THE PORTAL - April

R TAL THE P

RTAL THE P

is the monthly review of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

April 2023

Contents

Volume 14 Issue 160

Page 3 Portal Comment – Will Burton reflects

Page 4 The Coronation.... – Joanna Bogle

Page 5 The word oriental – Snapdragon

Page 6 Part of the family – Bryan Miller

Page 7 Our newest Seminarian – Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane

Page 9 Most Highly Favoured Lady

Page 10 12 years of The Portal

Page 11 Evangelium

Page 12 News from the Ordinariate – around the UK

Page 13 Calendar and Prayer Intentions

Page 14 Finding us at prayer – in England, Scotland and Wales

Page 16 The Ordinary’s Diary

Page 17 Vocations – Fr Michael Halsall

Page 18 The Divine Project – Book review

Page 19 Our window on the CofE – The Revd Paul Benfield

Page 20 Aid to the Church in Need – Dr John Newton

Page 21 Praying with Saint Sitha – Dr Simon Cotton

Page 22 Newman’s Patristic Enchantment – Fr Peter Conley

Page 23 FOTO – Nicolas Ollivant

Portal Comment

The General Audience

Will Burton muses upon the Holy Father’s words Evangelisation is a service to the Church and to humanity

At the General Audience on Wednesday, 8 March, Pope Francis continued his catechesis on apostolic zeal, this time reflecting on the ecclesial aspect of evangelisation. The proclamation of the Gospel is not the task of isolated individuals, but a communal service to the Church’s apostolic faith, which must be passed down in its integrity to every generation.

Zeal for the spread of the Gospel is inseparable from this ecclesial dimension, which protects the Christian message from distortion and from accommodation to worldly interests and ways of thinking.

The Vatican II Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity presents all evangelisation as having its source in the immense love of God our Father, poured out on the world through the missions of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and prolonged in the Church’s mission of proclaiming this saving love to all the ends of the earth.

As “missionary disciples”, all the baptised are called to imitate the self-sacrificing love of Christ by bearing creative and convincing witness to the truth of his word and its reconciling power, not only for individuals, but for the life of our entire human family.

This article appeared first in L’Osservatore Romano, 10th March 2023

THEHoLy FATHER, in his words quoted above, makes the vital point that the proclamation of the Gospel is not the preserve of a select group of people in the Church. He emphasises the point that such proclamation is laid upon every baptised person. It is part and parcel of being a Catholic Christian.

I cannot count the number of times I have heard this said. I have read so many articles that make this point. Homilies and speeches reiterate that evangelisation is the job of each and every Catholic Christian. Yet the message seems to fall upon deaf ears.

Ask yourself the question, “When did you last tell

someone about the Gospel? When did you last talk about the Gospel and the immense offer of forgiveness offered by Our Blessed Lord to those who most need his forgiveness?”

The problem stems from our image of evangelisation and evangelists. One suspects we immediately have the image of a Jehovah’s Witness knocking on our front door, or of someone standing in the shopping centre reading the bible or haranguing passers-by with religious words. Nothing could be further from the truth. Those who engage in these activities may be very brave and courageous, but I do not think they are very effective.

In my experience, it is far more effective to invite someone to a Carol Service at Christmas, or the Afternoon Tea Party arranged for the purpose, or a concert at Church, the Mothering Sunday Service, Remembrance Day, or All Souls-tide requiem.

Find out what is needed in your area. What will assist the lonely? How can we serve children and keep them safe? Does your area need a children’s (or adult for that matter) choir? Would an afternoon event for the Senior Citizens be welcomed? Supper, or Lunchtime, Clubs at a local eatery can be very welcome.

Anything really, that brings folk into contact with us Catholic Christians. As someone once said, the best evangelisation is when you have an “IT”. What that “IT” is will vary from place to place. What we must not do, is nothing. It is far too important to be left to clergy.

You are invited to join the Rosary Fellowship

For full details and an application form please contact Barry Barnes at: rosaryfellowship@yahoo.com

01328 853015

Please could clergy bring this initiative to the attention of any of your people who do not have access to this publication

The Coronation, The Bible and Secondary Schools

Joanna Bogle reflects

CoRonATion

yEAR… can it be an opportunity for some Christian witness? The Coronation ceremony is rich in Christian prayer, action, and imagery. A magnificent church, dating back a thousand years, with walls that echoed to the chants of Benedictine monks. A king anointed with oil, centuries of tradition, and huge numbers of people gathered together in goodwill…it’s all splendid, and it all has meaning and importance.

We learned, with the funeral of the late Queen, how beautiful prayers and formal solemn action, able to be seen and heard, open hearts and minds. There was a special mood in London in those September days.

Probably a number of readers will be cynical about this, and will enjoy saying that Auntie Joanna will look foolish as the day of the Coronation draws closer and attention focuses on divisions within the Royal Family, bickering over costs, and campaigning by ardent republicans intent on demolishing our constitutional arrangements. Is there any scope for Christian evangelisation when all that is taking place?

Possibly not, but here goes anyway. The interChristian independent charity which I have chaired for the past several years, runs an annual Schools Bible Project, and we have launched it with special enthusiasm this year.

The top prize-winners will come to Westminster later in the year to see where the Coronation took place and to receive special souvenir prizes. The usual cash prizes for schools will be doubled, with the school that produces the top prize-winner receiving £1,000.

Our Bible Project focuses on studying events in the New Testament and encountering Christ. Most people – and I suspect that includes most readers of The Portal - seem to believe that Christianity is banned in British schools, but in fact the contrary is the case. It is a compulsory part of the RE curriculum. Schools often struggle to cover it properly, as practising Christians are in short supply – even in nominally Catholic schools. The Bible Project aims to help.

Experience has shown that the project is popular with teachers and pupils alike. It essentially involves reading specific passages from the Gospels recounting events in the life of Our Lord, and then choosing one event from a given list and writing about it as if the writer had actually been present. Over the years we have received some excellent essays and our team of judges invariably has a tough task choosing the ones that will receive prizes. We award a number of runnerup book prizes in addition to the main awards.

We have also received some extremely poor essays –some of them provide tragic evidence of deep-rooted ignorance of Christianity. But these have also spurred us on to make greater efforts in our work.

Interested? A brochure has gone to every secondary school in the United Kingdom. I am already gathering together my team of judges, and will shortly be making arrangements for the Prizegiving – we have for some while teamed up with the excellent Schools Department at Westminster Abbey but will need to book early this year.

Our culture, language, traditions, and annual calendar are all centred on the Christian faith. Boys and girls in Britain’s school have a right to know about Christ and to have an understanding of what his life, death, and resurrection mean for us all. Ignorance of this is poverty indeed.

Rather than moaning about such ignorance – or, as some relish doing, positively gloating about it and reminiscing about days when things were different –let’s take up the challenge, in this Coronation year, of doing something about it.

The word oriental

AnACquAinTAnCE of mine was somewhat “miffed” recently (I am here being polite, so as not to offend the ears of Snapdragon readers, because really he was quite irate). The reason for his anger was that he was taken to task for referring to someone as oriental. He was upbraided for this use of language as being politically incorrect and offensive to, I think he said, people from Asia.

The reason he was angry, and I know this to be true, is that there is not a racist bone in his body and he is the most mild-mannered of men who would go to the greatest of lengths to avoid giving offence to almost anyone. As he explained to me, he used the word in what he assumed was a perfectly neutral manner. For him the word oriental means from the East. Now I can hear voices already being raised. “Yes for him it might mean that, but for others it is offensive.”

