Advent: second blast

We have been able to send the collection from the Advent service (£124) to "Crisis at Christmas" which helps the homeless at this season. We have a couple more pictures taken by Brian Harrison, who also designed and printed the programme, so here they are for your entertainment.

 

Entrance Procession



Fr Brian Copus was one of the Readers:

And during the singing of Magnificat the altar was censed:

 

 

We could have done with a few more singers, but did pretty well with our limited resources

- or so others have told us. I doubt though if we shall be tackling The Messiah any time soon.

Advent with a bang

So we are underway; for the first time our little Group in Southbourne hosted an event for the whole Pastoral Area of Avon/Stour. The parishes responded splendidly. Our own parish priest, Fr Gerry, joined in the procession and gave the Blessing. There were singers, servers and readers from all over the area - including some friends who are still in the Church of England. Best of all, it was a really holy occasion, a good beginning for the keeping of Advent.

 

Everyone had woked very hard to prepare the Church. The central altar was removed, and a frontal found for the High Altar. There were candles everywhere, and every bit of brass had been polished within an inch of its life.

Our organist had worked hard with a handful of singers, some from our Group, others friends from neighbouring churches. The result was far better than we had dared expect. Afterwards visiting Catholics from other Churches expressed their appreciation; but some said that they had known none of the hymns. I fancy we have a good deal of gentle teaching to do - "Come, thou long-expected Jesus", "O Come, O Come Emmanuel","On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry"... these are surely part of the Patrimony which we must be eager to share.

Indeed, the whole format of readings and hymnody came as a surprise to many - but we hope a pleasant one. Others said it took them back to their former days in the Church of England. For me it was an example of the Ordinariate seeking to bring out of its treasures "things new and old" for the benefit of the whole Catholic Church. We had printed a hundred service sheets - they ran out and our sidesmen were dashing about getting people to share... altogether a happy and holy occasion, a little contribution to the Year of Faith - with maybe an element of evangelisation within it.

 

Out with the old...

Just beginning to get accustomed to the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham as Advent begins. Some of its contents are a bit counter-intuitive; Collects take a bit of finding, and there are separate instructions in every part of the book, so that remembering just where specifically Ordinariate saints find themselves, and whether they have a non-Biblical reading to accompany them, leaves me sympathising with the Reformers who said that finding the piece to read often took longer than reading it once found; but we will get there, no doubt.

So if you are getting a little frustrated or out of sorts with all the things needing to be done before Christmas, maybe a picture or two will help. I find the sea, whether stormy or calm, is a great help; reminds me that the tides go rolling on as they have done for millenia. Gives a sort of Advent perspective to everything - sub specie aeternitatis, you might say. Happy Advent!

A recommendation

Scott Anderson, who will be known to many readers of this blog, has now joined the worshipful company of bloggers: you can find him at ordinariatepilgrim.wordpress.com
  I tried simply adding him to my list of blogs but for some reason my blogspot is playing up; so, at all  events, do make a note of his blog if you'd like to keep an eye on him.
Oh, and while you are about it, do spare a prayer for friends at present in the C of E.

To see ourselves as others see us...

The beautiful church of St Patrick, Soho Square, gave hospitality to the Ordinariate this week.  It provided the venue for a conference looking at how we might engage with the new evangelization.

The Communications director giving directions

We had hoped to have Fr Allan Hawkins from Arlington, Texas, with us - alas, he had a nasty accident on a Metro escalator in Paris and was unable to be present; but at very short notice Fr Aidan Nichols OP spoke to us - as our Ordinary called him, 'the silver lining in the cloud of Fr Allan's indisposition'.

                                                                Eighty participants begin to settle down

He spoke about the current situation of Christians, and specifically the Catholic Church, in England. He perceived a gap, and reckoned that this was a gap which the Ordinariate was well equipped to fill. Although numbers attending Mass had held up, this was largely thanks  to immigration. The numbers of native born Catholics  had been declining, and former Anglo-Catholics continued to embody the 'natural form' of English Spirituality.

