Croydon & the Ordinariate

Few landmarks are left of old Croydon, the town I remember from my youth - my grandmother lived just one stop along the line, in South Norwood, hard by Selhurst Park, home of Crystal Palace football. One thing that is left, though, is St Michael's
Church. Left it certainly has been for many of those in the congregation today in St Mary's Catholic Church (just a stone's throw from St Michael's, though no one was throwing stones today). There were servers who had been at St Michael's, and some of the ladies from that parish were introducing one more element of Anglican Patrimony, the Mantilla, into Catholic worship. Fr Donald Minchew, its former Vicar, was among those ordained to the Catholic priesthood this afternoon.
Once you might still discern the little country town on the chalk hill (the meaning of Craie-dune or Croydon) among more modern buildings. Now it is distinctly part of the metropolis, and none the better for it. But today was lovely; the ordination of three priests, former Anglicans, by the Archbishop of Southwark in the presence of our Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton.

There are few opportunities for concelebrants to take pictures in church; but before the event a number of distinguished figures hove into view. Fr Lindlar from Deal (right) was composing himself with holy thoughts. In another corner of Kent, and another corner of the room, the former Vicar of St Peter's Folkestone was on his mobile - at a guess, to his bookmaker, though I might be mistaken. He could very well have been checking up on the builders, who seem to have taken up residence in the house where he and Tricia and struggling to create a home.

Then also from Kent were two familiar bloggers, Frs Tomlinson and Aquilina, keeping each other up to date with their parts of the Ordinariate vineyard.

Most of those present were from London and surrounds; so it was good to have a fellow resident of Portsmouth Diocese, Mgr Robert Mercer CR, concelebrating.

Here he is being interviewed - or possibly engaged in conversation - by our intrepid communications officer, Fr James Bradley, who will no doubt by now have a sheaf of pictures on Flickr (whatever that is).

There were a few monsignori in evidence. Above on the left is Mgr Broadhurst, leading our Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, and the Archbishop into church. I did manage to get one shot in Church of the three Candidates, still in their diaconal stoles, as the Mass was about to begin.

From left to right are the Ordinary, then Frs Kenneth Berry, Paul Gibbons and Donal Minchew.

It was a great occasion, with a first-rate bunfight; it made our journeying from the South Coast (setting off at 8.15 and arriving home at 19.45) well worthwhile - quite apart from sitting on a table being regaled by Joanna Bogle with tales of Croydon Airport. Altogether a great day for the Ordinariate and for the Church at large.

Stirring Times

For the past few weeks our Bournemouth Group has been meeting after Mass for half an hour of study and instruction. We are together preparing a family (parents and three sons) for reception; then today another Anglican, who has been worshipping with us, decided he too must seek admission. So little by little we are growing, and it is good that we have a few more long-standing Catholics joining us week by week. Some of them too are taking part in our course of instruction, as a refresher. Our study today amounted to looking over a scheme of prayer, by which each member of the Group will pray through a rota, ensuring that every member is prayed for by someone each day. To that basic list we have added the leaders and members of neighbouring Groups, our Ordinary, his assistants and so on. All this is within a scheme for saying the Rosary through the course of a month. It has meant a good deal of work on the computer, and some explaining to the sisters and brothers. Now we are all trying it through the course of this week, and will return next Sunday to resolve any difficulties.

We are also getting ready for the Ordination to the priesthood of Dn Brian Copus. In the picture he is with members of the Group after today's discussion, still in animated conversation.

Royal River

For a birthday treat, la Masignora chose a visit to London, with an exhibition at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich its focal point. If you are able to get there, do. It's only on for a few more weeks. It is just marvellous, leading us through time from the Tudors to the present day and showing how each generation had its favourite home on the river, from Windsor in the west to Greenwich in the east. The greatest palace builder of them all was Henry VIII, and a recent commentator said he had contributed more to English Architecture than any other monarch - without also saying that he had destroyed some of the greatest buildings in the land, including Fountains Abbey and the other great Monastic Houses in the North and so many other wonderful buildings. In Oxford work on Christchurch ceased under Henry, and the planned Cathedral was abandoned; all Henry left that poor diocese was a shorn off fragment of a Nuns' church which also has to serve as a college chapel. But more of that another day, perhaps.

The curator of this exhibition (the "Guest Curator" he is called) is the historian David Starkey. Perhaps it only strikes a member of the Ordinariate just how many of those connected with the River were Catholics, from Henry VII and Cardinal Wolsey to Pugin whose crockets and finials make the Palace of Westminster so memorable.