Which got me thinking, not about Political Correctness, but the word Oriental and its cognates, which led me to sympathise more with my allegedly non-PC friend. To begin with a definition from the Oxford English Dictionary, “Orient noun the East” just as similarly the word Occidental means the West. To describe someone or something as Occidental simply means someone or something from the West.

The word Orient has a rich meaning in our English language. In the middle-ages when maps were drawn they were always drawn showing Jerusalem as the centre of the world. This was because in a more religiously aware society Jerusalem was of the greatest importance and therefore took centre stage. Consequently when maps were used for location purposes they were turned towards the East, or “oriented”. We still use the word today only when we orient a map we usually turn it northwards!

And just think of orienteering a splendid pursuit in which, armed only with map and compass one orients oneself around a course of predetermined points. In this sense, to orient means to know where you are and where you are going.

And this use of orient is in constant use in our daily language. We speak of a person as being oriented, and this can mean anything from being “goal directed” to psychologically sound. Of course we use the same word when we speak of someone as being disoriented or our lives as being disoriented. We have gone off task; we are not where we want to be, or should be.

When we find ourselves in this situation what we seek to do is to re-orient our lives to get back on the right path, going in the direction we want to go.

But why do we call the East the Orient? Because our word Orient comes from the Latin Oriens, which means rising, the East is where the sun rises, it is the land of the Rising sun. All this has an even richer meaning for us as Christians and especially at this time of year, Lent is our time of re-orientation, of getting back on the right path; a time of deepening our relationship with Jesus. It is a time when we seek to orient ourselves to centre our lives on him.

And when we go to church on Easter Day I hope we will be able to go to a church which is oriented, that is, facing east, with a mass celebrated “ad orientem”, as church, priest and people face eastward to our Rising Son.

Part of the family 6

Bryan Miller relives a week full of amazing welcomes

The Ordinariate in Scotland

ATTHE beginning of last July Fr Len Black and I embarked on an amazing and unique mini pilgrimage which took us on a round trip of 1,592 miles by land, on motorways, single track roads bordered by high hedges and by sea on an open boat. The simplest way to let you know, in brief detail, of the great pilgrimage we embarked on is to show you our activities day by day about what happened on our amazing journey. We continue ... on day six.

We were following in the footsteps of an amazing and determined man called Aelred Carlyle, born in 1879, who was determined to bring a Benedictine community back to the Church of England and, in time, founded a very substantial Abbey on the Island of Caldey, off the Welsh coast at Tenby. Difficulties with the hierarchy of the Church of England eventually led to the community deciding to leave the Church of England and be received into the Catholic Church as a group, the forerunners, one might say, of the Ordinariates.

Day 6: Friday 8th July

At last, Fr Len and I were ON Caldey Island and, quite literally, walking in the footsteps of Aelred Carlyle. In a week of highlights, one would have to say that beginning our visit with Mass celebrated by Fr Len in Carlyle’s former Abbatial chapel was very special. Mass was celebrated according to Divine Worship: The Missal on Friday and again on Saturday before we left.

At the Ordinariate Mass each day on Caldey we remembered in the Canon, before God, the names of so many connected with Caldey. After the Mass we had our photographs taken at the famous door where in 1913 the community had their photograph taken after their conversions.

One certainly felt remarkably close to those original monks, and to Aelred, who together had the courage to be received as a community into the Catholic Church. Somehow being on the island and seeing the amazingly beautiful European Abbey he built, drew

another veil away from the enigma that is Aelred Carlyle. Our shared heritage was made clear on Caldey in a very special way.

Like so many of us in the Ordinariate, Carlyle and his monks gave up much to follow the Truth and into the Catholic Church and at times was not always understood for doing so, but he remained faithful to the Church.

Day 7: Saturday 9th July

After Mass in the former chapel of Abbot Aelred Carlyle, according to Divine Worship: The Missal, and all too soon, we were onto the boat and back to the mainland at Tenby, though not without promises being made that we would return before too long. All through our journey, we found ourselves and the Ordinariate warmly received by the monastic houses we visited.

The original Benedictine community eventually had to sell Caldey as they could not afford to continue living there when Anglican backers removed their support. It must have been so hard for them to leave Caldey, as I know that having spent just 24 hours on the island, we were totally captivated by the place. The buyers were the Cistercians, who love the place and welcome visitors each day and who also have, in their own way, kept the memory and legacy of Aelred Carlyle alive.

The first boat back to the mainland was at 10am and we were the only passengers. After bidding ‘au revoir’ to Brother Titus we set sail.

... to be concluded next month

It was just us on the boat going back!

The Abbot Aelred’s Chapel

The monks on the day after the conversion on 6th March 1913 - Archbishop Mostyn (centre) and Abbot Aelred (to his left)

... the same door (more overgrown)

Our newest Seminarian

Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane met Daniel Lally

FRom

TimE to time, we read about men being ordained Deacon or Priest, but unless we actually meet them, we know little or nothing about them. Also, we are asked to support our seminarians (those undergoing clerical formation) financially. So, when the Episcopal Vicar for Vocations and Formation, Fr Michael Halsall, approached us about a possible series of interviews with our seminarians we thought it a good idea. Of course Fr Michael is a regular contributor to The Portal, and we wanted to continue to support his important work.

Daniel Lally is the newest of our Seminarians. He comes from Southampton and is presently studying at Allen Hall in London. Prior to this, he worked in sport, and recreation management, before that, when he sixteen he served as a Lifeguard.

He took up his story, “I was received into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate at Pentecost 2019. I was an Anglo Catholic when I was in the Church of England in Southampton. I’ve lived in Southampton all my life. I was received at the hands of Fr James Bradley at Holy Family, Southampton.

“I was on a journey. I was about to go to the Bishop’s advisory panel for the Winchester Diocese. But I genuinely took the discernment that I could serve the people of God better in the Catholic Church. I was able to come over in the Ordinariate and maintain that patrimony - the spiritual, the pastoral care that I did believe in as an Anglican. That could all be preserved because it was something which Pope Benedict gave us. We could bring it over to the Catholic Church, because it was good and something that was a treasure to us as Anglicans.

We wondered what would the Tudors have thought, now that those words of the Prayer Book are part of the Catholic Liturgy. It’s a wonderful treasure. Dan responded, “It is. I can appreciate that every Sunday because I have permission go to Warwick Street, so I can be enriched by that on a weekly basis.”

We wanted to know where Dan is in the process at Allen Hall. “I’m in my first year. I think I have five more years here. They’ve just implemented the Ratio, which is the training for Catholic priests, so I’m just waiting for a concrete ‘this is going to be the journey’. I did do what is called a ‘propaedeutic year’, a

preparatory year, last year. Part of this was in Valladolid in Spain, and then the rest of that time I spent at a parish in Guildford. That got me geared up with some academics and a lot of pastoral work. So I’ve done a pastoral year, and if I’m honest, it really did give me that oomph. It was difficult to get back into being locked up in a seminary, if you like.

“Five years, is a long time, but I believe that it is as it is. At the moment I’m very happy here. They’re sensible here. Every Sunday they send you out to a Parish. So we can be enriched, and we can be with the people that, please God, one day we’ll serve. Yes, it is rigorous in terms of academia and that’s something I’m working on. I haven’t got a degree for instance, I just went straight into work because you could do that when I left school, So that’s a challenge. But getting into the parish on Sunday is wonderful. Serving the people, being with the people. And I guess at least I know that our Lord is with me on this journey. If it’s His will He’ll make it very fruitful and enable me to flourish.

