Nearer God's Heart

There are gardens, and gardens. The one next door to us is a constant source of interest to passers-by, especially children. Our neighbour Brian puts huge effort into providing interest and amusement, creating windmills and caravans and houses, and populating them with plaster animals and Disney characters. Always something new at Number 3.

Brian's Front Garden

By contrast, ours is what I'd call a plantsman's garden; at present, mostly contrasts in foliage, as the daffodils and magnolias are going over, and only a few tulips are out in pots to liven things up. And this garden rarely gets a passing glance.


Our front Garden

Contemplating these two very different front gardens, I'm put in mind of the strong views being expressed in the Catholic Church just now over the Mass. There are those who are delighted that the Latin Mass seems to be regaining ground, and others who find the whole prospect of anything but simple English quite daunting. Along with these two views go similarly polarised opinions about music; Gregorian Chant, over against Estelle White and "Jesus, How I Love You"...


The fence by our Drive

Now there is a concern about the rite to be specifically for the Ordinariates. Will it be gnomes and Disney, or varieties of Hostas and Capability Brown? We understand Mgr Burnham is in the driving seat producing a rite which will, surely, include a hint of Cranmer and a dash of the Caroline Divines. His own first Mass as a Catholic Priest was, we are told, in Latin. But what a task! How can you meet the needs of those who love the Celebration Hymnal and those who are wedded to Plainchant. Certainly those working on our own version of a "book of divine worship" need the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Job, and the prayers of us all.

"One is nearer God's heart in a garden" ... but what sort of garden did Dorothy Gurney cultivate, who wrote that line?

Margaret Grace Wainwright - 1924-2011

She is the Patron Saint of a North Cornish village, and her shrine (above) is one of the few to survive the Reformation. Yet Endellienta was not the reason for our hasty visit to the West. The Church (St Endellion's) [North Aisle, below] has within in a famous hostelry, the Cornish Arms at Pendoggett. Yet neither was that why we visited, except in a roundabout way.


Almost half a century ago, we moved, my new bride and I, to the parish of Woodham in Guildford Diocese. The Vicar of All Saints was Fr Alan Wainwright, and I was his curate (in those days of second curacies) fresh from working in the team of nine - a Vicar, a Nun, and seven Curates - in North End, Portsmouth. Woodham parish had been a late 19th Century attempt to bring the catholic faith to the Anglicans of Woking, then as now a VERY Protestant part of the world. After the war, the London County Council bought a swamp and drained it, and decanted a few thousand Londoners into the country. They lived in the Sheerwater Estate, and Woodham parish was asked to look after it. A timber temporary church was erected, and a succession of bright(ish) young(ish) men in their second curacies went to pound the streets and care for the souls of the Sheerwater Estate, as assistants to the Vicar of Woodham.

After I left, Fr Alan decided he'd had enough of Parochial Church Councils and the burden of running a large parish. He told Bishop George Reindorp that he wanted to be a Curate again. 'Nonsense,' said George, 'you must take on bigger responsibility'. Now Maggie and Alan had a friend living with them who had a little money; and it was this friend, Nigel, who enabled them all to side-step the Bishop. They moved to Cornwall to buy and run a Hotel on the north coast. After a few years they took on the Cornish Arms (picture below), and later built themselves a house next door to it. It became famous for good food and drink, and great company. During his time as Landlord, Fr Alan would continue to wear his clerical collar, and he said he heard more confessions in the bar than ever he had in his parish churches. Certainly he and Maggie became well known and greatly loved throughout Cornwall, not least because Fr Alan was ready to step into the breach whenever there was a vacancy in a living, or illness or any emergency.



Throughout Maggie was a great hostess; she taught my wife a great deal about the art and craft of being a priest's wife, and from our first meeting we all were and remained good friends - which is more than every curate can say of his one-time boss!

Alan died a little while ago, but his widow Maggie survived him, and fought bravely these last years with Multiple Sclerosis and a number of other ailments. So today we gathered, son Hugh and daughter Pink, their children, old friends, many locals who had become friends, in beautiful St Endellion's to give thanks for Maggie and pray for the repose of her soul. The hymns were sung enthusiastically, beginning with "Praise my soul the King of Heaven" and ending with "Thine be the Glory". The Vicar, Prebendary John May, reminded me he had spent a Sabbatical with us in St Stephen's House. A former Vicar, Prebendary Michael Bartlett, delivered a eulogy, telling us of Maggie's time as a WREN (in the Women's Royal Naval Service which she joined at 18). She had worked at Bletchley Park, dealing with coded Japanese messages; which stood her in very good stead for running the Mothers' Union. We all laughed, and cried a little, as he helped us all to remember just how remarkable this Christian woman, wife and mother and friend, had been.