Fr Nicholls attends to a questioner

The Lineamenta of the recent Synod of Bishops had pointed to the need for the Spiritual  Care of worshipping Catholics,  for mission activity towards non Catholics,  and a New Evangelization towards post-Christians.
The Ordinariate, unlike any other Catholics, were equipped because of their history to fill the gap in the "long narrative of Albion". We came from that 'sporadic resurgence of catholicism' which was apparent throughout the history of the Church of England since the Reformation.  We had the advantage of not having experienced the disagreements in the Catholic Church which followed Vatican II. We were capable of being both entirely Orthodox in Faith, but ready to look at new methods of evangelizing. We should seek modern means communication to counter the assumptions of modernity in our day - as, in his time, T.S. Eliot had done. Fr Aidan perceived that we had a head-start over many Catholics in regard to Catechesis; our people had had to learn the faith to defend it against others in the Church of England

Attending to the inner man (and woman)

After a  lively question session, St Patrick's laid on a substantial lunch for us, then we were back in our seats for Part II,  

Washing up?

Fr Paul Richardson gave us four models of today's church. The first took account of secularisation to  explain where we were; and from this perspective the outlook was grim (despite the success of some Evangelicals in reaching the young.  The second model looked at New Forms of Spirituality; Christianity was not dying, but changing - so  the widespread interest in life after death &c the paranormal  - and a diminishing trust in science. But, asked Fr Paul, did this really stand up? Certainly  it had to do with the individualism and therapeutic mindset of today; but could a person be called 'spiritual' simply becaus he favoured alternative medicine?

Fr Richardson amends his text

The third picture was of believing without belonging - a notion favoured by Grace Davey of Exeter University. That was to treat the Church like a Public Unitlity, there when you wanted it. But we have to pay our Utility bills; and increasingly many see no need to support any Church.

Finally, there was the element of Church Growth; immigration had a great deal to do with this, and there are half a million people who belong to Black Majority Churches in this country. Holy Trinity Brompton had reached out to the affluent young in London. Catholics are doing well among ethnic communities; though insisted Fr Paul, there are other growth areas within the Catholic Church.
He listed too such innovations asCafe Church, Messy Church and so on; and commented on the numbers who vist Cathedrals, not just as tourists but certainly as pilgrims.

He told us we must teach the basics of the faith, which are non-negotiable; but we must deal with and use the importance of experience; and here he saw links between some modern evangelical spirituality, and Ignatian spirituality.  The Church of England, despite its apparent diversity of worship, had never been able to include men like Wesley or Newman. They didnot fit the Anglican mould. The Catholic Church was far more genuinely diverse, with its different rites, its different styles of worship, it various Religous Orders: and now the Ordinariate was herfe to add to the mix.

Fr Elliott Smith contributing to the Patrimony of Music

After another Q&A session, a lovely Mass celebrated (from the Book of Divine Worship) by our Ordinary. The Preacher was the Parish Priest of St Patrick's, Fr Alexander Sherbrooke, who gave us great encouragement. As Mgr Keith said, it is only Catholics who are NOT in the Ordinariate who can tell us what is our Patrimony; try  to do  it  ouurselves, and it sounds like boasting. The three who addressed us today all gave us great encouragement to work away as leaven or salt, and to do so with  patience.

 

 

 

The Noisy Minority

Hugo Rifkind is described (in this week's Spectator) as "a writer for the Times", so we know he is usually best ignored. His pompous piece in the Spectator, though, makes him appear like a self-confident leader writer for the Thunderer of old - except that in those days someone would have checked his grammar. "People .. who want to antagonistically get married &c". Tut, tut.

But it is not his grammar which needs correcting so much as his assumptions. He writes for a very noisy minority. We have a duty to get the voices of the less noisy (even silent) majority heard whenever possible. What follows I have sent to the Editor, but I have little hope of its appearing in the Speccy, so here it is for you, my select readership.

'Hugo Rifkind has written that “Gay Marriage is going to happen, and that’s a fact”. Then he says that civil gay marriage will not inevitably lead to churches being forced to conduct gay marriages – “There surely cannot be many people, gay or otherwise, who want to antagonistically get married in a place that really doesn’t want them.” Where does Hugo Rifkind get his news? Has he not read about the boarding house owners who were plagued with gay couples determined to make them toe the PC line? Once the State admits to gay marriage, the pressure will immediately be on the churches to follow suit – most especially the Church of England as the Established Church, but after them all the rest of us..

 

He asserts that the only real argument against gay marriage is the Christian one; and since I am a Christian that means he can safely ignore anything I write. But perhaps part of the reason I am a Christian is because the Church’s stand on gay issues [as also on abortion on demand and assisted suicide on demand] seems to me entirely consonant with being human. He might not have noticed, but historically Humanism began in the Christian world.

 

Gay couples can already have a Civil Union, with all the benefits which accrue to married couples. Why do they want to hijack the language of Marriage? (though in fact many of them do not). A union between two women or two men may be the equivalent of marriage; but it is not the same. “I am in favour of gay marriage even if gays aren’t” he writes. There is generosity of spirit for you! What Mr Rifkind believes, everyone must believe.

 

I suppose any argument from design carries no weight with him; but in case he has not noticed, the union between a woman and a man can result in procreation, the union (however achieved) between same-sex couples cannot. It is the first reason for marriage, God given as many of us would say. Which is why the language of marriage  - husband and wife, father and mother - must be protected. Or does he want us to go down the route of Brighton City Council and forbid us to say or write "father and mother"? Try as he may, he is the one who is going to fail in the end, by ignoring human nature.'

In Newman's Steps

For its second annual colloquium, the Confederation of Catholic Clergy met again at the Oratory School in Reading. This time our numbers had more or less doubled - about a hundred participants - and again there was significant participation by members of the Ordinariate. Indeed, our Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, preached at one of the Masses.

In the picture above he is talking to Archbishop Augustine di Noia, and one of the organisers of CCC in England, Fr Peter Edwards. We listened to some outstanding speakers. Bishop Philip Egan, fresh from his Ordination to the See of Portsmouth, set us off with a stirring address at the first Mass of our two days together. Then Fr Uwe Michael Lang spoke on twenty years after Sacrosanctum Concilium, and gave us pointers towards a new liturgical movement; a movement in which he asserted that the words spoken were important - but not as important as the way in which they were said, the whole conduct of the Mass. For me that was particularly encouraging (see the comments on the previous blog posting).

We were encouraged to take vocations seriously, by Fr Stephen Langridge; many are aware of a call, but that needs to be endorsed by others. It was for us, and the faithful, to ask "Have you thought about the priesthood - the religious life?" ... and then to follow it up with further questions. We should not leave it to the experts.

Archbishop di Noia is a Dominican, and I had been asked to convey greetings to him from our Dominican Sisters in Sway, which I duly did, and he responded warmly. His address on the new evengelization was for me one of the highlights of the Colloquium. He is a great catch for CCC, having only this summer been appointed to the post of vice president of the Pontifical Commission 'Ecclesia Dei, with the task of reconciling traditionalist groups to the Holy See.

The concluding address was by the Revd Dr Andrew Pinsent of the Oxford Theology Faculty on Science, Grace and Catholic Enlightenment. It was good to see him reclaiming Enlightenment for the Church, instead of allowing the 18th Century Encyclopedists, Diderot and his gang, to claim the title for themselves. He gave us so much in a very sort space of time, and it would be good to be able to peruse Fr Pincesnt's ideas at leisure. Finally Bishop Geoffrey Jarratt of the diocese of Lismore in Australia brought us greetings from our antipodean brethren - who were the originators of the Confederation, and inspired those who began the English branch just a couple of years ago.

 

Central to everything during the Colloquim was worship. Here the altar is being prepared by another member of the Ordinariate whom some may recognise.



 

This was a great time for meeting old friends - Fr Dennis Lloyd who was Principal at Mirfield at the time when I was doing a similar job at St Stephen's House - Fr Peter Newsam, who has grown a beard since his student days, so that I did not recognise him at first - and a time too for making many new friends from all parts of England. For all of us, the beautiful liturgies and the times of silence before the Blessed Sacrament were a great refreshment, balancing the fellowship and the lectures - all together contributing to the aims of CCC, Fraternity, Fidelity and Formation. We are all deeply indebted to the handful of priests who organised these two days together, and look forward to future events. If you want to find out more, go to the CCC Website http://www.confraternityccb.org.uk/CCCB/Home.html