We asked, “When you go on Sundays do you think ‘heavens I’ll never do that, that’s awful?’ Ronald said. “They sent me places, so I learnt what not to do!” Dan did not agree. He said, “I think Fr Michael (Halsall) knows there’s no penance in going to Warwick Street. It’s only wonderful.”

Ronald was interested in the transition from Anglicanism to Catholicism. He said, “When I made the move, I was interviewed by numerous press people. All they wanted to know is why I was leaving the Church of England. All I wanted to talk about was why I was joining the Catholic Church.”

Dan was in complete agreement. “Yes, I completely see where you’re coming from. It was exciting joining the Catholic Church but it was also very difficult. The

cultures were very different. It does take a long time to get used to it. It’s very different from having Novus Ordo on a Sunday morning in the Church of England than it is to have Novus Ordo on a Sunday morning in a Catholic Church. They’re miles apart.”

We asked if Dan’s time at Allan Hall, is all consuming or does he get time for hobbies and other interests. “Yes. You’ve got to manage your term time well. Last term it was difficult to do that. I was new here and the timetable was full. But this term I’ll have most afternoons free. Except for today when we have a guest night for instance, and bits and bobs like that. But you’ve got to make sure that you get that time in for reading, preparing your essays. I go out for a nice walk in the evenings. I’ve got a gym membership up the road. But you’ve got to do those sort of things; it’s important that you get out. It’s very easy to stay in.

“We have meditation every morning at 7 o’clock, followed by mass, apart from a Wednesday when we have mass at lunch time. We have lectures until lunch sometimes, lectures after lunch or it’s free time. We have Morning Prayer with the Roman Breviary. I try to say my Compline from the Divine Worship just so I get to use it, otherwise I would never use it until I leave here. Fr Michael Halsall has his Ordinariate Seminarians, and we often say None from the Ordinariate Breviary, which is nice. Oh and the food is very good here.

Jackie asked, “Daniel, if God sees fit that you do become a priest in the Catholic Church, when asked, how would you explain the Ordinariate?” Dan replied, “That’s a very good question. I would say that it’s a pathway into the Catholic Church where it enables you to still sort of be an Anglican, if you like. You know all those things which are good for the spirituality. There is something very special which is difficult to define.

What I mean by that is there is a richness to our spirituality, both in the mass, and in things like the Book of Common Prayer. We’ve touched on Evensong. I do think that is extremely beautiful. And Pope Benedict enabled us to retain that because it is good and can enrich the Catholic faith as well. I think that although we’ve become Catholics we do have something to offer to the Catholic Church and I find that exciting. I don’t know what it’s like for priest converts because obviously I have not been involved in those discussions.”

Jackie asked, “Have you ever been asked ‘Why didn’t you become a proper catholic?’” Dan was positive. “Yes,

I have heard the ‘proper catholic’ thing. I find it very offensive.”

Ronald asked, “This may be a difficult question, and it may be too early in your vocational life, but I would like to ask you feel about the role of the Catholic priesthood in the world in the United Kingdom when it seems as if Catholic morals and values are slipping away day by day?”

Dan said, “I think that society is moving away from the church. Like you said, it’s very early for me to give you an intellectual answer to that. But personally I think that we shouldn’t be afraid to be Catholic. I think given that we have an established church, that Christian values need to be more and more at the root and the summit of what we’re after. I think that spiritual life in general is under attack in society and the church needs to do something about that. It needs not to bend the knee, for a phrase, to society. It should be educating society.

“I think we in the Ordinariate really need beautiful worship, the chants, the good hymns and the liturgy. The choice of liturgy and how it’s delivered is really at the DNA level of who we are. I think the way we do pastoral care is different as well. I’m a very hands on person and I want to walk with people, whereas parishes I’ve been in before that sort of thing is left to the laity and the priests are very hands off. Whereas that’s Anglican patrimony again, walking with people in their sorrow and their joy at all stages of their lives, I think that’s very important and I think that’s the role of the priest to do that, not in an over needy way, or overpowering or overburdening but just being there with them through all of that and I think that’s something we bring over as well.”

Dan enjoys his studies in late antiquities. “It’s very early days for me. Last term for instance I found philosophy very challenging. I think that was because the thinking of philosophers, and trying to understand what they’re thinking. I’m so new to academia, starting at the age of 33 to do a degree is well… but I am enjoying all of it. It’s rounded which is nice, you’re not bogged down for a whole semester on one sole subject and we’ve got very good lecturers. They can see into your soul if you like, which helps. We’re doing Latin, which is good, and then I think we do Greek and optional Hebrew but that’s a couple of years down the line, thank God.”

Well Dan it’s lovely to talk with you, please keep in touch through the magazine and the podcast.

Sung Mass of the

Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

to Celebrate 12 years of The Portal

the Official on-line magazine of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Saturday 17th June 2023 at 1300

at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory Warwick Street, London, W1B 5LZ

Principal Celebrant and Preacher: The Right Revd Keith Newton

Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Clergy are invited to Concelebrate – White vestments

News from the Ordinariate

The Ordinariate In Norfolk

Walsingham: Mass on the 1st Sunday at 2pm November to March and 3pm April to October according to Divine Worship, in The Annunciation, Friday Market, Walsingham NR22 6AL

Swaffham: Evensong and Benediction on the 2nd Sunday at 4pm at Our Lady of Pity, 31 Station Street, Swaffham PE37 7HP,

Kings Lynn: Mass at 2pm on the 4th Sunday at The Pontifical Holy House, The Annunciation, Our Lady of the Annunciation, London Road, King’s Lynn, PE30 5HQ. (3pm April to October). Live streamed.

Contact: Fr Gordon Adam: 01553 777428 - gordonadam1962@btinternet.com or Deacon Shaun Morrison: 07880 600094 -  shaunmorrison1975@ btinternet.com

Obituary: Fr Richard Smith

The Rt Revd Keith Newton writes: “I regret to tell you that Fr Richard Smith, who was retired and living near Wellingborough, died on 2nd March in Kettering General Hospital.

Monsignor John Broadhurst went to administer the last rites, but unfortunately Fr Richard had already died. The staff told him that his passing was peaceful and that he had a crucifix in his hands.

Fr Richard was 88 years old. He had served as an Anglican overseas, and in England as priest in charge of Broseley, Hereford, an Area Secretary for USPG, Rector of Wigmore Abbey in the diocese of Hereford and Vicar of St Peter and St Paul, Eye, in the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.

His Funeral Mass will be at St Edward’s Church, Kettering on Wednesday 12th April at 11am. May he rest in peace.

Husbands Bosworth

Husbands Bosworth will celebrate all the Triduum according to Divine Worship. The Triduum: Holy Thursday 7.30pm, Good Friday 3pm,

Holy Saturday 8pm, Easter Sunday 11am. Residential accommodation is available for the Triduum in a local retreat centre for those from further afield who may wish to celebrate the Triduum according to Divine Worship. Contact Fr Matthew for details, and www. thestablehouse.co.uk for accommodation.

Confession: Every Thursday (Including Holy Thursday) from 9am-10am, Good Friday from 1:302:30pm and after the Liturgy, Holy Saturday 10-11am

On 23rd April, as part if our 150th Anniversary Celebration, Fr Ed Tomlinson will be our visiting preacher. Each month from Easter to the Assumption we have visiting preachers.