It was good to hear many of the familiar words of the Prayer Book in this very holy place. Maggie had left her body for medical research, but we commended her with great love to her Father and ours. May she rest in peace. Pray too for Nigel, in fragile health and now without the support of his two greatest friends. He bore up bravely today, and was an encouragement and inspiration to us all.


A Windswept Prebendary May greets people after Church - here with Fr Robin Thomas, who had put us up overnight in Truro

Texas

Very big, Texas. And big-hearted too. Just back from a week spent in the Pastoral Provision parish of St Mary the Virgin, Arlington, it might be good to try to hand on a few impressions while they are still fresh (if fresh is the word after a night-flight to Heathrow). (top: Fr Hawkins in his Church before Mass)


Numbers. Numbers of churches. Drive anywhere in Arlington or Fort Worth or Dallas, and you will run out of fingers for counting the churches. Every sort of denomination, many immense Baptist meeting houses, large Catholic Churches, and in between every sort of God-botherer you can imagine. All seem to be well attended. St Mary's is a former Anglican (Episcopalian) Church which became a Catholic Church when Fr Allan Hawkins and most of his flock were received back in the early '80s. Last Sunday they had around five hundred at one or other of their Masses; and this is a small-ish church. (above: some of the children after Devotions - before the Parish Mass)

Many Catholic parishes number their congregations in thousands, even tens of thousands. So it was good to find that the Diocese of Fort Worth has a good number of men in training for the priesthood; (left: a poster showing those currently preparing for the Priesthod in Fort Worth) besides many who are waiting to join the Ordinariate from the Episcopal Church, once the American Ordinariate is established. When that happens, the Anglican Use parishes like St Mary's will also be part of the ordinariate. That is a great strength, for it means the new Ordinary will not be starting from scratch; there will be a number of parishes already established and funding themselves, on hand to help those just joining. It is rather different from England, where the Ordinariate is having to rely on long-established Catholic Parishes to come to our help.


And they do have bunfights in Texas - bigtime - after Sunday's Parish Mass
I was given great hospitality by Fr Hawkins, who was a fellow Ordinand with me half a century ago at a theological college called Cuddesdon - no connection with the present institution on that site, "Ripon College, Cuddesdon". His son Giles and daughter-in-law Felice were most generous, too. You might like to see Felice beside a herd of long-horns - less dangerous than the real thing, they are in bronze, recalling how Fort Worth was the end of the trail and a great meat-packing centre for the USA.



Latterly, oil has become its greatest industry, and there are new rigs being established to bore into the oil-bearing shales which have not been worth exploiting until now.



I blogged about him earlier, but here you can see Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth (above)sitting at his player-piano surrounded by cases of piano-rolls. He gave us a lively account of a Gershwin number as played by the composer - and also took us on a tour of his Cathedral (below), which has been re-energised since he became its Diocesan.



Earlier he had greeted us in a bright green jacket - but then, it was St Patrick's Day. The Pastoral Centre being built (below) is going to be very grand indeed; and Bishop Vann has further plans for further developments on the site which houses Rectory, Cathedral and former Convent School, besides adding spires to the Cathedral and commissioning a new Organ.



There is no doubt that the Catholic Church is alive and well in Texas; and they are all greatly looking forward to the erection of the Ordinariate for the USA. Pray that it might be soon.


Fr Alan with his son Giles outside Fort Worth Cathedral - the Bishop's House ('The Rectory') on the right.

Player Piano

No time for long blogging from here in Texas: just a note to let those who are interested know that I'm still around, enjoying huge hospitality, and that today I met the Diocesan - Kevin, Bishop of Fort Worth - who is a PLAYER PIANO buff. I will try to post a photograph of him in action when I return home next week. Meanwhile, congratulations to my Monsignori (I miei signore?) former colleagues, Keith, John and Andrew.
All those I meet here are anxious for the American Ordinariate to be set up and its Ordinary announced. Pray for them, please, especially for priests of the (Anglican) genuine Diocese of Fort Worth (as opposed to Mrs Schori's rival show).
Tomorrow, I am to do what I've been asked here to do, give one element of a Lent Course in the parish of St Mary the Virgin Arlington (an Anglican Use Parish). More of all this in due course.
Meanwhile, enjoy what's left of S Patrick's day (it is only 6pm here, and very warm)

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.