For Pugin it was his faith which inspired his architecture. Few people have had such an effect on English buildings, from the Houses of Parliament to parish churches, railway stations, Civic Halls - every 'gothic' building from the 19th Century to the present owes something to Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin.

There were some marvellous juxtapositions. The stern of the 'Royal Prince' is on display in England for the first time since the dastardly Dutch made off with her. Nearby stands a portrait of Charles II's brother James, depicting his Naval prowess; he led the fleet which defeated the Dutch at the battle of Sole Bay. Then it is up river again to Hampton Court, with the additions to Wolsey's great Palace (appropriated by Henry VIII of unhappy memory) made by William and Mary.

So next to the last Stuart King is the unspeakable William of Orange. He might at least have asked his fellow countryment to have returned the 'Royal Prince'! Little is said about the very last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne, who was such a benefactor of the Church of England. Yet she is famously associated with Hampton Court by Pope (not THE Pope; the other one, the English poet.) "Close by those Meads for ever crown'd with Flow'rs, Where Thames with Pride surveys his rising Tow'rs, There stands a Structure of Majestick Frame, Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its Name. Here Britain's Statesmen oft the Fall foredoom Of Foreign Tyrants, and of Nymphs at home; Here Thou, great Anna! whom three Realms obey, Dost sometimes Counsel take--and sometimes Tea." (Alexander Pope: the Rape of the Lock.) Wren began builsing the Royal Naval Hospital (site of the present Museum) in Mary Stuart's reign, and it was being built throughout Anne's reign, only completed under George I (and the Chapel finished even later).

There is much in the exhibition about the Hannoverians, with their fondness for domesticity at Kew - it was the retreat where Royal Princes could escape their fathers. All the 18th Century Georges, it seems hated their sons, who reciprocated enthusiastically.

It is ironic that this exhibition, created to mark the Queen' Jubilee, should also have so much about successive Royal Yachts. The Victorian Yachts had the most splendid fitiings and furnishings, the very last of the line, Britannia, was a favourite of our present Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Had the yacht remained in service until the present day, it is unthinkable that there would not have been a replacement. The mean-spirited decision to decommission and not replace her in 1997 is unlikely to be reversed (despite promises to do so by various Conservative leaders) in 'the present financial climate' - excuse for so many unfulfilled Government promises.

For me an outstanding feature of the exhibition was the Lord Mayor's Procession. Until 1857 this was a great River Spectacle; all the Livery Companies had their own barges, with uniformed crews vying with each other. Now the Lord Mayor's Show is all on dry land, and a poor substitute for those great waterborne events. Many of the livery companies have surviving relics of their barges; and amazingly several of them had figures of their patron saints. To carry an image in procession now would certainly give rise to charges of "Popery" - yet from well before the Reformation right until the reign of Victoria life-size images of many saints were processed along the Thames to escort the Lord Mayor. Above you may see Peter, of the Fishmongers' Barge, the gilded St Dunstan of the Goldsmiths, and Catherine of Alexandria, of the Haberdashers' Company. Will there be a Lord Mayor who will reinstate the Saints in his Lord Mayor's Show?

ps HACKED TO PIECES

IF YOUR EMAIL IS IN MY ADDRESS BOOK IT IS LIKELY YOU WILL HAVE RECEIVED A SPAM MESSAGE ABOUT CHRISTMAS GIFTS; I fear the address book has been hacked. Is there anyone who can advise me on what to do about it? Or shall I have to find another Server and start all over again... HELP!

The Ordinariate Grows

The grass was still being mown at the Church of the Holy Redeemer, on the outskirts of Salisbury, as we arrived. In the distance Bishopsdown glowed in the evening sun. David Boundy was to be ordained priest in this church by Mgr Declan Lang, Bishop of Clifton, to serve in the Ordinariate. It is good that Fr Keith Robinson, the Pastor of that Group, will now have a colleague.

The Group shares the church with the local parish, and evidence of the generosity of the Parish Priest, Fr Michael Fitzpatrick, is the notice on the church door announcing the Ordinariate's times of services. Perhaps other parishes will follow suit? Or maybe most already do and it's just that I have not experienced it. Fr Keith was previously Vicar of St Martin's Salisbury, and Fr David had assisted him there in his retirement, so it is good that the same team is now working together in the Ordinariate.

There were four Deacons of the Mass, and ten concelebrating priests. The diversity of chasubles indicated old friends of Fr David from the diocese of Plymouth (David had parishes in west Cornwall and north Devon), from Clifton (where the Cathedral is in Bristol, but the Diocese covers Somerset and stretches as far east as Salisbury), from Portsmouth and London and, of course, from the Ordinariate. Servers came from all the Catholic parishes in Salisbury.

Making a dash for the Reception after Mass

Afterwards there was a photocall; Fr Keith is on the left here, next to him Mgr Andrew Burnham, then Bishop Declan and the newly ordained Fr David.

Spinnaker Revisited

Part of Portsmouth Harbour seen from the Spinnaker Tower

If you follow 'the Anglo-Catholic' you will know there have been some problems (for me) in downloading pictures. There I was, halfway through a fascinating travelogue, only to have the system jam on me again. I hope this blogpost will work, since the views from the Spinnaker Tower are just wonderful.

Here first is the Ordinariate Church of St Agatha, the redbrick building with three lancet windown in the centre of the view. The tower in front of it is part of the Navy's barracks (though I fear the RN has lately adopted the transatlantic jargon and now calls it a "Naval Base") and a little beyond it the grey stone turret is on All Saints, one of the City Centre Anglican Churches.

St John's Catholic Cathedral is also redbrick, and again the turret and dome of another building partly obscure it.

The Anglican Cathedral of St Thomas of Canterbury is just beyond the ferry harbour in this shot, with beyond it the green grass of Southsea Common. Today there was a slight heat haze, and the windows of the Spinnaker have given all the pictures a strange blue glow - but I hope you can discern some of the land and sea-marks.

You should be able to make out HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship, at present awaiting the reinstatement of the top of her masts and rigging - probably for the twentieth time or so since she was put in dry-dock here.


The Narrow Harbour Entrance.

The Isle of Wight in the background







PS: I see there is a post on the Anglo -Catholic site asking for us to vote on what rite we want to use, the new Translation of the Missal or some as yet unseen version of Dr Cranmer's interesting little experiment. Since only 24 have so far voted the result is hardly overwhelming. If you are not completely fedup with the result of voting in Synods and such, do go to the Anglo-Catholic site and add your cross to the ballot paper.

End of a Marathon

Today Her Majesty's Jubilee Tours come to an end - presumably to give room for the Olympics. Over the past months she and the Duke of Edinburgh have visited most corners or the realm. Today, she brings it to a glorious conclusion on the hottest day of the year (remember the cold wet River Pageant?) with a visit to the New Forest Show.

Butcher's delivery cart

We went there yesterday, with grandson, to ensure that everything was ready for the Queen. It is a very Horsey occasion - she will surely enjoy that. There were of course the showjumpers and the dressage horses; I somehow prefer the more workaday animals, dray horses and even the knacker's cart - though at the show they are all polished and perfect.

And being so near the Solent, you could buy boats as well as tack.

I hope the Queen and the Duke enjoyed their day at the Show as much as we did; they were accompanied by this year's president, Alan Titchmarsh - surely Sir Alan before very long? He seems to be there greeting the Queen even more often than Lords Lieutenant. :Last year the President was the Bishop of Winchester, so the Show's Charity this year is Winchester Cathedral. They should do well from it; the crowds seem set to break all records.

I found my perfect niche at the Coop Funeral Service's stand; I am told the hearse with Chinese Dragons is only for display. Shame. What away to go!

Keeping Busy

When an Ordinariate Group is as small as ours - not many more than twenty of us, originally from half a dozen different Anglican churches - we need everyone to pull together. And goodness, they do - often supported by a few longstanding Catholics from neighbouring parishes. So it was last Saturday, when to our astonishment we managed to raise £260 from a two-hour coffee morning. Brian Harrison took the photos, which you will find on our Ordinariate website. http://www.ordinariate.org.uk/bournemouth No sooner was that over than we began planning for our next great moment. Together with members of the Portsmouth & Isle of Wight Group we have the task of arranging the Ordination for our two deacons; John Maunder from Portsmouth and Brian Copus from Bournemouth. That will be on September 22nd, not in either of the churches where our Groups normally worship but in the much larger central church in Bournemouth, Sacred Heart, Richmond Hill - by kind permission of the parish priest, Fr Bruce Barnes. We will update you on this nearer the time; at present we are deciding on musical setting (favourite at present are amended Merbecke for Kyrie and Gloria, and a setting by our own Organist, Peter Cook, for Sanctus and Benedictus and Agnus ... but we have a little way to go yet.
Meanwhile we have a few enquirers who, we hope, will soon become firmly committed to joining the Catholic Church and our Ordinariate Group. Your prayers would be welcome for them and us.