been swept away in the unpleasantnesses of Henry VIII of unhappy memory. It is an austere building within, but the sanctuary, filled with concelebrating priests on this occasion, glows with light from a huge lantern suspended over the sacrarium.



Despite struggling with a rebellious sound system,
Bishop Christopher was warm in his welcome. To mark the very specially nature of the occasion he carried the pastoral staff which David had been given when he was bishop of Ballarat; it was a gift to him from the linked diocese in Papua New Guinea, and looked like the sort of weapon which could have felled at one blow any number of rebellious inferior clergy


After the razzmatazz of Westminster (was it really only a month ago?) Buckfast was splendidly restrained – but then, it has often been claimed that Anglicanism continued some of the better features of the Benedictine tradition. It certainly felt as though some of the Anglican Patrimony was already becoming apparent. “Praise to the Holiest” rang out for the Entrance, and “We pray Thee, Heavenly Father" was sung at the Offertory. These and other hymns made a lovely contrast with the singing of the Abbey Choir under their Director, Michael Vian Clark. They sang the Gloria from Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices, and led us in responsorial psalm and plainchant Alleluias, Sanctus, Veni Creator and Agnus Dei. The Motet at Communion was again by Byrd, his Laudibus in Sanctis.



Joyce assisted in vesting her husband in the Chasuble – this seems to be a habit (no pun intended) – perhaps it will be different in Portsmouth. With some of her family she was in the Easternmost block of stalls, facing some of the Monastic Community.

Once again there were more seeking a Blessing than receiving Communion; if they are preparing to declare themselves for the Ordinariate there will be a great shot in the arm for Westcountry Catholicism in the next few months.




The New Priest in mischievous mood

At the end of Mass David stood at the East end of the Choir, while a long queue formed seeking the new priest’s blessing. There was much hilarity over lunch, some of David’s closest friends joining the family in a small upper room over the Granary Restaurant. So the Ordinariate progresses, in joyful steps. If this was one man’s ordination, what will it be like at Pentecost when dozens are to be ordained?


The Church House Inn at Holne: highly recommended!

It was all a trip down memory lane for me; I hiked across Dartmoor as a Scout when I was at school in Plymouth, and had camped at Holne Chase in the hills above Buckfast more years ago than I care to remember. So Jane and I took the opportunity for a little break, staying at the Church House Inn at Holne. There we had dined once before many years back when Archbishop Michael Ramsey and his beloved Joan were at a neighbouring table. It was good to see a picture of the pair of them in the Bar of the Inn.


Dartmoor's Eastern Edge in Springtime

Dartmoor was heart-wrenchingly beautiful in the early Spring sunshine. It is less than 150 miles from home, but seems another world, unaltered in centuries. We returned to Lymington full of hope for the future, ready for my own forthcoming priesting in Portsmouth Cathedral. I am trying to find out about parking (they tell me Pompey has a home match, which will make the approached to the City more crowded than ever) - maybe if you are coming you should get into the City early and find some lunch before kick-off in St John's.

More Revs

Today was very good. Bishop Crispian of Portmouth made us very welcome, and although there was only a handful of us in his private chapel for my ordination to the diaconate, we had some good music. For Our Lady of Lourdes, we'd chosen a bit of the Anglican Patrimony. We sang as an introit: Bishop Ken's "Her Virgin Eyes saw God Incarnate born", to Lawes' tune 'Farley Castle'. I was not the solitary deacon on parade; Stephen (good name for a Deacon) Morgan, who is finance secretary to the Diocese, propped me up and ensured I did not fall over my feet. He is the handsome chap on the Bishop's right hand. To his right is the Chancellor of the Diocese.


Jane, formerly known as the Flying Buttress when I was a Flying Bishop, was also present but as ever wanted to take a back seat. She was eventually inveigled into a photograph. We had a very jolly lunch after the Ordination. Bishop Crispian is clearly keen to make the Ordinariate work in his diocese, and has given great encouragement to the three groups in his territory which are in process of formation. As he pointed out, my duty and that of my fellow priests is not to him but to our Ordinary, and he was only able to Ordain me because he had been asked to do so by Fr Keith Newton. For all that, he is doing everything he can to ensure that we are made welcome by all the catholic clergy and laity within his diocese. For ourselves, I must say Jane and I have felt a great warmth of affection and a welcome we could not possibly deserve. If anyone is holding back from the Ordinariate fearing that a clergy wife might not be welcome, please speak to Jane or any of the other bishops' or priests' wives who have made the journey. I hope that even after our local Anglicanorum group is running, I shall still be some use to priests and parishes in this southern part of Portsmouth diocese.

Core Values

The Prime Minister has been asking everyone to sign up to the Core Values of our Nation. Great. And where do these core values come from? Just look at some of them; respect for other people, tolerance of other faiths, a willingness to put others before oneself? Oh, surely they are just our national characteristics, learned on the playing fields of Eton?

A headmaster of Eton was once asked by a parent, cross that so much time seemed to be spent on religious education, "What do you think you are preparing our sons for, Headmaster?" "Death, madam", came the reply.


Eton College Chapel

And where did that Headmaster get his values? His concern to prepare his pupils not just for earning a living, but for eternity? From his Christian faith - which is to say, from the teaching of Jesus. We give way to others, reckoning them better than ourselves, because Jesus taught his disciples that when they were invited to a meal they should take the lowest place. He spoke of the value of those of other faiths when he taught the parable of the Good Samaritan, or when he said of a foreign woman "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel".

You cannot have the core without the fruit; you cannot have the fruit without the tree. In England, even our atheists are Christian atheists; that is, they share common values which ultimately come from two millennia of Christian teaching. Those who have come from other cultures, and other faiths, should find a welcome here. But to expect them to share all our values without understanding where those values come from is asking a great deal; and to ask them to share the roots of our culture is to invite them to discover the Christian Faith. That is what we have done in Britain without embarrassment until fairly recently. We have spoken up for Christianity, believing it is the goal to which all religions must tend. We have been evangelists. Now, in a misguided 'multiculturalism', pretending every religion and none is equal to every other, we have tried to ignore, even cut ourselves off from, our roots. What the Holy Father asked us to do on his visit to this country was to make our voice heard in the market-place of public debate. If David Cameron is, however timidly, encouraging this to happen, then it is for the Churches to grasp our opportunity.



Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree

His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree

For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
I missed of all but now I see
'Tis found in Christ the apple tree

I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
Under the shadow I will be
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree

This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree