The Portal July Edition

R TAL THE P

Ordinariate ‘Open Day’ in Wales

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

RTAL THE P

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

July 2023 Volume 14 Issue 163

Contents

Page 3 March for Life UK – Isabel Vaughan-Spruce

Page 4 175 years, and a celebration – Joanna Bogle

Page 5 The trivia on the Internet – Snapdragon

Page 6 Ordinariate Oblates of Pluscarden Abbey

– Bryan Miller

Page 7 Ordinariate ‘Open Day’ in Wales

– Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane

Page 10 Camino to Santiago de Compostela

– Fr Michael Halsall and Deacon Richard Cerson

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 Corpus Christi Procession through central London

– Peter Sefton-Williams

Page 18 Aid to the Church in Need – Amy Balog

Page 19 Praying with St Hilary in Poiters – Dr Simon Cotton

Page 20 Our window on the CofE – The Revd Paul Benfield

Page 21 ‘Defying Hitler’ - The White Rose Pamphlets – Book review

Page 23 Annual Mass for the St Barnabas Society – David Chapman

March for Life UK

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce

MANY

PEOPLE are concerned about the increasing restrictions on freedoms today but it’s often not until these restrictions affect us personally that we speak up. Sadly, those children who have their most fundamental freedom taken from them by abortion, the freedom of life itself, cannot speak for themselves. For our nation to be truly free, no one can be denied the number one freedom, ‘the freedom to live’.

This is the theme for this year’s March for Life UK. Abortion leaves behind many deeply hurting women and men who often feel trapped by the grief or pain they experience as a result of their loss – their freedom to live in peace is also affected by abortion. Over ten million have had their lives ended by abortion in the UK - We cannot be bystanders to this.

To those who have never attended a March for Life before then it’s worth assuring you that this is a peaceful, family-friendly event that attracts thousands of people of all ages and denominations, including many children and young adults. It consists of a Mass in the morning at Westminster Cathedral celebrated by Bishop John Sherrington, specifically for March for Life attendees, then there’s an indoor pro-life festival with stalls, talks, kid’s activities, entertainment etc. The main event is the march outside in the afternoon which ends with speeches in Parliament Square. Full details are at marchforlife.co.uk We extend a particular welcome to anyone who has been through an abortion themselves or been hurt by abortion – please do come along and be part of the day.

I sometimes pose the question to people: ‘If it became illegal tomorrow to be Pro-life, would there be enough evidence to convict you?’ If we are truly pro-life then others should know about it. If we are Christians and yet only live out our faith in private, then it would be hard to believe that faith was very alive. Similarly, our prolife beliefs, which are merely an extension of the Gospel, can’t just be something we keep to ourselves or we end up buying into the secular narrative which is that abortion is just a private affair.

I know of so many children who are alive today, so many women or couples who were minutes or even seconds away from aborting a child but for someone being bothered enough to publicly witness the Pro-life position to them. Like the woman who came running out of the abortion centre wearing a gown ready for her abortion surgery but she found strength at the very last second to say yes to life because of the people outside praying for her. Or the pregnant Muslim teenager who told me she’d spent all of the previous day walking around town looking for a sign from God as to what she should do. She said she saw no sign and so decided to abort. Thankfully on reaching the abortion centre she saw a lady standing there praying her rosary. The Muslim girl said she saw the cross hanging down from that rosary and felt this was a sign from God to keep her baby.

Going outside an abortion centre might seem a hard place to start witnessing to your Pro-life beliefs which is why coming to March for Life can be a great option. Once there you will have so many ideas shared with you of how you can live out your pro-life beliefs in ways that can suit your state of life, your strengths, your talents.

Hopefully you will also feel more moved in your heart, better informed and emboldened enough to take the next step and so become a sign to those around you of how precious every life is. There is a space in the pro-life movement with your name on it. There’s a place on the March for Life that only you can fill - Please make sure it isn’t empty. Like every unique pre-born child, you are irreplaceable.

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

175 years, and a celebration

Joanna Bogle

THIS

MONTH, St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, celebrates the 175th anniversary of its solemn opening. It will be celebrated in style – the highlight being a special Mass (July 4th, 6pm) attended by the newly-appointed Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Maury Buendia.

The link between Southwark and our country’s patron saint goes back a long way. London Bridge connects Southwark to the City, and the area immediately adjoining the bridge is The Borough, with its busy streets and its pubs – one of the most famous of which is St George’s Tavern, an old galleried inn off the Borough High Street. Beyond all this was the open land known for centuries as St George’s Fields.

At the Great Fire of London 1666, people fled across the river to this area, camping out with whatever few household belongings they had managed to salvage.

In the 18th century, St George’s Fields was the site of the start of the Gordon Riots – the last big antiCatholic gathering in London, which led to several days of rioting across the City.

In 1848 Bishop Nicholas Wiseman preached at the formal opening of St George’s, designed by Augustus Welby Pugin. Four years later it was announced as the Cathedral church for the diocese of Southwark. It could seat 3,000 people and was regularly filled on Sundays. Pugin was the most famous architect of the Victorian era and produced magnificent buildings – at the cost of his own health, because in due course he was admitted to the Bethlehem Royal Asylum (ironically, standing almost directly opposite the Cathedral) suffering from a mental breakdown.

Southwark continued to grow, with flourishing local industries (hops, the railway, printing, brewing, hatmaking) and a “mission church” was founded to form a separate parish at The Borough – the Church of the Precious Blood, now our Ordinariate parish and with a story of its own.

There is another Ordinariate link – St John Henry Newman preached in the old St George’s Chapel, the precursor to the Cathedral. It was one of his first preaching engagements after returning from Rome

wri tes

after ordination.

