THE PORTAL MAY EDITION

R TAL THE P

The PorTal is the monthly review of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham May 2023

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

Contents

Page 3 On Being ‘Part of the Family’ – David Chapman

Page 4 A book to treasure – Joanna Bogle

Page 5 Orthodoxy? – Snapdragon

Page 6 A Life Lived for Others – Review by Laura Magson

Page 7 Our Transitional Deacon – Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane

Page 9 Not a Smörgåsbord – Fr Andrew Starkie

Page 12 Celebrate 12 years of The Portal

Supplement Pages i-iv

The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla

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 Aid to the Church in Need – John Newton

Page 18 Praying at Rocamadour – Dr Simon Cotton

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

Page 20 Formation – Fr Michael Halsall

Page 21 Newman’s Dough – Fr Peter Conley

Page 21 News from the Ordinariate

Page 23 “Male and female he created them” – Gabriel Gilson

Page 23 The Dynamics of Liturgy – Review by Fr Simon Heans

On Being ‘Part of the Family’

David

Chapman

enjoyed a warm Scottish welcome

The Ordinariate in Scotland

fLyIng! I fly infrequently and usually something goes wrong. Getting to Pluscarden Abbey near Elgin in Scotland was no exception; but by the time I opened the door to find other participants at supper, I was exhausted, frustrated and damp! The welcome I received cured all that – I was immediately ‘part of the family’ and the feeling did not go away as the weekend progressed – this was the 2023 Ordinariate Scotland Pilgrimage and Conference.

IHATE

Friday morning (14th April) was startlingly bright and I could now see where I was. Pluscarden Abbey is ancient, but no longer a ruin. Founded in 1230, Benedictine since 1454, it was, of course, victim to the Reformation and was rescued by partial restoration in the 19th century but was still romantic and roofless. Since 1948, it has become the home to a congregation of Benedictine monks once more, attracting many visitors and accommodating individuals and groups like ours. There are amazing links with, and similarities to the story of the Ordinariates; so the Benedictines are another part of the ‘family’ to which we belong. Being Benedictines they are hospitable and welcoming.

Abbot Anselm Atkinson together with Fr Len Black (our Leader and the originator of this event) welcomed the group over afternoon tea and the Abbot gave us his blessing. All Offices and Masses for the group were of the Ordinariate variety; Evening Prayer was said in the Lady Chapel – one of the most ancient parts of the Abbey and the place used when the monks returned to Pluscarden in 1948. It is not usually open to the public – so we were especially honoured to be allowed to use it as ‘our’ church during our stay. Dinner was taken, like all our meals, in St Scholastica’s, a building some 500 yards from the Abbey. It had a large and comfortable sitting/dining room, a well-equipped kitchen and accommodation for female guests.

After dinner, Fr Len and Bryan Miller presented the story of their trip to Caldey Island (by way of many other places). You will have read the account in The PorTal, but this was enhanced by pictures, recordings and a fascinating commentary. The connections between the monastic foundations at Caldey Island, Prinknash in Gloucestershire, Llanthony in Wales and Pluscarden, all linked by the extraordinary figure of Aelred Carlyle, showed very clearly that the journey towards the Ordinariates was, in a sense, nothing new. Much conversation followed. One comment I must report, however. I asked a member of the party, an Ordinariate member living in Köln, Germany, “Why the Ordinariate?” His reply was simply that “The Ordinariate Mass is what the Novus Ordo should be like.”

On Saturday, Abbot Anselm spoke to us about the Benedictine Order. It flourished greatly in preReformation Britain, reaching perhaps 10,000 monks and nuns at its height. It was virtually wiped out – and with it, of course, much of the work of medical care and education it had done. Towards the end of the 19th century there was a revival; it might have looked like continuity, but it wasn’t – it was a new interpretation of the Benedictine ideals. In the 1970s there was again a steep decline in numbers to about 12,000 and now to fewer than 8,000. There is growth, sometimes steady, sometimes almost too fast, particularly in Africa.

... continued on page 11 Ø

A book to treasure

Joanna Bogle reflects that a project that has come to fruition is always satisfying

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18 months ago, a couple of us had the idea of producing a handbook for Catholic boys and girls – something that answered the needs of today’s teenagers and pre-teens. The suggested title was “Looking Ahead” – which worked well and we have kept - and the Catholic Truth Society got involved in the project, with some funding from a Catholic women’s organisation.

Then it really took off: it’s an attractive book, pleasing to use and handle, suitable for those arriving at secondary school in September, or as a Confirmation gift, or for members of a children’s choir, or an end-of-term gift in July, or…the possibilities are huge.

Beautifully illustrated, it focuses on prayers that should become part of everyone’s life, stories of teenage saints, questions that young people  really  ask (including some not raised by earlier generations, and needing clear answers in this complicated era), and all sorts of useful information.

Children like interesting, even quirky, facts. When did the Faith first arrive in Britain? Why is St Andrew the patron saint of Scotland? Why are all priests men? How does the calendar work? Are saints always people from long ago?

We have stories of saints of the modern era: the Ugandan martyrs (whose steadfastness as they refused to engage in homosexual activity led to their heroic deaths); Carlo Acutis (patron of the Internet, working on magnificent online evangelisation about the Eucharist even when suffering from a grim illness). And we included the stories of the patron saints of the UK: Saints George, Andrew, Patrick and David

– and included the Lord’s Prayer in Scots Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, and Welsh, as well as English.

Looking Ahead carries a Foreword by Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark. He has a beautiful message for the children and ends with a blessing.

We believe this book will be of real use to the boys and girls to whom it is given: something to treasure, share with friends, and use for reference. Something that will give them a positive message for life, and a sense of strength and hope as they look ahead.

And it comes at a memorable time, in this coronation year, a gift to keep, with a “This book belongs to…” page that makes it special.

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

Orthodoxy?

Snapdragon has been thinking about orthodoxy

ITIS a most edifying sight to witness those two redoubtable giants of Christian orthodoxy once more entering the theological fray to defend Christian tradition. Of course no one can seriously doubt to whom I am referring. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, of course.

You may well ask what particular issue has exercised their shared concern. Well not surprisingly it is to do with the upcoming coronation of Charles lll. They have insisted (or what passes for insistence in such polite circles!) that the coronation of a British monarch is “at its centre a Christian service…rooted in long-standing tradition and Christian symbolism”.

Now they have felt moved to make this statement because of the alleged views of the monarch who wishes a more “diverse” or “inclusive” coronation. It is well known that over thirty years ago as Prince of Wales, Charles said that he would rather be the “Defender of faith” rather than the “Defender of the  Faith” Which really is quite ironic since the title was bestowed on Henry Vlll in 1521 by the then pope Leo X.

It was given to him as an acknowledgement of his anti-lutheran tract “Assertio Septem Sacramentorum” a defence of the seven sacraments, Subsequent monarchs did not hesitate to appropriate a personal gift as theirs by right. Most of the monarchs following Henry have hardly been conspicuous in their defence of the Catholic faith.

So then is Charles right? He is not the defender of the Roman Catholic faith certainly. However popular usage of the last five hundred years has taken this to mean that he is the defender of the Anglican faith as part of the “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church” proclaimed every week in the Anglican liturgy. But what is the Faith of the Anglican Church today? What is the Christian Faith that Archbishops Welby and Cottrell wish to see upheld, “rooted in long-standing Tradition” (Answer by email to The PorTal Editor. No Don’t !)

It would seem that Charles has a point and indeed he has supporters within the Anglican episcopate. Not all are staunch traditionalists like Welby and Cottrell! For example Lord Harries of Pentregarth, the former Bishop of Oxford and now assisting in the diocese of Southwark has called for the Coronation service to include a reading from the Koran. He has said that this would be “a creative act of accommodation”. (Whatever that means!)

Very well then, let the coronation be a celebration of our diverse, inclusive, multicultural society rather than the crowning of a Christian Monarch in a Christian church in which he pledges to defend the Christian Faith. But let us take this seriously.

Harries of Pentregarth has said that the act of creative accommodation would “make Muslims feel ‘embraced by the nation’. If this is true we must also include Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Jains, and Jews. And let us not forget those of other “Christian” traditions we must not allow the witnesses of Jehovah, The church of Latter day Saints and the Seventh day Adventists, not to feel “embraced” we should have reading from their Holy Books too. Perhaps we should also include readings from Dawkins “God Delusion” so that all the atheists and agnostics also feel “embraced”.

This piece is really a lament. England, once the “Land of scholars and saints” the “Dowry of Mary” has come to this. If Charles is the defender of faith in general, he is simply defending the post-modernist creed, that there isn’t any truth out there.

Jesus said something different: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”.

Sue Ryder: A Life Lived for Others

by Joanna Bogle, Gracewing, ISBN 978-0-85244-972-1

Reviewed by Laura Magson

InITIATEd

by the Lady Ryder of Warsaw Trust and written by Joanna Bogle to mark the centenary of her birth, Sue Ryder - A Life Lived for Others is an account of Sue Ryder’s life and work.

The first part is a biography, the second part a description of her projects, listed by country, many of which continue to this day.

Sue was the youngest of 10 in a family where care for the poor and responsibly to the community, together with religion, were central to life. At school she found a similar message, attending the recently established Benenden, whose founders assumed girls would go on to have careers and be active in community life. The school prayer, which Sue would continue to quote years later, asked that the girls may “serve thee faithfully, for the welfare of their fellow-men and for the honour of Thy great name…”.

When war broke out, Sue assumed that this call to serve had arrived, leaving school and going to train as a nurse. She joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANYs) at the age of 15, and was soon sent to the Special Operations Executive Polish section, where her deep involvement with Poland began. The people she met here made such a profound impression on her with their “courage, humour, tolerance, faith and cheerfulness”, having experienced dreadful fear and anguish, that in their name she created a “Living Memorial”, which was the beginnings of the Sue Ryder Foundation. All her future charity work was to commemorate these people, with remembrance being its theme and rosemary its symbol.

Later, Sue was posted overseas, serving in North Africa, and Europe. At the end of the war, her work moved from military to relief work, then to saving Russian prisoners of war from forced deportation, which went beyond anything she was allowed to do as a relief worker. It was then she saw she would sometimes need to work alone, and she continued independently when the international relief units withdrew, feeling “God meant me to stay there”. She began to help the young men who had been recently freed from concentration camps, starving, with no homes. Many had resorted to theft and violence and had been imprisoned. If her fight for their release was

successful, they needed somewhere to live, and so she established hostels for them in various German towns.

She returned to England in 1951, intending to offer a home and a new life in Britain to displaced people permanently disabled following their experiences in Nazi concentration camps. For this she needed a house, and, unable to raise the funds to buy a property, she offered her mother’s house. It became the first Sue Ryder Home.

During the 1950s, Sue was becoming better known, establishing more Homes in Europe, and expanding her Holiday scheme, which offered holidays to people from refugee camps. Leonard Cheshire, the founder of a network of homes for the terminally ill and disabled, was also becoming better known, but neither had heard of the other when introduced by a mutual friend. They kept in touch, discussing joint ventures, and in 1959, they married in India, seeing their marriage “as a deep commitment to their joint work”. Shortly afterwards the Ryder-Cheshire foundation was formed. Its work and the Sue Ryder Foundation’s continued to expand around the world.

A Life Lived for Others is a fascinating account of Sue’s extraordinary life, which was centred around her Christian faith and a belief in service, sacrifice and relief of suffering. Also apparent is Sue’s modesty and privacy; she never sought fame, she was noticeably annoyed when she appeared on This is Your Life, although grateful for the publicity for her work.

Joanna Bogle tells the story of her life in a way that fits this aspect of Sue’s personality. Her experiences are described not just as a biography, but explaining how her life’s work grew from them.

A Life Lived for Others shows the extent of people helped by Sue’s work, and will certainly assist with the Lady Ryder of Warsaw Trust’s aim, that Sue Ryder’s work is not forgotten.

Our Transitional Deacon

Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane meet the Revd Matthew Topham

LASTmonTH, regular readers of The PorTal will remember, we interviewed Daniel Lally, the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham’s newest seminarian. This month we have moved to the opposite end of the spectrum and been to see The Revd Matthew Topham, our transitional Deacon. He hopes to be ordained priest later this year.

We met Fr Matthew at the church of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, London. In fact, the Parish Priest, Fr Mark Elliott Smith, allowed us to use his office. We settled down with Fr Matthew between us. He is tall, lean, and has a clerical bearing and very much at ease with us.

He was not baptised as a child but whilst studying at Cambridge University. It was in the college chapel at Peterhouse. He loved the beauty of the music. He told us “Not at all surprising. Also, the beauty of the liturgy especially at the church next door, Little St Mary’s.” It was whilst at Cambridge that these two together brought about his conversion to the Faith. He continued, “I think it was shortly after that, I decided I would like to be up there by the altar, wearing nice things and singing the beautiful music. But unlike other youthful enthusiasms, it didn’t really leave. After I’d graduated and realised that, with an English degree I wasn’t really terribly useful for anything, I spent two years or so in North London, in Archway, as a pastoral assistant. I followed a priest around learning various good and bad things, bad habits and good ones. Then I was off to Staggers (St Stephen’s House Oxford). Really it has always been the service of the altar which has called me to the priesthood.

“I was ordained a deacon in St Paul’s and a priest in my curacy parish St Mary’s Tottenham, by the Bishop of Fulham. Jonathan Baker. I stuck that for about six months. When one is an Anglo Catholic, you live with this ever-present idea of crossing the Tiber, or Popeing, whatever you want to call it, the idea that you’re not going to finish your course in the lane you started in. You live with this idea so the conversion, when it happens, is never particularly unexpected in itself, but it is and can be unexpected in the form it takes and for me it was pretty sudden, and the Anglican ministry became intolerable. Various things caused that. I remember joking with my training incumbent before taking up the curacy, you know ‘As long as the new Bishop of London isn’t a woman, we’ll be alright.’

“Matters came to a head one morning at the altar, when I found myself unable to get to the Kyrie, because I knew that I really shouldn’t be there, I shouldn’t be where I was.

I knew what I should do, and I set about doing it. To my great delight and relief my wife had also been thinking about this, as ever wives are always one step ahead of their husbands and she was the first to raise the prospect of ‘coming home’, coming home to Rome, which we did together, which was a beautiful thing. Four years ago, on Laetare Sunday, yes, never looked back.”

We wondered why the Ordinariate? Fr Matthew replied, “It’s a good question, isn’t it? I was a total Anglican; I never touched the Book of Common Prayer. One thing that was important to me was the presence of marriage, especially a married Ordinary. My experience to date has borne out that the Ordinary understands married clergy and their needs. As a married man with a wife and three children that’s important, which is not to say that married priests, former Anglican priests, aren’t treated wonderfully by the dioceses. I like the idea of the Ordinariate as a sort of holding pen for us weird people with incumbents, marriages and so on. The Apostolic See herself has told us in Anglicanorum Coetibus that there are things that are valuable in Anglican Patrimony, which we are to bring with us. It’s not just us knocking on the gates saying, ‘Can we have our little books please?’

“They are saying there is something valuable in your tradition. I think it really harks back to an earlier iteration of mine, of my Christianity. I was converted by Evensong in my college chapel. So, to come, in a sense, full circle to that has been salutary and good. To hear again those much-haunted strains in my daily office has been remarkable. I think of my life as an Anglican and I know for many people who were Anglicans much longer than I was, for them it is almost a part of their nature.”

We raised the aspect of the Ordinariate regarding the importance of ecumenism, because in this country it is the only tangible example we have of Roman Catholicism engaging in real ecumenism and in that sense it’s prophetic. Fr Matthew took up the theme with enthusiasm “Absolutely. So much of it seems to be about patting each other on the back and leaving people where they are. We hear the phrase ‘meeting

people where there are all the time. The idea is not to leave them there. We are the only fruits of the ecumenical movement in this country, I think, that has succeeded in uniting more people who otherwise would not be within the pale of Peter. Yes, it’s glorious. It is the way forward; I wish more people knew it.”

Fr Matthew joined the Ordinariate and was accepted for priestly formation at Allen Hall in London. Of course, it is not as easy as that. A married man with children, how do they live, or manage their finances? “As many of us who come this way know, the unparalleled generosity of the St Barnabas Society has enabled us to live and move and have our being. No account of this journey would be complete without thanks and praise for all they do for us. The old Converts Aid Society (now the St Barnabas Society) a hundred odd years on still plugging away and bringing people in. It’s enabled me to spend time with my family and indeed to grow it, in a way that’s been very wonderful. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had the chance. We live on the outskirts of London. This means I can come to Warwick Street, and I can serve mass with my Ordinary which is something that very few of my seminarian colleagues have the opportunity to do. There’s an advantage to smallness. I think that we are a family. We are a Presbyterate of Sons and we do see of our Ordinary as our Father. We can do that because we see each other in that kind of fraternal order.”

Before all this excitement, where did the young Matthew come from? “Young Matthew was born in Walsall, West Midlands. I was the only child, my parents divorced before I was born. So, I am the classic image of Broken Britain. I was brought up by my Mum. I went to Grammar School and from the local grammar school I went to Cambridge to read English and while there was converted. The happiest thing in the world really is because I’ve also been to Oxford, so whoever wins on the boat race day, I won’t mind.

“I met Mrs Topham at Cambridge. She was at the concrete nunnery on the hill, which some people still call New Hall. She was reading theology. So, this was the amusing thing - she wasn’t baptised either. She read theology and went to work in a theatre. I read English and went to work in a church. So, we sort of swapped over at some point. We got married just before I went to Staggers. We began our life together in Mowbray Close at Staggers. Three of the happiest years. Oxford is wonderful. St Stephen’s House is wonderful too. I don’t think anyone who’s been there would want to give an account of themselves without mentioning their enormous gratitude for that place and the work it did and still does in preparing men for the Catholic priesthood, the real one. The three happiest years of my life where I did, I think, receive my formation

for the Catholic priesthood. Fr Robin Ward is an admirable man. I think we all owe our serious sense of vocation as Catholic priests to him.”

Jackie asked, “When you are an Ordinariate priest in a parish and people ask you to explain the Ordinariate, how would you do that?” Fr Matthew’s answer was interesting, he said, “It would behove us all to have a clear idea of what on earth we are. I always say we’re a lifeboat. The Ordinariate is a lifeboat for people who are drowning. In a very real sense as the Church of England and other vociferous Protestant sects drown in the sea of contending doctrine. The Ordinariate is the lifeboat for those of us with Anglican previous to come across to the Barque of Peter, which is ploughing through the waves guided by the Divine Redeemer. It allows us to bring certain things with us, clothes on our back and money in our pocket - that sort of thing, and of course our patrimony, with us into this lifeboat. Then to join up with the Barque proper, with the Catholic Church.

Jackie pressed the point, “So then someone might say to you. ‘So why aren’t you a proper Catholic?’” Once again, Fr Matthew’s answer was interesting, “The answer to that is, we are proper Catholics. This is a problem that I think is going to go away as this country realises the diversity of Catholic presence in it already. There are thirty odd Eastern churches in union with Peter, Latin Rite is the largest, but it is by not by any means the only one. Then even with Latin rite there are our brothers of the Ambrosian use, our Dominican Brethren, Franciscans, Benedictines, all of them with their own particular patrimonies, uses and customs and ways of being Catholic. Even the dioceses of this country have their own particular faiths and shapes. It is a chimera to say there is such a thing as a normal catholic. So, we are real Catholics, we just have a particular presentation and particular outward face and it’s supposed to be, as Pope Benedict thought, an attractive outward face. We have these treasures, not to just keep to ourselves to make us feel warm and secure and at home, but to share with others. They’re treasures to be shared. We see this born out wherever Ordinariate priests are given their head and our usage, and our way of living can be enjoyed to the full. We see people, not just former Anglicans, but also cradle Catholics also drawn to the beauty of these things the reality of experience and good grace in the Church of England separated though she is from the main stem. I always think of it a bit like the Israelites despoiling the Egyptians. They nick all the gold and silver and bring it with them. That’s very much what we’ve done, we’ve taken what is good and left behind everything that is bad.”

Thank you, Fr Matthew,. Many prayers for you in your ministry in the Ordinariate.

Not a Smörgåsbord

Fr Andrew Starkie looks at the Nordic Bishops’ Conference: Pastoral Letter on Human Sexuality

onPASSIon Sunday of this year the Nordic Bishops’ Conference issued a pastoral letter to be read out in the Catholic churches of their respective dioceses (and territorial Prelatures) in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. In less interesting times, a pastoral letter of the Nordic Bishops’ Conference would not cause many waves outside their own countries; indeed before the letter’s publication, many Catholics would have been blissfully unaware that that there was such a thing as the Nordic Bishops’ Conference. Historically speaking, the Nordics were part of the  avant garde when it came to regional episcopal organisation. Even before Vatican II encouraged the idea of national conferences of bishops, the Catholic leadership in the Nordic countries had organised meetings as early as 1923. It was a visionary step in what was very much mission territory.

Catholics are still in the minority in these countries, but they are some of the few Western nations which are bucking the trend of general decline in Catholic practice. The official state Lutheran Churches have long ceased to pretend to any supernatural authority, and although membership there remains numerically dominant, and Confirmation continues to fulfil the cultural role of the Bar Mitzvah, (and its employees are well paid), definite belief is a distinctly optional extra. For this reason, many of those who begin to take Christianity seriously look to the Catholic Church (and, in Finland, to the Orthodox). The Catholicism of the Nordic countries is one which therefore is rich in both immigrants and converts.

The Nordic situation is therefore almost the polar opposite of that which confronts the Catholic Church in its southern neighbour, Germany, where the Catholic Church’s established status makes it much more akin to the state Lutheran churches, not least in its vulnerability to secularisation, and its well-paid staff. Although the decisions of the German bishops, and their ‘Synodal Way’, are not mentioned specifically in the Pastoral Letter of the Nordic bishops (they wrote an open letter of concern to the Germans last year) the apostacy of the German ‘synod’ is the unmistakable and immediate context of the letter.

Almost as soon as it was published (notably including a version in English), Catholic media worldwide began to take an interest in it. Its tone is what first impresses.

There is a confidence, without any stridency, in the teaching authority which is behind the letter. It recognises that this authority is grounded first of all in the Holy Scriptures, and therefore in the Tradition which gives those Scriptures meaning and authority; in other words, it recognises that its authority (which is the Magisterial office entrusted to the Bishops of the Church) is grounded in the revelation of Jesus Christ. It takes seriously the charge of the Second Vatican Council that the task of teaching the Catholic faith authentically lies with all the bishops of the Church. Indeed, it has something of the reflective, biblical tone which characterised the magisterial documents of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Its reception outside its own proper sphere might in part be attributed to the silence thus far from the Holy See in the face of the German provocation.

Turning to the contents of the letter, we find that it roots its teaching in the covenantal relationship of God to mankind, made in the image of God, noting, ‘we are called to realise this image by the life choices we make’. Ironically, the bishops note, the sign of this covenant with all mankind through Noah (the rainbow) is appropriated by a movement which (whatever positive aspirations it might have) seems to deny the very basis of this covenant, and instead propose that ‘we construct ourselves in our own image’.

We proclaim in the Creed that ‘we believe in the resurrection of the body’, and therefore that Ø

(contrary to so-called ‘gender theory’) our body as God created it is ‘intrinsic to personhood’. The eternal reality of ‘our true self’, however much transformed from our present existence, does not discount the body. In all our struggles with what is lacking in our present lives, ‘the journey to self-acceptance passes though engagement with what is real’.

The Christian vision of mankind, as well as affirming the embodied nature of the self, also recognises that the image of God ‘manifests itself in the complementarity of male and female’, so much so that marriage becomes ‘an image of God’s communion with mankind’. The bishops, knowing their pastoral context, also recognise that ‘in this area [of sexuality] we are vulnerable’ and that ‘patience is called for on the path towards wholeness’. However, ‘growth, to be fruitful, must proceed towards a goal’. They add, explaining the task of the episcopal office, ‘Our mission and task as bishops is to point towards the peaceful, life-giving path of Christ’s commandments, narrow at the outset but growing broader as we advance. We would let you down if we offered less; we were not ordained to preach little notions of our own.’ The mercy of God ‘excludes no one. But it sets a high ideal’. Not least, ‘sacramental communion presupposes coherently lived consent to the terms of the covenant sealed in Christ’s Blood’.

It’s a reminder that exclusion from communion for reasons of serious sin is the reflection of the reality of the Christian’s relationship with God, not an enforcement of an arbitrary ‘rule’, which might be changed. This is grounded in the theology of covenant and Christology: ‘As disciples of Christ, who  is God’s Image, we cannot reduce the sign of the rainbow to less than the life-giving compact between the Creator and creation… God’s image imprinted on our being calls out for sanctification in Christ. Any account of human desire that sets the bar lower than this is inadequate from a Christian point of view.’

The Nordic bishops are proposing ‘the fundamental principles of Christian anthropology’, not only to the Church, but as universally applicable, even ‘to those who feel estranged by them’. You can only understand Christian teaching adequately if you understand it as a connected whole, by studying ‘the Church’s full teaching, not just of snippets here and there’. It’s a rejection of that ‘pick-and-mix’ Catholicism, so evident in the secular West, which takes what it likes from the teaching of the Church, and rejects what it doesn’t. If Catholicism is not a cafeteria, it’s evidently not a smörgåsbord either.

The letter concludes with an affirmation from the Catechism that all Christian doctrine springs

from love, and points to love, ‘the love that never ends’. ‘The point of the Church’s teaching is not to curtail love but to enable it’. It’s the ultimate poverty of love in the secular vision of man which leads the Church to call it out.

One of the bishops, Erik Varden, has commented in an interview with the Catholic News Agency, that the bishops were keen to talk about this issue ‘without polemics’, but ‘grounded in faith, in Scripture, in Christology’, keeping ‘the deposit of faith’; though he also said that their intervention was ‘part of this whole synodal dynamic’.

It’s notable that Bishop Varden, the best-known of the Nordic bishops in the English-speaking world, is not an obvious culture warrior. He’s a monk who has featured in a television documentary setting up a Trappist brewery (making some excellent beer). He continues to write a blog on spirituality (again with an English version) which addresses modern-day concerns with monastic wisdom.

Significantly, he is a convert, someone who, from a secularised and modern background, has himself been gripped by the whole vision of the Christian message as proposed by the Catholic Church, and more particularly, by the call of the monastic life. Whilst some self-appointed promoters of ‘progressive’ Catholicism have seen the German-led synodal way as the natural consequence of the  aggiornamento heralded by the Second Vatican Council (thus ironically agreeing with ultra-Lefebvrists), others, who have taken the Council’s actual teachings more seriously, have instead proposed a renewed proclamation of the fulness of the Catholic faith, aware of the very different context in the West in which we now find ourselves, a context in which the presumptions of godless and secular anthropology are having damaging consequences for a generation growing up with them.

It is refreshing to hear a letter in which the fulness of the Catholic faith — not a cafeteria, or a smörgåsbord — is proposed to our religiously impoverished society. It reminds us of why the people of Europe embraced the Catholic faith in the first place. The Nordic countries were some of the last in Europe to be evangelised, and they then fell victim to the divisions of the Reformation. It is fitting that the Catholic Church which has been replanted in the North should proclaim to the Church and to the world that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not an outdated code of repressive restrictions but is indeed good news of great joy, the key to human flourishing, and the fulfilment of all our desires.

The actual document is here: www.bit.ly/let-hs

On being ‘Part of the Family’

... continued from page 3

Fr Abbot was asked whether the Abbey advertised in any way to seek those with a vocation to the monastic life. His answer was very calm and full of faith. “Vocations are the Lord’s work. Vocations will come. It would be easy to fill a monastery, but not everyone is suitable for the monastic life.” It seems to be working – there are several young monks in the community and some postulants who are testing their vocations. As well as professed monks, he also spoke about oblates – lay folk (and some clergy) who have a relationship with a particular house.

Abbot Anselm gave his blessing to the formation of a group of Ordinariate Oblates of Pluscarden. He recognised and valued the common history with Caldey and Prinknash and those of Anglican origin who became Catholics in 1913. Look out for further information about the Dom Aelred Carlyle Chapter of Pluscarden Oblates and if you would like to register your interest now, without any commitment, click on Contact at www.dacoblates.com

Fr Giles Connacher, the Guest master, spoke of the early days of the predecessors of the Pluscarden monks. Aelred Carlyle’s first house was in the Isle of Dogs in London. Subsequently, he was able to purchase Caldey Island and establish a monastery there. Bishop Gore sent a visitation and forbade mention of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Our Lady and forbade the Roman Missal and Benediction. Priests had to agree to use the Book of Common Prayer. After a time the community decided that they must leave the Church of England and become Catholics. In 1913 Dom Columba Marmion received 37 monks.

Today Pluscarden Abbey has many artefacts from Caldey, including the crozier, cross and acolyte candles used by Mgr Keith Newton and the servers at our Pontifical High Mass on the Sunday. The High Mass set worn at our Sunday Mass were worn by Abbot Aelred Carlyle for the blessing of the new bells for Caldey Abbey in 1909. The community at Caldey struggled financially and in 1928 were forced to leave. The community went to Prinknash and went on to establish houses at Birmingham and at Farnborough. It was monks from Prinknash who came to Pluscarden in

1948. In 1966 the Priory received its independence and in 1974 the Priory was raised to the status of an Abbey.

The move from Anglican to Catholic was spurred on by a dogmatic imperative. They couldn’t give up so much of what they had developed; it was beyond sentiment. So much of what they endured then is echoed by the experience of those who established the Ordinariate in more recent times. So what of the future? There has to be trust in God and a reaching out into the dark. The Ordinariate’s job is not finished – in a sense it is still beginning. We need to avoid being an isolated community; we need to share our gifts and to broaden our particular gifts to Catholic life. Like the Benedictines, with whose spirituality we have so much in common, we must be outgoing and receptive.

Dr Daniel Farrell of St Andrew’s University spoke to us on the subject “The Word made manifest – a reflection on Anglo-Catholic publishing”. His talk was wide-ranging and mentioned many people and places which were familiar to many who had come to the Ordinariate from Anglo-Catholicism. It was salutary to remind us of what was the subject of bans, inhibitions and even imprisonment in the past –candles, cleansing of vessels, wearing cope and mitre, surplices and stoles, the mixed chalice and so on.

Brother Michael De Klerk spoke on Sunday afternoon with authority and insight of the history of monastic chant but I fear that if I tried to produce even a summary here I would, not being musically trained, get some things wrong and incur the wrath of the Editors for taking up too much space.

After Solemn Evening Prayer of the Sunday, and dinner of course, we gathered for an open forum on things Ordinariate and on the weekend in particular. Of course there were minor glitches – anyone who has ever organised such events will know that “the best laid plans…”, but there was an enthusiastic appreciation of the ‘Pilgrimage and Conference’ and a determination that it was an event which should be repeated, even to pencilling in possible dates for 2024, 5th to 8th April.

I think it is clear that we will be back – but I shall perhaps not travel by air!

Fr Len, Abbot Anselm Atkinson, Mgr Keith

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

Coronation – then and now

Ronald Crane looks back to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and forward to the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla

. . . then IHAvE

vIvId memories of the Coronation of the late Queen. Wonderful parties at Sunday School, gifts of mugs and the State Coach, also the school hired a number of TV sets, and although that Tuesday, 2nd June 1953 was a Bank Holiday and there was no school, we were encouraged to go to school to watch the event on TV. I did so. Sad to say, all I saw were some indistinct black and white shadows.

It seems that many of our readers have similar memories of watching the Coronation on tiny TV sets. Mgr Andrew Burnham certainly does, and he was also given presents.

Ted Ware remembers going by coach to a large afternoon tea somewhere. Barry Barnes was , like me, at Infants School his parents bought a 12” T.V. to watch the Coronation. He too remembers the grainy picture; and the rain. It rained all day.

David Chapman was a ancient ten years old and living in Exeter. “I do recall my parents and I were invited to go to some cousins on my father’s side of the family. They were not our favourite people. Anyway, we were invited and accepted. Far too many people were crammed into the sitting room at a house in

Old Tiverton Road in Exeter, where a television with a small screen had been installed. The room was in semi-darkness, as the picture was virtually invisible in proper daylight.” He was bored out of his tiny mind!

He does have three Coronation mugs which were distributed at the time. All of different designs.

Mgr Michael Nazir Ali was three years old and living in Pakistan. He reminded us that Elizabeth was also crowned Queen of Pakistan, which was then a dominion.

Dr Simon Cotton’s parents also bought a TV set for the occasion. His mother’s parents were so impressed to hear of the purchase that they travelled nearly 200 miles to stay with them in for the Coronation.

Fr Osmond Aisbit was seventeen at the time of the Coronation (Is he really that old?) and preparing at school for “A” levels. St Nicholas’ Cathedral in Newcastle was his spiritual home, so he went there for a special service. On arriving home he took out the official Coronation book which contained 183 pages of text and the musical score and settled into an armchair from which to listen to the event on the wireless. He did not emerge until the whole coronation was over.

He told me “For the Proclamation of Her Majesty’s Accession the sixth-formers were conveyed to the Cathedral and allowed on to the transept roof to witness this as it was announced from the steps of the Town Hall opposite. At school we loved learning about previous coronations: William IV insisting on wearing his full naval uniform under the coronation robes; the coronation when the peers stopped half way through for a full lunch in the Abbey; the Saxon origins of elements of the ceremony. You name it, we were taught it!

The sacramental nature of the Queen’s Coronation was clearly fully demonstrated, and this, I think, was a revelation to many of the scope of Anglican worship and belief. The Anointing was an awesome moment, and by its grace we have received so many years of dedicated service from our late Queen Elizabeth. May the same grace inspire her Son on May 6th.

Mary Kenny’s memories are rather different. She writes, “Remembering the 1953 Coronation. I certainly have cause to remember the time of the 1953 Coronation: I was 9 years of age and living with my aunt and uncle in Sandymount, Dublin. (James Joyce fans will recall Sandymount Strand features in Ulysses!)

The uncle and aunt were going out for the evening and child-care arrangements were in place to supervise me. They wouldn’t tell me where they were going, and only some time later did I learn about the soirée: they were taken by kind Protestant neighbours to see a secret screening of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at the Methodist Hall in Sandymount village.

The Irish Republic had recently been declared in 1949 (previously, it had been the Free State, associated with the Commonwealth), and there were some strong national feelings about upholding “republican values”. The British Coronation was reported, but only with a kind of austere aloofness. Word went out that it was not to be celebrated publicly in the Irish Republic: in Cork City, the IRA smashed a newspaper’s display window which showed a portrait of the Queen.

But many Irish Protestants still felt an historic

affection for, and attachment to, the Crown – some had been upset when, after 1949, the Church of Ireland no longer said prayers for the monarch. And so, as I discovered afterwards, Anglican, Methodist and even Presbyterian venues up and down the country privately screened films of the 1953 Coronation. (Very few people had televisions – and reception of the BBC was terrible.)

In Sandymount, which was a pleasant, middleclass suburb, relations were normally good between denominational neighbours, and we’d have thought ourselves above unmannerly sectarianism in any case. And the upshot of all these private screenings was, subsequently, even better relations between Catholic and Protestant (as Irish Anglicans were wont to call themselves) neighbours. They’d been jolly good sports to bring us along. And my aunt and uncle had a fabulous evening.” Mary Kenny is the author of “Crown and Shamrock: Love and Hate between Ireland and the British Monarchy.”

Judi Broadhurst’s parents got up early to go to London to find a good spot to watch this historical event. She and her brothers watch the event on TV. They were so excited and settled down to watch very carefully. She couldn’t wait to see the Golden Coach with the Queen wearing her diamond diadem waving to the crowds. She especially liked the Horse Guards on their horses. Flags were waving everywhere in the crowd as they made their way to the Abbey.

Her parents returned home with a model of the Golden Coach for her, but like so many others, it has been lost.

Mgr John Broadhurst remembers the atmosphere of excitement, He remembers standing with his parents in The Mall to watch the procession. Interestingly the person that he remembers was one who captured the affection of the nation was Queen Salote of Tonga. He remembers the whole thing was filmed in colour and his school took all the pupils to the Gaumont Hendon to see it. Of course he remembers the street party.

Mike Batten was six, and remembers the activity going on in the period leading up to the coronation. Children were told a lot about its importance at school and they rehearsed as a choir in a pageant being performed in front of parents.

They were given copies of a magazine being launched for children called the “New Elizabethan.” Like most others, he received gifts. The street was decorated well in advance with flags and bunting on every building. Street parties were planned well in advance. Many

foodstuffs were still on rationing and in short supply. He has very vivid memories of a group of mums calling in the evenings in the weeks before the event. They carried several large biscuit tins from which grocers sold loose biscuits in those days. Into these each house would pour a contribution of sugar, flour and dried fruits to be used in cake making. They would also take contributions of tinned fruit, jam and jelly.

Prior to the event, he went on an evening coach trip to London to tour the processional route and see all the flags and illuminated decorations.

As with all of us who do remember, Mike remembers the rain. It poured all day. The living room at his house was packed with family and neighbours to watch the

. . . now

Mgr Andrew Burnham writes:

The Coronation of King Charles III takes place in a very different culture – intermix of cultures in fact –than the Coronation of his mother, seventy years ago.

What has sprung up in our society, over seventy years, is a multicultural society in which people of other faiths are used as an alibi by secularists for not giving Christianity the respect it deserves.

Ironically Hindus, Jews, Muslims and Sikhs neither call for nor are pleased by the lowering of respect for Christianity. This is the background for the Coronation of the King. Christianity is a missionary religion – a faith which seeks to preach the Gospel in all circumstances.

The Coronation will be an Anglican Eucharist and the sovereign will be anointed with Holy Chrism. Over the coming years I expect to see the emotions stirred up by the Coronation continue to reverberate throughout our society.

It seems many of our readers are not at all happy with the Coronation being a slimmed down affair.

One writes: “King Charles will seek a fairly traditional Coronation - it is interesting that he has spoken more of his faith since becoming king and he has that great loyalty to and affection for his late mother. So, there will be more recognition of the place of other faiths and races in the life of our country today, and I suspect the mix of music will please some and not others (‘twas ever thus!) but the heart of the service is the anointing and crowning, and that will not change.

event. “The actual ceremony of coronation was taken very seriously and there was almost total silence as people watched. They behaved as if they were in church. Of course, I didn’t understand all of what was going on but I did realise that it was something very important. I understood it was a religious event and not a carnival.

“Looking back seventy years on reminds me again how much our society has changed. Christian belief was the norm then. Respect for and loyalty to the Crown was prevalent in solid working class communities. I suspect ii is still there to a greater extent than the sceptics, “activists” and “influencers” would have us believe. GOD SAVE THE KING!”

Another writes: “Let’s do without interpolations and alterations from people pushing their agenda. And no ‘relevance’, please, that sounds so very 1960s (some of us were there). 1953 again would suffice – and that didn’t work out too badly, did it, thanks to a lady of immense integrity?”

Another reader tells us, “The Coronation is a Christian event, were it a secular one then Wembley Stadium or the Albert Hall would be suitable venues! One of the most important moments is the anointing with the Holy Oil, a very ancient moment in the Consecration of the Monarch.

Witness Samuel anointing the boy David and as Handel reminds us, Zadoch and Nathan anointing Solomon. I would hope that Welby will stress the importance of this act and that through this and the general Coronation, many will be drawn to follow Our Lord.

At least a couple of our readers raised the question of Queen Camilla. One put it this way, “Although I am entirely okay with Camilla as Queen. It is not for me to judge, and we’re all sinners….but she was “the third person in the marriage”. Not quite sure how to get around that. Will have a think.”

Others are worried for King Charles himself. “It must be a huge headache for His Majesty from every angle. Family troubles, lengthy service, restrictions on cost and crowd reaction from a tiny part against him. I do look forward to watching the whole event which will be magnificent. Just hope all the problems get sorted out before long.”

The Coronation Regalia

Will Burton and Gabriel Gilson have been finding out about the Coronation Regalia

The Mace

This is a symbol of royal authority. It is carried in the coronation procession from Buckingham Place to Westminster Abbey.

Saint Edward’s Staff

King Charles II had the staff remade after the Restoration of the Monachy, so he had the “full set” as it were of crown jewels.

The Sword of Temporal Justice

This sword’s name is self-explanatory. It, together with the Sword of Spiritual Justice and the Sword of Mercy, are carried pointing upwards, and unsheathed.

The Sword of Spiritual Justice

This is symbolic of the King’s role as defender of the faith. It dates from 1600 and has an iron hilt with a wooden wire-bound grip.

The Sword of Mercy

This has a blunted tip. It represents the King’s duty to be merciful. Along with the other swords, it was made for the coronation of King Charles I.

The Sword of State

One of a pair of swords of state made in 1600 and 1678, and used by Queen Elizabeth II.

Ampulla

This holds the holy oils. The Archbishop of Canterbury will use holy oil from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem to mark a cross on the King’s hands, chest, and forehead.

The Coronation Spoon

This is the oldest object in the Regalia. Dating from the 12th century, the spoon, into which the chrism oil, consecrated at the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem, is poured before the anointing of the new king and queen, survived Oliver Cromwell’s regalia purge. It was sold for 16 shillings to Clement Kynnersley, an official who looked after Charles I’s wardrobe, then Cromwell’s. Kynnersley returned it, some say for a small profit, for Charles II’s coronation. Thought to have first been supplied to Henry II or Richard I, the spoon has an oval bowl divided into two lobes that enables the archbishop of Canterbury to dip two fingers easily into the oil to then makes crosses on the hands, breast and head of the new monarch.

Spurs

These represent the monarch’s knightly values and virtues such as protecting the weak and the church.

The Jewelled Sword of Offering

The Archbishop blesses and gives the sword to the King for the protection of good and the punishment of evil. He then offers it to the High Altar before it is returned for 100 shillings.

Armills

These are bracelets of sincerity and wisdom. They are worn on the sovereign’s wrists.

Orb

This is placed in the monarch’s right hand, then on the altar before the moment of crowning.

The Sovereign’s Ring

The Archbishop places this on the monarch’s finger as a symbol of kingly dignity.

Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross and Sceptre with Dove

These are placed in the King’s hands and carried during the procession leaving the Abbey.

Saint Edward’s Crown

Used only for the coronation at the moment of crowning. It contains 444 precious stones.

Queen Consort’s Ring

This was made for William IV’s consort, Queen Adelade in 1831. All consorts have used it since 1902.

Queen Mary’s Crown

It is the crown of King George V’s consort. It has been reset without the controversial Koh-i-Noor diamond.

Queen Consort’s Sceptre with Cross and the Queen Consort’s Rod with Dove

These represent temporal and holy spirit.

Imperial State Crown

Worn by the King to process from the Abbey. It is the working crown and as such it is used on all State occasions. It is set with 3,000 diamonds including the Cullinan II.

THIS MONTH’S DEVOTION THIS MONTH

Month of Our Lady

For church movements and groups: We pray that Church movements and groups may rediscover their mission of evangelisation each day, placing their own charisms at the service of needs in the world.

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

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.org - www. 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 777428gordonadam1962@btinternet.com Dcn Shaun Morrison: 07880 600094 - shaunmorrison1975@ 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, Feast Days 11.15am (all Divine Worship) -

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 – May 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 – 4th Most Highly Favoured Lady, Easter Festival, Christ the King Chingford, E4 8SP

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

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

11th 7.30pm Confirmation Mass, Christ the King, Chingford, E4 8SP

14th 10.30am Solemn Mass, Our Lady of the Assumption Warwick Street, W1B 5LZ, hosting Pilgrimage Group from The Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter from Houston, Texas

South East & Scotland

Fr David Waller, V.G.

Telephone: 02085 274519

david.waller@ordinariate.org.uk

16th – 20th Acton Institute Forum, Lisbon

25th- 2nd Ordinariate Camino to Santiago de Compostela.

June 2023

4th 10.30am Solemn Mass, Our Lady of the Assumption Warwick Street, W1B 5LZ 9th 7.00pm St Barnabas Society Solemn Mass, Our Lady of the Assumption Warwick Street,W1B 5LZ

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

The 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. Find it at www.ordinariate.org.uk

Aid to the Church in Need A Kingly Concern

John Newton

KIngCHARLES has always taken a keen interest in religious groups that are persecuted, or otherwise suffering, because of their faith. He has shown particular concern for the problems facing the Christian communities of the Middle East. ACN looks back at his message of support for Syria’s Christians following a meeting with one of the charity’s project partners.

“I also met a religious Sister recently, who told me, most movingly, about the situation in Syria where, with immense courage and in impossible conditions, she provides crucial support to Christians and others escaping violence and death… The Syrian Sister I met gave me a gift: it was a depiction of the head of the Crucified Christ, made out of charred wood taken from a bomb-blasted church in Aleppo.” In a message released ahead of Christmas 2019, His Majesty King Charles III – who was then still The Prince of Wales – spoke about meeting Aid to the Church in Need’s project partner Sister Annie Demerjian.

Sister Annie had been helping those affected by fighting throughout the conflict, and spoke about the suffering that Christians had experienced at the hands of extremists among the rebel soldiers. Much of her work took place in Aleppo – a city cut down the middle, with rebels holding the east and the government holding the west. Both sides heavily bombarded the other, but the Christian Quarter in the west seemed to have been disproportionately affected, with churches often bearing the brunt of the missile attacks.

It was from one of Aleppo’s devastated churches that a

local craftsman took the wood that was fashioned into the head of Our Lord, which Sister Annie presented to His Majesty. With Aleppo’s Christian quarter experiencing ongoing aerial assaults, it is no surprise that the city’s Christian population declined by more than 80 percent, falling from 180,000 in 2010 to 29,000.

The exodus of Christians from the Middle East obviously touched His Majesty very deeply and in the same message he went on not only to refer to the fall in Christian numbers in both Syria and neighbouring Iraq, but also to see in the haemorrhaging of the Christian population the experience of the infant Jesus after the Holy Family were forced to flee Herod. “A report in October by the charity Aid to the Church in Need found that within a decade up to two-thirds of Christians have fled Syria… As we recall how the Christ Child fled with his parents to Egypt, let us remember the countless many who endure terrible persecution or are forced to flee their homes. And let us strengthen our resolve to prevent Christianity disappearing from the lands of the Bible.”

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

Sister Annie Demerjian (right) visiting housebound 85-year-old Lucine (centre) with volunteer Fadi

Praying at Rocamadour

Dr Simon Cotton

InTHE twenty-first century, Lourdes is of course the prime Marian shrine in France. But if you want to experience a French pilgrimage that rolls back the centuries, there is only one place to go, to the oldest and most venerated shrine, at Rocamadour. The little village of Rocamadour is set amongst the blasted lunar landscape of the Causse du Gramat, in central France. Here, in a canyon, the single-street village above the river Alzou clings to a cliff; I once described it as a meeting of Walsingham with the North face of the Eiger. The shrine is part of that cliff.

According to legend, its founder was Amadour, sometimes identified with Zacchaeus, the Jewish taxcollector from Jericho who climbed a tree to see Jesus (Luke 19: 1-10); Amadour is said to have been a servant of the Virgin Mary who settled in Gaul and founded the chapel here. A body believed to be that of Amadour was unearthed in 1166. This notwithstanding, pilgrims were coming here by the 9th century.

The hey-day of the shrine was the period between around 1100 and 1300; a bull of Pope Pascal II in 1105 put it on a par with Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago as a pilgrim destination, and it became a key stop on one of the routes for Compostella pilgrims. Famous visitors included St Bernard (d. 1176), St Anthony of Padua, St Dominic (1229), King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine; and Louis XI (1443 and 1463).

Pilgrimage fell off because of the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of Religion, and did not start to grow again until the 19th century. The rare Jubilee years here occur when Corpus Christi falls on June 24th, St John the Baptist’s Day (the next one is 2083). At the

last one, in 1943, many French people came here to pray for the liberation of France.

The Grand Escalier consists of 216 steps leading up from the village street to the Sanctuary; when Saint Louis IX came here in 1244, it is recorded that he did the steps on his knees (as did many mediaeval pilgrims). Eight chapels surround the Sanctuary. Try to be here early in the day and kneel alone in the chapel of the Black Virgin, faced by that crudely carved statue of walnut, maybe 12th century, maybe earlier. A 9th century bell here is said to ring whenever an endangered mariner at sea invokes Our Lady of Rocamadour.

Pilgrims to Rocamadour still have their prayers answered today. Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) was converted at the feet of Notre Dame de Rocamadour on August 22nd 1936 – “only face to face with the blameless Virgin, do I suddenly receive the indisputable sign, the thrust of the dagger of mercy right into my heart”. That evening he started to compose his Litanies à la Vierge Noire.

Our window on the CofE

Fr Paul Benfield: The Book of Common Prayer and Coronation oaths

AfEW

WEEKS ago I was pleased to receive a copy of the new edition of the Book of Common Prayer, updated to include references to King Charles in all relevant places. Unfortunately, the Cambridge University Press relied too much on a ‘find and replace’ tool so that every reference to Elizabeth was replaced by Charles. This meant that the Ratification of the Articles of Religion, approved by Elizabeth I in 1571, reads ‘This Book of Articles, before rehearsed is again approved, and allowed to be holden and executed within this Realm by the assent and consent of our Sovereign Lord CHARLES, by the grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c…’

I understand that many copies have been recalled for pulping. The next edition will also allow references to ‘Camilla, the Queen Consort’ to be replaced by ‘Queen Camilla’ as, presumably, the wording of the State Prayers will be changed by Royal warrant from the date of the coronation to accord with the intention that the title ‘Queen Consort’ be dropped.

A correct change made in the new edition is to omit the first rubric at the beginning of the Order for the Burial of the Dead. This read that the Office is not to be used ‘for any that die unbaptised, or excommunicate, or have laid violent hands upon themselves.’ It was removed by the Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 2018.

As the Coronation approaches our thoughts turn to the oaths the King must take. In addition to the coronation oath, the sovereign must take (either at the first Parliament of the reign or at the coronation) the oath under the Accession Declaration Act 1910. This oath replaces that required by the 1689 Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement 1701 which was fiercely anti-Roman Catholic.

It included the words ‘I, A. B., by the grace of God King (or Queen) of England, Scotland and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever: and that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous’.

Edward VII objected to them as being offensive to Roman Catholics (some of whom were in his social circle) and tried to get them changed for his coronation

in 1902, but was unsuccessful. George V shared his father’s views and persisted in objecting, letting it be known that he would refuse to open parliament unless the oath was changed. So the 1910 Act was passed with the wording of the oath changed to

‘I [monarch’s name] do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of God profess, testify and declare that I am a faithful protestant, and that I will, according to the true intent of the enactments which secure the protestant succession to the throne of my realm, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my powers according to law.’

At the time Asquith, the Prime Minister, pointed out in House of Commons debates which led to the passing of the 1910 Act that ‘the declaration itself has no effect of any sort or kind as a safeguard for the Protestant Succession. That is amply secured in other ways.’

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 a link on the front page of our website: www.ordinariate. org.uk

Formation of future priests and deacons

Fr Michael Halsall

ASI sit and write this article, I do so with the forthcoming Sunday in mind. The fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally known as Vocations Sunday or Good Shepherd Sunday as, in today’s gospel reading, Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd is the one who lays down his life for his sheep” (St John 10:11). It has been designated so since 1964, when Pope Paul VI launched the first Vocations Sunday. This year marks the 60th Anniversary of World Day of Prayer for Vocations, though I doubt that it has had much focus in many parishes up and down the country.

Many dioceses are entirely ‘switched off’ from the realities of present and future vocations to the priesthood in particular, having few or no vocations in the past decade. With the age of priests rising, and fewer men coming through to replace them, many parishes are faced with merger or closure. As I write, only the Ordinariate and the Archdiocese of Birmingham have a Vocations Director who is designated as being full time, and can direct their efforts to the goal of fostering vocations amongst us. It is a reality that half the clergy of the Ordinariate are now 70 years of age or older, though most of the men we are accompanying into formation are in their 30s and 40s, so the signs are very encouraging.

In September we expect to have five men currently in formation for the priesthood: one full time, and four part time. We shall also have at least two men beginning their formation for the permanent diaconate, but who will pay their own fees. The cost to the Ordinariate for seminary fees and grants for the next academic year is expected to be in the region of £30,850. Whilst our Formation Fund is quite healthy at present, it generates no income and is heavily reliant on grants – which are unpredictable. The last Second Collection from the groups for Formation was only £4025, with further donations of £1200 over the year. As you can see, there is a significant shortfall between our annual income and costs.

The good news is that we shall have an ordination to the priesthood on the 15th July at our home church in Warwick Street, London. Deacon Matthew Topham will serve the small group and parish in East Hendred (near Oxford) in the Diocese of Portsmouth. Please remember Matthew, his wife Suzy, and their three young children as they plan to move in the early summer. Please also come and support him on the day.

On October 7th three men will hopefully be ordained as transitional deacons – Alex Garner, Timothy Ezat, and Martyn Rogers. Once again, please remember them (and their families) in your prayers. More details to follow.

I would encourage all groups to make a regular monthly donation to the Formation Fund, in order to support our men, alongside the generous living allowances supplied by the St Barnabas Society. Details can be found on our website, in the ‘Vocations’ drop-down tab. Thank you for your consideration and generosity.

Fr Halsall is the Vicar for Vocations and Formation, and is a member of the teaching staff at Allen Hall Seminary frmichaelhalsall@gmail.com

The series of sPIRItUaL ConFEREnCEs held on Zoom, will continue this month on the second and fourth Wednesdays of May (10th and 24th), at 8pm. As ever, they will last 20-25 minutes, and will be delivered by Mr Ronald Crane (from The PorTal editorial board) and Fr Simon Chinery (Chichester Group) respectively. We look forward to their insights, and we shall pray the Office of Compline afterwards. The Zoom links are as follows:

10th May: Mr Ronald Cranewww.bit.ly/SpConf-10May

(Meeting ID: 899 0354 9185 / Passcode: 682775)

24th May: Fr simon Chinery

www.bit.ly/SpConf-24May

(Meeting ID: 882 4485 3430 / Passcode: 903957)

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

Newman’s dough

Fr Peter Conley

nEWmAn

CHERISHEd his role as a personal tutor. In his series of lectures he echoes the same ministry of encouragement, modelled by Jesus, in the Gospel Transfiguration accounts, when he writes:

If one leads students to the mountaintop, so that they see all the surrounding territory, then they may go back and work in detail at some specific spot of the valley. But they will never forget that Vista from the top of the mountain; all their work will have reference then to the whole terrain. (The Idea of the University, Longmans, Green & Co, 139-140).

Given the challenging missionary road Peter, James, John and the other disciples will have, after their Ascension day graduation, Newman likens the PostEaster period to an extended series of revision classes, with Jesus as the supreme teacher:

What a time must that forty days have been, during which, while He taught them, all His past teaching must have risen in their minds, and their thoughts then must have recurred in overpowering contrast to their thoughts now. His manner of life, His ministry, His discourses, His parables, His miracles., His meekness, gravity, incomprehensible majesty, the mystery of His grief and joy; the agony, the scourge, the cross, the crown of thorns, the spear, the tomb, their despair, their unbelief, their perplexity, their amazement, their sudden transport, their triumph – all this was in their minds; and surely not the least at that awful hour when He led His breathless followers out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, He was parted

from them and carried up into heaven (Luke 24, 5051). (Parochial and Plain Sermons VI, 16).

Newman describes the vocation of following Jesus as, being like him, “the leaven which was secretly to make its way through the mass of human opinions and institutions till the whole was leavened.”

J.A.Froude, an Oxford tutee of Newman’s, shows how we can, by word of mouth, immerse ourselves and evangelise every cultural setting as he did:

Newman’s mind was worldwide, He was interested in everything… Nothing was too large for him, nothing too trivial, if it threw light upon the central question, what man really was, and what was his destiny. His natural temperament was bright and light. He could admire enthusiastically any greatness of action and character, however remote the sphere of it from his own… He seemed better informed on common topics of conversation than anyone else present. He was never condescending with us…neither didactic or authoritative; but what he said carried conviction with it… He was interesting because he never talked for talking’s sake, but because he had something real to say. (Merry England, October 1890, p.48-49).

May we, always, proclaim the risen Lord authentically, creatively, factually and joyfully.

News from the Ordinariate

Coronation Events

St Mary’s Husband’s Bosworth

On the afternoon/evening of 6th there is a party in the park at Bosworth Hall. The Hall grounds are open to the public with live bands throughout the evening. The church is open from 4-6

St Margaret Mary, New Moston, Manchester

Lunch after 10.30am Mass on Sunday 7th May

St Margaret Mary, Perry Common, Birmingham

Divine Worship 11am Mass on Sunday 7th May to

be offered for King Charles III, and to include Domine Salvum Fac, followed by parish party on the lawn with sandwiches, Coronation cakes, tea and prosecco and Coronation-themed quiz and games for the children.

The Harlow Ordinariate Group

The Harlow Ordinariate Group are having a “Coronation Big Lunch” on Sunday 7th May at 12.30pm. The 10am Parish Mass that day, using the Divine Worship Missal will be for the King’s intentions.

Another contribution to the “Liturgy Question”

The Dynamics of Liturgy

by D. Vincent Twomey, SVD (Ignatius)

Review by Fr Simon Heans

In2021, Angelico Press published a collection of seventy essays by academics and high-ranking ecclesiastics, including cardinals, called From Benedict’s Peace to Francis’s War. It was a critical response to the latter’s Motu Proprio, Traditiones Custodes which withdrew the right granted by Pope Benedict in his Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum for all Latin Rite priests to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass. The book reviewed here belongs very much to the period of ‘Benedict’s Peace’. As Fr Twomey says, all the chapters bar one ‘originated as introductory papers read to the Fota International Liturgical Conferences 2008-2012.

Fr Twomey is an expert on Joseph Ratzinger’s liturgical theology; he is an enthusiast too: ‘Ratzinger has much… to contribute to the recovery of the authentic dynamics of Divine Worship and so, to a worthy celebration of the sacraments, which profoundly affects the lives of priests and faithful alike beyond the confines of academia.’ It certainly had that effect on me.

After reading  The Spirit of the Liturgy while in Anglican ministry I accepted an appointment in a church largely because I could say Mass  ad orientem ‘Antique people and antique liturgy’ sniffed the then dean of my FinF chapter. The former was true enough but I was defiant on the latter score because, as I said to myself, I am being obedient to the Holy Father!

Fr Twomey helpfully discusses the main themes of that great work and convincingly argues that liturgical theology was a major concern of our beloved Late Emeritus citing in evidence that Benedict decided his writing on liturgy should be published as the first volume of his collected works.

Fr Twomey skilfully summarises its 634 pages focusing on the role of the Word of God in worship, the cosmic dimension of liturgy, as well as the topics of sacred art and architecture, music and ritual. What comes across clearly in Fr Twomey’s exposition is Benedict’s distress at the implementation of the Vatican II document on the liturgy,  Sacrosanctum Concilium, because it was unfaithful to the intentions of the authors.

This is familiar ground which has been covered by historians of the Council like Professor de Mattei, as well as contemporary observers such as Frs Bouyer (in Memoirs) and Houghton (in Unwanted Priest) who

both clearly show how the limited reforms proposed in  SC  were ignored and subverted by the committees run by the egregious Annibale Bugnini.

Fr Twomey adds to the cast of villains with stories of the desecration of sacred art and architecture perpetrated by many clergy inspired by a rationalist hatred of ritual. He quotes the trenchant views of the great anthropologist, Mary Douglas in this respect: ‘When I ask my clerical friends why the new forms are held superior, I am answered by a Teilhardist evolutionism which assumes that a rational, verbally explicit, personal commitment to God is selfevidently more evolved and better than its alleged contrary, formal, ritualistic conformity… We find in all this a mood which has inspired so many evangelical sects.’

That would seem to be the mood in Rome at the moment which would explain why the liturgy wars have broken out again after the peace brought by Benedict.

The only chapter of Fr Twomey’s book which is a new composition clearly reflects his anxiety about the survival of Benedict’s liturgical legacy. But, as he notes, that legacy is not just the liberation of the Traditional Latin Mass. ‘The other momentous decision Pope Benedict XVI took was the setting-up of an Ordinariate for those Anglicans who sought union with Rome and who were eager not to have to abandon their rich liturgical heritage in sublime English. The resulting adaptation of the Roman Missal, I am told, is very beautiful.’

“… God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”

(Genesis 1 vs 27)

Gabriel Gilson has been thinking about this text.

AS

I sit here at my desk in my study looking out over the vast expanse of the fens leading from the village to Reach in Cambridgeshire, I can see the rain and the sunshine forming a kind of dark and light halflight, not uncommon in this part of the world. It is beautiful.

Creation is wonderful. Creation is beautiful. This world is wonderful. This world is beautiful. Human beings are wonderful and beautiful. Of course: we are not perfect. We sin. We go our own way, rather than follow His way.

Recently I had an exchange on social media about gender. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that male and female are biological, but man and woman are social constructs. I disagreed and received the expected amount of abuse. This ranged from the standard jib of being “old-fashioned”, to words that were far more pointed.

On my shelves I have a copy of a little book called “YouCat”. On its flyleaf it declares itself “Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church”. Upon gender it is useful. Section 401 asks the question “Is there a priority of one sex over the other?” It provides the answer:

No, God endowed men and women with identical dignity as persons.

It continues;

Both men and women are human beings created in God’s image and children of God redeemed by Jesus Christ. It is just as unchristian as it is inhumane to discriminate unjustly against someone because he is male or female. Equal dignity and equal rights, nevertheless, do not mean uniformity. The sort of egalitarianism that

ignores the specific character of a man or a woman contradicts God’s plan of creation.

It is quite clear then, that there are just two genders, male and female. In God’s plan there are no “non-binary” humans. I recently met someone whom I thought was female. But no: I was told to address her (sorry) as “they” for there were more than one.

This is dangerous stuff, especially where children are concerned. To mutilate anyone, let alone a child, in order to turn a male into a female is just plain wrong. A man so mutilated will not be a woman, but at best a “trans-woman”. Where children are involved, the lifechanging results of such intervention may well result in a blighted life,

Sport is slowly coming round to the dangers involved here. The advantages given by such “trans-women” competing in sport against people born women is obvious. As one woman said “Why should I bother to compete? I know I shall lose before we start”.

However, worst of all, such action is a denial of what God has given. “… God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1 vs 27) A lesson that needs to be relearned is that we are what we are. Males are men; females are women; let us rejoice in our differences and in the fact that God created us all – equal but not interchangeable.

You can help restore the monastery of San Benedetto in Montethe birthplace of Saint Benedict himselfby purchasing the exceptional beer brewed by the monks.

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.

Birra Nursia flows from the deep brewing heritage of western monasticism. Originally crafted to suit the rich culinary traditions of Umbria it is best enjoyed alongside delicious meats, cheeses and mushroom infused dishes.

Find out more about the beers and the monastery at www.monasticorder.co.uk where Birra Nursia is now available for the first time in the UK.

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