Torquay

Holy Week and Easter at Our Lady of Walsingham and St Cuthbert, Torquay: 2nd April 2023 Palm Sunday: Mattins at 9am, Mass with the Blessing of Palms & The Passion Procession at 10am, Evensong and Stations of the Cross at 4pm.

The Triduum: Maundy Thursday: The Mass Of The Lord’s Supper with the Washing of Feet and Stripping of the Altars at 7pm with The Watch until 10pm. Good Friday: Mattins 9am, The Liturgy: The Celebration of the Passion and Death of Our Lord at 3pm. Holy Saturday: Mattins at 9am, The Solemn Vigil of Easter at 9pm. Easter Day: Mattins at 9am, Mass at 10am.

Birmingham

Holy Week at St Margaret Mary, Perry Common Road, Birmingham, B23 7AB: Saturday, 1st April, 6.30pm Vigil Mass with Blessing of Palms. Palm Sunday, 9.30am and 11am Mass (Divine Worship). Maundy Thursday, 7.30pm Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Foot Washing and Procession to the Altar of Repose and Watch overnight. Good Friday, 10.30am Ecumenical Act of Witness at Erdington town centre, meet outside Co-op. 2pm Stations of the Cross, 3pm Divine Liturgy, Holy Saturday, 8th 11am Świecenie potraw Wielkanocnych - the Polish Tradition of the blessing of baskets. All welcome. Easter Vigil and Reception into the Church, Easter Day: 9.30am Mass and 11am Mass.

THIS MONTH’S DEVOTION

Month

HOLY FATHER’S INTENTIONS

For a culture of peace and non-violence: We pray for the spread of peace and non-violence, by decreasing the use of weapons by States and citizens.

Ordinariate Mass times

Where to find us at prayer in England, Scotland and Wales

BiRmingHAm St Margaret Mary, 59 Perry Common Road, Birmingham B23 7AB MaSS: Sunday: 11am (Divine Worship). ContaCt: Fr Simon Ellis: 0121 373 0069 - birmingham@ordinariate.org.uk

BRiSToL St Joseph, Camp Road, Weston-superMare BS23 2EN MaSS: 2nd Sunday 12 noon (Divine Worship), followed by shared lunch and Benediction at 2:30pm (subject to change in the summer months) ContaCt: Fr Bernard Sixtus: 02920 362599 or 07720 272137 - bristol@ordinariate.org.uk

BuCKFAST St Mary’s Abbey, Buckfast TQ11 0EE

The Ordinariate Mass is not currently being offered at the Abbey due to present restrictions. Fr Hellyer is offering the Ordinariate mass in his parish in Plymouth. ContaCt: Fr Ian Hellyer: 01752 600054 - ian@hellyer.org

CHELmSFoRD Blessed Sacrament, 116 Melbourne Avenue, Chelmsford CM1 2DU MaSS: Sunday: 9.30am and 11.30am, (on 1st Sunday of the month, specifically Ordinariate), also on Mon to Sat at 9.15am with RC community ContaCt: chelmsford@ordinariate.org.uk

CHiCHESTER St Richard, Cawley Road Chichester PO19 1XB MaSS: Saturday 4.15pm (Divine Worship) ContaCt: Fr Simon Chinery: 07971 523008 - chichester@ordinariate.org.uk

CoRnWALL For up to date information about the Cornwall Group, please ContaCt: Fr David Lashbrooke: 01803 329703 or 07847 222030cornwall@ordinariate.org.uk

CoVEnTRy The Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ & All Souls, Kingsland Avenue, Earlsdon, Coventry CV5 8DX MaSS: Sundays 11.15am, Mon-Wed 9.30am, Thu 7.30pm, Fri 7.30am, Sat 9.30am - all Masses currently live streamed ContaCt: Fr Paul Burch: 02476 674161 - paul.burch@ordinariate.org.uk

CRoyDon At the moment the Croydon Group does not have any Ordinariate Masses, but it is hoped that they might begin again soon - for further information ContaCt: Jackie Brooks: 0208 777 6426 - jaxprint@btinternet.com

DARLingTon St Osmund, Main Road,

Gainford, County Durham DL2 3DZ MaSS: Sundays: 9.30am and 11.30am (Divine Worship); Tues: 10am; Fri: 11.45am Sext, 12 noon (Divine Worship). ContaCt: Fr Thomas Mason: 07876 308657 - info@ ordinariate-darlington.co.uk - www.ordinariatedarlington.co.uk

DERBy/noTTingHAm Our Lady and St Thomas, Nottingham Road, Ilkeston DE7 5RF MaSS: Sat before 1st Sun 6.30pm (Divine Worship), Thu 9.15am (Divine Worship) St Paul, Lenton Boulevard, Nottingham NG7 2BY MaSS: Sun 6pm (Divine Worship). ContaCt: Fr Andrew Harding 01159 325642. Fr Christopher Cann: 01889 569579, Fr Peter Peterken: 01332 766285, Fr David Jones: 01162 302244 - derby-nottingham@ordinariate.org.uk

EASTBouRnE Christ the King, 3 Princes Road, Langney, Eastbourne BN23 6HT Mass: Sun 4pm, Thur 7pm (both Divine Worship) ContaCt: Fr Neil Chatfield: 07718 123304 - neil. chatfield@eastbourneordinariate.org.uk- www. eastbourneordinariate.org.uk

FoLKESTonE/DoVER St Paul’s, 103 Maison Dieu Road, Dover CT16 1RU MaSS: Sunday: 11.30am (with parish) ContaCt: Fr James Houghtonfolkestone@ordinariate.org.uk

HARLoW The Assumption of Our Lady, Mulberry Green, Old Harlow, Essex CM17 0HA MaSS: Sunday: 10am and 6pm (Divine Worship 1st Sun), Wed 10am (Divine Worship). Check bulletin at www.catholicchurchoftheassumption.co.uk or ContaCt: Fr John Corbyn: 01279 434203john.corbyn@btinternet.com

HEmEL HEmPSTEAD St Paul’s, (Anglican) Solway, Hemel Hempstead HP2 5QN MaSS: Sunday: 9.15am ContaCt: hemel.hempstead@ordinariate. org.uk

iSLE oF WigHT St Thomas of Canterbury, Terminus Road, Cowes PO31 7TJ MaSS: (Divine Worship) for details, C ontaCt: Fr Jonathan Redvers Harris: 01983 292739 - frjonathanrh@btinternet.com

LonDon CEnTRAL Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, London W1B 5LZ (Nearest tube: Piccadilly) MaSS:

Sunday: 10.30am Solemn Mass with choir, Weekdays: 8am and 12.45pm (all Divine Worship), Sat 6pm (Novus Ordo), Feasts and Solemnities as advertised. ContaCt: Fr Mark Elliott-Smith 07815 320761markelliottsmith@rcdow.org.uk

LonDon LEyTonSTonE St John

Vianney, 1 Stoneleigh Road, Clayhall, Ilford IG5

0JB MaSS: Sunday: 9am, 10am, 4.30pm Adoration, 5pm (Divine Worship), Daily: 8.30am Adoration, 9am Mass, 5.30pm Evening Prayer. C ontaCt: Fr Rob Page: 020 8550 4540 - vianney.clayhall@ btinternet.com

LonDon SouTH Most Precious

Blood, O’Meara Street, The Borough, London

SE1 1TE MaSS: Sunday: 9.30am, 11am; TuesFri 12.35pm, Thur (term time) 6.30pm (Divine Worship); Sat 10am (Divine Worship); Holy

Days: 6.30pm (Divine Worship); Evensong: Thur 6pm (term time); Confessions: Tues-Fri 12 noon ContaCt: Fr Christopher Pearson 0207 407 3951 - parish@preciousblood.org.uk - www. preciousblood.org.uk

LonDon WALTHAmSToW Christ the King, 455 Chingford Road, Chingford, E4 8SP MaSS: Sunday: 11am ContaCt: Fr David Waller: 020 8527 4519 - walthamstow.south@ordinariate.org.uk

mAiDSTonE St Mary, Nettlestead, Maidstone

ME18 5HA MaSS: Sunday 9.30am. ContaCt: Fr Alastair Ferguson: 01892 838230 - 07887 925356 alastair.ferguson@ordinariate.org.uk

mAnCHESTER St Margaret Mary, St Margaret’s Road, New Moston M40 0JE MaSS: Sunday: 10.30am (Divine Worship) MaSS during the week: please check the Sunday notices on the website ContaCt: Fr Andrew Starkie: 0161 681 1651 - manchester@ ordinariate.org.uk - www.ordinariatemcr.com

noRTHAmPTon Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 82 Knox Road, Wellingborough NN8 1JA

MaSS: First Saturday of the month: 6pm (Sung Mass) ContaCt: Mgr John Broadhurst: 01933 674614frjohnbroadhurst@btinternet.com

oXFoRD Holy Rood, Abingdon Road, Oxford

OX1 4LD MaSS: Saturday (of Sunday) 5pm (Divine Worship), Sunday 11.15pm, Wed 9am, Thu 7.30pm (Divine Worship), 8pm Adoration & Confessions, 9.40pm Compline and Benediction, Fri 12.30pm (Latin), Sat 9am ContaCt: Fr Daniel Lloyd: 01865 437066 - daniel.lloyd@ordinariate.org.uk

PLymouTH St Edward the Confessor, Home Park Avenue, Peverell, Plymouth PL3 4PG MaSS: Sunday 11.30pm, Fri 12 noon (both Divine Worship) ContaCt: Fr Ian Hellyer: 01752 600054 - ian@hellyer.org

RAmSgATE Shrine of St Augustine, St Augustine’s Road CT11 9PA MaSS: Sunday 5pm (Divine Worship), followed by refreshments ContaCt: Fr Simon Heans: 07305317642 - office@ augustineshrine.co.uk

PoRTSmouTH St Agatha, Cascades Approach, Portsmouth PO1 4RJ MaSS: Sunday 11am (Solemn), Mon, Fri (Requiem) and Sat 11am ContaCt: info@ stagathaschurch.co.uk - www.stagathaschurch.co.uk

READing St James, Abbey Ruins, Forbury Road, Reading, Berkshire RG1 3HW (next to old Reading Gaol) MaSS: Sunday: 9.15am. ContaCt: Fr David Elliott: 07973 241424 - reading@ordinariate.org.uk

SALiSBuRy St Osmund, Exeter Street, Salisbury SP1 2SF MaSS: Sunday: 12 noon, Wed: 7pm. ContaCt: Fr Jonathan Creer: 07724 896579 - jonathan.creer@hotmail.co.uk - www. salisburycatholics.org/ordinariate

SouTHEnD St Peter’s Eastwood, 59 Eastwood Road North, Leigh on Sea SS9 4BX MaSS: Sunday: 9am, 10.30am, Mon 7pm, Tues, Wed, Fri 9.30am, Thur 11am, Sat 10am (Divine Worship) and 5.30pm (Vigil) ContaCt: Fr Jeffrey Woolnough (Group Pastor): 01702 525323, 07956 801381 - fatherjeffw@gmail. com, Fr Bob White: 01268 543910 - pilgrimclub@ waitrose.com, Dcn Richard Cerson: 07910 388795 - rcerson@gmail.com - www.stpetereastwood.orgwww.jeffwoolnougholw.blogspot.co.uk

ToRBAy Our Lady of Walsingham with St Cuthbert Mayne, Old Mill Road, Torquay TQ2 6HJ MattInS: streamed Tues-Fri: 7.50am, Sat, Sun: 9am MaSS: Sunday: 10am, Mon: 12 noon, Tues: 6.30pm, Wed-Sat: 10am, Solemnities 7pm (All masses are streamed except on Monday) PaRISH PRIESt: Fr David Lashbrooke: 01803 329703 or 07847222030lashy@me.com - www.ourladytofwalsingham.online for up to date information and for streaming.

WALSingHAm The Annunciation, Friday Market, Walsingham NR22 6AL MaSS: 1st Sunday: 2pm (Nov-Mar), 3pm (Apr-Oct) (Divine Worship), 2nd Sun: Evens and Benediction, 4pm at Our Lady of Pity, Swaffham, 4th Sun: Mass: The Pontifical Holy House, The Annunciation, Kings Lynn at 2pm. (3pm April to October). Live streamed. ContaCt: Fr Gordon Adam: 01553 777428 - gordonadam1962@ Ø

btinternet.com Dcn Shaun Morrison: 07880 600094shaunmorrison1975@btinternet.com

SCoTLAnD - www.ordinariate.scot

ABERDEEn University Catholic Chaplaincy, Elphinstone House, 7 High St, Aberdeen AB24 3EE

MaSS: Saturday before 2nd Sunday: 12 noon (Divine Worship) ContaCt: Fr Len Black: 01463 235597fr.len@ordinariate.scot

EDinBuRgH St Columba, 9 Upper Gray St, Edinburgh EH9 1SN MaSS: 2nd Sunday: 11.30am (Divine Worship) ContaCt: Fr Len Black: 01463 235597 - fr.len@ordinariate.scot

KELLAS Oratory of St John Henry Newman, Leanochmor, Kellas, by Elgin IV30 8TS MaSS: last Wednesday: 12 noon (Divine Worship) ContaCt: Fr Len Black: 01463 235597 - fr.len@ordinariate.scot

inVERnESS Royal Northern Infirmary

Chapel, Ness Walk, Inverness IV3 5SF MaSS: Sunday: 11am (Divine Worship) Oratory of St Joseph, 49 Laurel Avenue, Inverness IV3 5RR MaSS: Tues, Wed,

Thur, Fri, Sat and Feast Days 11.15am (all Divine Worship) - please check times at: www.ordinariate. scot ContaCt: Fr Len Black: 01463 235597 - fr.len@ ordinariate.scot

WHiTHoRn St Martin and St Ninian, George Street, Whithorn DG8 8PZ MaSS: Wed 10.30am (Divine Worship); Stonehouse Mill, Sorbie DG8

8AN MaSS: First Sunday 11am (Divine Worship) (contact Fr Simon for directions), ContaCt: Fr Simon Beveridge: 01988 850786 - whithorn@ordinariate.scot

nAiRn St Mary, 7 Academy Street, Nairn IV12

4RJ MaSS: 1st Mon 10am (Divine Worship) ContaCt: Fr Cameron Macdonald: 01667 453867nairn@ordinariate.scot

WALES: SouTH EAST Ss Basil & Gwladys, Tregwilym Road, Rogerstone, Newport NP10 9DW MaSS: Sunday: 11am (Divine Worship) ContaCt: Fr Bernard Sixtus: 02920 362599 or 07720 272137wales@ordinariate.org.uk - www.ordinariate.org.uk/ groups/wales-se.php

Please help us keep these pages up to date and let us know of any changes - email: info@portalmag.co.uk

The Ordinary’s Diary – April 2023

The Ordinary: The Rt Revd Mgr Keith Newton

The Presbytery, 24 Golden Square, London W1F 9JR Tel: 020 7440 5750

Email: keith.newton@ordinariate.org.uk Website: www.ordinariate.org.uk

2nd 10.30am Palm Sunday Liturgy, Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street, London, W1B 5LZ

6th 6.30pm Solemn Mass of the Last Supper, Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street, London, W1B 5LZ

7th 3pm Solemn Liturgy of the Passion, Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street, London, W1B 5LZ

8th 8.30pm The Easter Vigil, Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street, London, W1B 5LZ

9th 10.30am Solemn Mass of Easter Day, Our Lady of the Assumption Warwick Street, London, W1B 5LZ

14th -17th Ordinariate Scotland Pilgrimage and Conference, Pluscarden Abbey, Elgin, Scotland, IV30 8UA

18th 4pm Ordinariate Formation Committee, 24 Golden Square, London, W1F 9JR

20th 1.30pm Ordinariate Trustees and Governing Council, 24 Golden Square, London, W1F 9JR

South East & Scotland

Fr David Waller, V.G.

Telephone: 02085 274519

david.waller@ordinariate.org.uk

22nd 11am Ordination of Revd John Salter, Clifton Cathedral, Clifton Park, Clifton, Bristol BS8 3BX

23rd -27th Bishops’ Conference Spring Plenary, Hinsley Hall, Leeds, LS6 2BX

27th 7pm Solemn Evensong and Benediction celebrating the King’s Coronation, Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street. London, W1B 5LZ

MAY

2nd–4th Most Highly Favoured Lady, Easter Festival, Christ the King, 455 Chingford Road, Chingford, Walthamstow E4 8EP

7th 10.30am Mass in Thanksgiving for the Coronation, Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick Street, London W1B 5LZ

9th 10.30am Catholic/Methodist Dialogue, Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1BX

11th 7.30pm Confirmation Mass, Christ the King, 455 Chingford Road, Chingford, Walthamstow E4 8EP

THE ORDiNARiATE DEANS

The South West & Wales

Fr David Lashbrooke

Telephone: 01803 391703

david.lashbrooke@ordinariate.org.uk

midlands & the north

Fr Andrew Starkie

Telephone: 0161 681 1651

andrew.starkie@ordinariate.org.uk

in a cold climate

Fr Michael Halsall

THiS SPRing, the Ordinariate is embarking on a mission audit: an opportunity to take stock, reflect, and have a mature conversation regarding the spiritual, numeric and missionary health of our groups. One of the signs of health and growth is a constant flow of new members – drawn from all ages - and a culture of vocations, and not just to ordained ministries and religious life. To live a vibrant Christian life is to recognise that all walks of life and ministries arise out of a call from God. In the words of the late Pope Benedict XVI:

“The rediscovery of the value of one’s own Baptism is at the root of every Christian’s missionary commitment, because as we see in the Gospel, those who allow themselves to be fascinated by Christ cannot fail to witness to the joy of following in his footsteps... We understand ever more that it is precisely in virtue of Baptism that we possess a co-natural missionary vocation”.

Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus Address: 29th October, 2006.

To live out our baptismal vocation is to recognise that we do so in the community of the Church, and alongside our brothers and sisters. All vocation has a missionary aspect, as we are called to live our lives looking beyond ourselves, and forming communities in which we can thrive as Catholic Christians.

The Ordinariate has a particular calling, and looks to live and share those treasures that we brought with us from the Church of England. In our current accompaniment and discernment of vocations, to the priesthood and permanent diaconate, we held two selection conferences last month, where four men answered that call from God in their own unique ways.

In this edition of  the Portal we hear from one of our seminarians, currently in formation for the priesthood, many of whom are at different stages. There is an imperative to foster a culture of vocations in our groups: to pray for, work for, and encourage the men and women in our lives to serve God and the Church, according to our particular calling.

Fr Michael Halsall is the Vicar for Vocations & Formation, and lecturer in Philosophy at Allen Hall Seminary. He may be contacted at frmichaelhalsall@gmail.com

Spiritual Conferences

The series of Spiritual Conferences held on Zoom, will continue this month on the second and fourth Wednesdays of April (12th and 26th), at 8pm. As ever, they will last 20-25 minutes, and will be delivered by one of our deacons and one of our priests: Deacon Richard Cerson and Fr Simon Ellis respectively.

We look forward to their insights, and we shall pray the Office of Compline afterwards.

The Zoom links are as follows:

12th April – Deacon Richard Cerson

www.bit.ly/SpConf-12Apr

(Meeting ID: 826 7170 2986 / Passcode: 257601)

26th April – Fr Simon Ellis

www.bit.ly/SpConf-26Apr

(Meeting ID: 873 9886 7447 / Passcode: 151100)

All Members, Associates, and Friends of the Ordinariate are welcome to join us, as are those interested in joining the Ordinariate.

Bulletin on Divine Worship

A quarterly publication for our clergy and those interested in liturgy. It is intended to help, guide and plan the liturgical life of Ordinariate parishes and communities.

You will find it at

www.ordinariate.org.uk > NEWS >

The Divine Project

Reflections on Creation and the Church

Joseph, Cardinal Ratzinger (Benedict XVI)

Ignatius Press, San Francisco 2022 ISBN 978-1-62164-505-4

Fr Simon Ellis

THiS

BooK, almost from beyond the grave, comprising lost cassette tapes from talks delivered in an Austrian monastery in 1985 by Cardinal Ratzinger, has something of gold prospecting about it. In the case of ‘The Divine Project’ we have struck gold – and not just a few granules but some serious nuggets on creation and the fall.

Essentially the thread running through the talks is God’s creation of the world and his critique is remarkably apt for our ‘liquid’ times. After noting that the Genesis account is the source of embarrassment for many preachers and teachers today, Ratzinger encourages Christians to read Genesis with Christ ”right into the heart of the Word” and to see it placing “Divine Reason…at the origin of the world.” Ratzinger advises us to see that the “true hermeneutic is to seek and find its trajectory, the inner orientation” in Christ. When it comes to the Sabbath – the “sign of the Covenant between God and mankind” – creation is wholly fulfilled “when it is lived with a need to worship.”

Humanity, at the fall, refused God’s rest and instead saw his work and his self-possession and selfrealisation as “more important than the end for which creation existed.” Ratzinger prophesises that in future people will no longer be able to distinguish between Sundays and work-days because “in every respect man will be his own creator…the rhythm of worship…has fallen silent.” How true his prediction!

Ratzinger is equally insightful when considering whether a new environmental ethic is required in the light of the ecological crisis and any link to Genesis 1.28. Ratzinger concludes that God’s mandate is for mankind to “inhabit the world as God’s creation, living in accordance with the rhythm and the logic of creation.”

Returning to a common theme that we notice Pope Benedict touched on a number of times, the Genesis account reminds us that “man is not a mistake” because

the story of Genesis, the story of the dust of the earth and the breath of God tells us “what a human being is”, namely “the Divine Project”.

Perhaps the greatest contribution of this book is to be found in the section on the fall and the subsequent reality of original sin, where every human being “enters a world characterised by relational disruption…where relationships are distorted.” The serpent had enabled Adam and Eve to become suspicious of the covenant and then “man is on his way toward building his own world”.

This is symptomatic of the problem of our era, where there has been a gradual disappearance of any limit, or what may be done, so that the only limitation on mankind is what can be done. But, says Ratzinger, “the measure of man is man himself, is creation, is good and evil, and when he rejects this standard, he is deceiving himself”. This should be noted in this era of self-identification.

For this book you really need go no further than two thirds of the way in, as far as chapter 4 (the final chapters on Vatican II and Pluralism feel disconnected). Chapter four concludes with Christ “the new serpent” who transforms history at the Cross, which becomes the place of obedience…the true vine of life…Christ thus becomes the antitype of the serpent…from this tree will come not words of temptation but the word of love that saves.” Thus, particularly in John’s gospel, “the Paradise account has been drawn into its Christology” and Christ has “raised the cross as the true central axis of the world.”

Our window on the CofE

Fr Paul Benfield

Fr Paul Benfield tells us about the Church of England’s Living in Love and Faith process, and reactions to it

REACTion

ConTinuES to the Living in Love and Faith Debate held at the General Synod in February. The House of Bishops held an emergency meeting on 23rd February to assess initial reactions. I am told that many think that that if they just stay calm, the problem will go away.

Meanwhile there have been reactions from both Evangelicals and Catholics. The Church of England Evangelical Council has issued a Declaration which it is asking people to sign. It reads:

If the Church of England’s General Synod or House of Bishops:

1. authorises or commends liturgical provision for the celebration, dedication, blessing or solemnisation of any sexual relationship other than marriage between one man and one woman, or liturgical provision for the blessing of those in such relationships; or

2. removes the bar on clergy being in such relationships; or

3. produces pastoral guidance that is indicative of a departure from the Church of England’s doctrine that marriage between one man and one woman is the proper context for sexual intimacy; or

4. amends Canon B30 so the Church of England no longer affirms that “according to our Lord’s teaching marriage is in its nature a union permanent and lifelong, for better for worse, till death them do part, of one man with one woman, to the exclusion of all others on either side” … we will declare that this action represents a departure from the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness.

Our desire is to keep faith with this inheritance as members of the Church of England and to remain in full communion with those Provinces of the Anglican Communion who also maintain the biblical and historic teaching of the church catholic.

We will therefore resist all attempts to introduce any of these changes or to marginalise those who, in their own teaching and practice, uphold the received

doctrine of the Church of England and the teaching of Jesus on marriage.

The Council of Bishops of the Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda has issued a brief holding statement which reads:

On the Church of England’s Living in Love and Faith process, we intend to issue a further statement in the coming months, in line with the timetable outlined for the July 2023 session of General Synod. In the meantime, we wholly endorse the contents of the attached paper on the Church of England’s doctrine of marriage, which - among others - the Bishops of Chichester and of Fulham have signed.

The paper signed by 14 bishops of varying theological traditions concludes:

Any change to the doctrine of marriage as a union between a man and a woman would therefore not only unravel the Scriptural story of salvation, but risk undermining our understanding of the nature of the Church as it is derived from Scripture and given to us as a revelatory sign. Marriage is essentially an ecclesial, as well as a human, instrument of unity.

On same sex relationships it says:

There is still work to be done on how the church can best provide a better welcome and radical inclusion for LGBTQI+ Christians and others, and to find appropriate ways to affirm the good of same-sex relationships.

Yet the theological framework outlined above explains why, for many, a move towards same-sex marriage in church is not the way to do this, and why the witness of Holy Matrimony to the gospel in the ways outlined above needs to be preserved.

Aid to the Church in Need Freedom after nine years of torture

Dr John Newton writes

TEEnAgER

mARyAmu Joseph escaped from Islamist extremist group Boko Haram last year after nine years in captivity. She was abducted along with 21 others when the terrorists attacked Bazza. After escaping, she received trauma counselling at a centre supported by Aid to the Church in Need, and last month the charity arranged for her to meet Pope Francis, senior Vatican officials and members of the Vatican Diplomatic Corps as part of international women’s day events. She tells her story:

Boko Haram attacked my community in February 2013. After a killing spree that left countless dead, they took 22 of us into a thick forest. We trekked for 22 days before arriving at our destination. They put the Christians in cages, like animals. The first thing they did was forcefully convert us to Islam. They changed my name to Aisha, a Muslim name, and warned us not to pray as Christians, or we would be killed.

When I turned 10, they wanted to marry me to one of their bosses, but I refused. As punishment, they locked me in a cage for an entire year. They brought food once a day and pushed it under the door without ever opening the cage.

In November 2019, they captured two of my siblings and brought them to the camp. Only God knows how I felt when I saw them… Right before my eyes, they took one of my siblings and killed him. They cut off his head, then his hands, legs, and stomach. They treated my brother’s body just like a chicken before it’s cooked. I was devastated. I asked myself, “Who’s next?”

On 8th July 2022, at around 1am, the camp was quiet, and everybody was asleep except my fellow hut members and I. The twelve of us decided to run away. At first, I was confused whether to stay because of my younger sister, who was in another hut, but I figured I could spend the rest of my life in this camp, so I had to leave, no matter what. We snuck out of the camp

and ran through the thick forest. We kept going, as long as our legs would carry us, for two days, until we finally arrived in Maiduguri on 10th July 2022. When we arrived, I fainted, and when I woke up I was in the arms of a Good Samaritan. He gave us water and food to recover our strength and later I came to the Churchrun camp.

Nine years of living in bondage! Nine years of torture! Nine years of agony! We suffered so much at the hands of these heartless, ruthless people. For nine years we saw the shedding of the innocent blood of my fellow Christians, killed by people who do not value life. They murdered without remorse, like it’s a normal thing to do. These nine wasted years in the Sambisa Forest cannot be forgotten in a blink of an eye. Words cannot do justice to what I’ve gone through.

Aid to the Church in Need - www.acnuk.org contact: acn@acnuk.org or call 020 8642 8668

Praying with Saint Sitha

Dr Simon Cotton HoRLEy

iS a small village in North Oxfordshire, close to the Warwickshire border. Like the village, its church of Saint Etheldreda (an unusual dedication for the area) is constructed of the local ironstone. It received a tasteful mid-20th century restoration under the architect Lawrence Dale, but the wall paintings are of especial interest. There is a well-preserved Saint Christopher facing the main entrance, but more unusual is the 14th century female figure, holding a rosary and a bunch of keys, on a pier of the north arcade (1), which represents Saint Zita of Lucca, normally known in England as Saint Sitha.

Zita was born around 1212 in Monsagrati, a small village just outside Lucca, in Italy, to a poor but devout family. (Her elder sister became a Cistercian nun and an uncle was a hermit). At the age of 12, when she went to work as a housemaid for the prosperous Fatinelli family, who were textile manufacturers, she already had formed her habits of prayer and Mass attendance. Zita rose very early in the morning to pray and to attend Mass in the neighbouring church of San Frediano, which she did every day. For many years Zita was ill-treated, not just by her fellow servants, who resented her hard work and evident goodness, which shone from her, but also by her employers.

Zita served the Fatinelli household for forty eight years, the remainder of her life. Her virtues converted her fellow servants as well as the Fatinellis, and Zita eventually became the head housekeeper. She was credited with working miracles in her life; famously, when she was called away from baking to help another in need, the Fatinellis said that they had found angels doing the baking in her place. Zita believed that her job was God’s plan for her life and that the daily events were her penance, forgiving those who illtreated her, and that her employers were placed there by God.

Zita’s life of prayer and almsgiving to the poor ended when she died in her attic room in the Fatinelli mansion on April 27th 1272. Miracles were associated with her

while she was alive; the veneration that surrounded her in life continued after her death, and her unofficial cult spread. By the time of Dante she was regarded as the patron saint of Lucca; in 1519 Pope Leo X approved the cult of ‘Beata Zita’. Many miracles were attributed to her intercession and her cult was extended to the whole church in 1696. Pope Pius XI declared her to be the patron of domestic servants in 1935; many have had particular resort to her in the case of lost keys, which along with her rosary and cooking pot, are her emblems in art.

Apart from Italy, England is the only European country to have had an extensive cult of Saint Sitha, which may have been introduced by Lucchese merchants; she was venerated all the way from Cornwall to Northumbria, whether in wall paintings (Horley and Shorthampton (Oxfordshire)); screen paintings (e.g. Barton Turf (2) and North Elmham (Norfolk) and Westhall (Suffolk)); and stained glass (e.g. East Markham (Notts) (3)).

The incorrupt body of Saint Zita remains in the Basilica of San Frediano in Lucca, where she spent so much of her time in life. On April 27th, her feast day, many inhabitants of Lucca bring flowersespecially daffodils – to the Basilica.

Recall that we are not called by God to become celebrities, but to serve. Pray for all those who serve others, especially those who are ill-treated and abused.

St Sitha at East Markham

St Sitha at Horley

Newman’s Patristic Enchantment

Fr Peter Conley

ASA boy, John Henry Newman remarked that the vision of the Fathers “was always, to my imagination I may say, a paradise of delight.” He kissed the volumes of works by St Athanasius and St Basil because they, together with other Eastern Fathers, had helped make him a Catholic. Charles S. Dessain says that from the beginning of the Oxford Movement, Newman’s “theology was saturated” with the thought of St Gregory of Nyssa, St Gregory Nazianzen, St Cyril of Alexandria, St Clement and Origen. (The Downside Review, April 1976, 84).

The Prologue of St John’s Gospel was foundational for them with its focus on the Divine Logos becoming flesh in Jesus.

Roderick Strange synthesises Newman’s embodiment of Eastern theology as follows:

Every feature of man’s redemption in Christ was presented by Newman as only part of a single act. He saw as a unity the condescension and incarnation, the cross and resurrection, the ascension and sending of the Spirit. And each part pointed to the same kind of salvation…

The effect of this single act, whether considered in its parts or as a whole, was described as man’s divinisation. Newman spoke of ‘the very presence of Christ’ in man.

(The Gospel of Christ, 133)

The prayer a priest says during mass captures this teaching: “through the mingling of this water and wine may we share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity”. Through the sacraments and the daily raising of our hearts and minds to God, we are moulded into Jesus’ likeness –because in thought, word and deed, we make Christ present to others.

Newman’s exploration of the sacramental principle encapsulates the promise he sees in the influence of the Eastern Fathers of the Church. This builds upon their use of St John’s Prologue and St Paul’s teaching that everything in creation has an inner trajectory towards Christ. Newman interprets this as meaning that the world of creation and human society interweave. Heaven meets earth through the mystery of the incarnation, redemption, ascension and Pentecost. This makes it possible for us to encounter Christ in all things, visible and invisible in nature, prayer, church worship and the sacraments, as well as even personal possessions, including those of loved ones who have

gone be before us marked with the sign of faith. Everything, given Newman’s sacramental principle, has the potential to mediate Christ to us and lead us closer to a ‘heart to heart’ engagement with, through and in him.

Charles Dessain concludes that, in Newman’s work, he finds teaching that is:

…sometimes obscured in the West, on the Principatus of the Father, on the One Nature of the Word Incarnate, the Holy Spirit the fruit of Resurrection, on our Deification and on the Divine Indwelling.

(The Downside Review, 98).

How tragic, he says, that Eastern and Western theology are not “as yet completely and wholly one!”

Forms of words for making a bequest in favour of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in your Will

I GIVE to the PERSONAL ORDINARIATE OF OUR L ADY OF WALSINGHAM, 24 Golden Square, London W1F 9JR, the sum of _________ pounds (£ ) and I DIRECT that the receipt of the Treasurer or other proper officer of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham shall be good and sufficient discharge to my Executor. or

I GIVE the residue of my estate to the PERSONAL ORDINARIATE OF OUR L ADY OF WALSINGHAM, 24 Golden Square, London W1F 9JR, and I DIRECT that the receipt of the Treasurer or other proper officer of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham shall be good and sufficient discharge to my Executor.

The Friends of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham (FOTO)

Nicolas Ollivant, Chairman of The Friends of the Ordinariate

iAmVERy grateful to  the Portal for inviting me to contribute an article about what FOTO does. FOTO was established in 2011 (the same year as the Portal Magazine) shortly after the creation of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. The purpose is to raise funds from the wider Catholic world in order to support the Ordinariate by making grants for specific purposes.

As the Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, is President of FOTO, he attends board meetings and is able to advise the trustees as to whether a particular applicant for a grant does so with the support of the Ordinariate. Most of the Friends of the Ordinariate are not in fact members of the Ordinariate and we are deeply grateful to them for their financial support.

FOTO raises funds to support two principal purposes: to provide financial support to the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and to publicise the work of the Ordinariate in the wider Catholic world and beyond, particularly in the Anglican world. There is a Requiem Mass in November each year for deceased Friends of the Ordinariate. Last year it took place on 22nd November 2022.

From time to time, FOTO organises events to publicise the work of the Ordinariate and to raise money. These include lectures, garden parties, Epiphany carol services and services of Solemn Evensong and Benediction (the next such occasion will be Thursday 27th April at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption & St Gregory, Warwick Street, London W1 in celebration of the upcoming coronation of HM The King).

During the last 12 years FOTO has distributed grants in excess of £350,000. The purposes include support for: seminarians; newly ordained priests; the Portal Magazine; further academic study by Ordinariate priests; Catholic student groups; the publication of Ordinariate liturgical texts; and the restoration of church buildings and organs. FOTO has also assisted with the purchase of property by the Ordinariate e.g. the church in Torbay; and the purchase of statues, vestments etc. for Ordinariate groups. We also publish the FOTO Newsletter twice a year. The Winter 2022 edition was number 17 in the series.

The most important source of revenue for FOTO is standing orders. However, these do not remain in place indefinitely. Sadly, some of our supporters have gone to their eternal rest. Others have found different uses for their donations. One-off donations are much appreciated but they do not allow us to plan ahead in the way that standing orders do. Lastly, we are very grateful for legacies in the wills of our supporters.

Anyone who wishes to support us can do so from our web site at friendsoftheordinariate.org.uk. We will be most grateful! New supporters will be added to our mailing list for the Newsletter and receive invitations to events organised by FOTO.

The Editors of The Portal are most grateful to FOTO for their financial assistance, without which we would be unable to continue to keep up our high standards.

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham THE ORDER OF MASS

Divine Worship: The Missal in accorDance WiTh The roMan riTe Ordinariate Mass cards with the Order of Mass from Divine Worship: The Missal are now available

Prices including UK delivery: £1 for a single copy, £3.50 for 10, £14 for 50, £26 for 100, £48 for 200

Overseas enquiries please email: mass.cards@ordinariate.org.uk for postage costs

To order, please send your name and address with your cheque, made payable to Ordinariate OLW to: Mass Cards, Ordinariate OLW, 24 Golden Square, London W1F 9JR

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Enjoy these beers as you celebrate feast days or with a gathering of friends knowing you are supporting the ongoing establishment of a spiritual oasis built to last a thousand years.

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Please drink wisely, exercising the virtue that Saint Benedict would have encouraged.