In 1941, towards the end of the London Blitz, St George’s Cathedral was hit by enemy bombs, and gutted. Its roofless ruins stood open to the sky for the next years, with Mass being celebrated in the parish hall, which had survived. Following postwar rebuilding, the Cathedral thrived anew.

A personal reminiscence: I remember a major Girl Guide gathering in the Cathedral in the mid-1960s, in which we all solemnly renewed our promise to serve God and the Queen, with the Papal flag and the Union Jack being carried up the aisle, and a senior Guide leader reading out the Guide laws about being neighbourly and truthful and a friend to all.

It was my first experience of being in a great Cathedral with gothic arches and yet it had a new feeling to it – as was only logical since it was only a decade or so since its rebuilding.

The climax of the 175th anniversary celebrations will be the Mass celebrated by Archbishop John Wilson and attended by the Nuncio. All are welcome – an opportunity to ponder the story of St George’s, and to look ahead to fresh evangelisation in this part of London, so rich in history and so full of new possibilities in this new century.

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

Snapdragon is seduced by the trivia on the Internet

ONE

OF the worst things about the internet, for me at any rate, is the trivia which invades my life. OK I know it shouldn’t but it does. What I mean is this. I will pick up my smartphone to do something important like make a phone call or send or read an important email, and what greets me is something like “What do the ‘Dallas’ stars look like now?” (For those who do not know, “Dallas” was a long-running American soap opera of the eighties).

Now obviously the thing to do is to ignore it completely and carry on with my important call or email. But is this what I do? Emphatically not, I am drawn irresistibly to have a quick look, just a quick look mind you. After alI, I have lots of more important things to deal with today like the important call and email which is why I picked up my phone in the first place! But no, I succumb and in no time at all I am looking at the Dallas stars and find myself muttering inwardly “Well, Victoria Principal hasn’t worn well has she?” and “Oh, I didn’t know Larry Hagman had died” and ”Sue Ellen looks totally different. I would never have recognised her” and then I get thinking about how it was always so windy on their patio and you wondered how they even managed to stand up, let alone have a real Texan barbecue!

Now while I am doing this aimless, pointless time-wasting study of “Dallas” Is my smartphone wasting its time? Don’t you believe it! Algorithms are working tirelessly and noting my interest in Texas, Patios, Victoria, and by default other royals and I just do not seem to be able to escape! The smartphone has now directed me to a site about Harry and Meghan Markle. Now obviously the thing to do is to ignore it completely and carry on with my important call or email but is this what I do? Emphatically not and you know the rest…And so it goes on - a neverending pursuit of trivia. What makes it worse is that I was never that interested in “Dallas” or Harry and Meghan anyway! And I feel guilty, rightly so, for wasting and frittering away the time.

I wrote at the beginning of this piece that this problem was “for me” one of the worst things about the internet but it could be more widespread! I ask you gentle reader, could you see yourself? Substitute your own cultural predilections for football, golf, fashion, food, music. Even at first glance, more worthy websites. I am thinking of sites that may pander to

our own particular view of Catholicism which take us from one site to another confirming our prejudices!

It does not matter what the topic is, the issue is that we are wasting and frittering away time and it is much more than that, we are wasting and frittering away our GOD GIVEN TIME. That is why we feel guilty and rightly so. We are counselled again and again in scripture about the importance of time. We should always be vigilant because we do not know the ”day or the hour”. Our Blessed Lord tells us that we will have to account for every idle word we have uttered and so we can be sure that we will have to account likewise for every idle moment. I am not suggesting going offline but try to exercise some control! On a lighter note, My favourite website: Conjunctivitis.com. A site for sore eyes.

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Annual Pilgrimage to the Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham

Saturday 26th August 2023

The day’s programme will be on the Portal Facebook page - check it out for details

PLEASE PRAY FOR

Alex Garner

Timothy Ezat

Martyn Rogers

to be ordained to the Diaconate at Our Lady of the Assumption & St Gregory Warwick Street, London W1B 5LZ

at midday on Saturday 21st October

The ordaining bishop will be Bishop Philip Moger

Ordinariate Oblates of Pluscarden Abbey

OVER

THE last few years the Ordinariate in Scotland has forged strong links with Pluscarden Abbey in Moray, the Benedictine house of monks living the Rule of St Benedict. Their main daily work is that of singing the various offices of the church and offering Mass each day. Those of you who have visited will know that this offering is done with great carewell executed liturgy is important to Benedictines as it is to those in the Ordinariate.

However, we share more than just our approach to liturgy. The community at Pluscarden Abbey are the successors of a group of Anglican Benedictines who converted to the Catholic Faith in 1913 on Caldey Island. The community on Caldey Island was founded by Abbot Aelred Carlyle who began his monastic journey in 1898 when he founded his Anglican Benedictine community. In 1906 he took his community to the Island of Caldey in South Wales. When the community came into conflict with the Bishop of Oxford in 1913 over conformity to Anglican practices, Carlyle and most of his monks were received together into the Catholic Church.

These former Anglicans were received as a group into the Catholic Church, and were permitted by no less a figure than Pope St Pius X to bring some of their former Anglican patrimony with them. If you think all this sounds familiar ... rather like the reception of groups of Ordinariate Catholics, you would not be mistaken. We have been told by several senior Benedictine monks that we in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham are very much part of ‘the family’ of Benedictines.

With the support of the Abbot of Pluscarden, Dom Anselm Atkinson OSB, and our Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, we propose to further cement this family link through setting up a Ordinariate Chapter of Oblates of Pluscarden under the name of The Dom Aelred Carlyle Ordinariate Chapter of Pluscarden Oblates. Pluscarden Oblates are members of Pluscarden Abbey’s wider family: lay people or priests living their normal everyday lives in the world outside the walls of the monastic enclosure, each according to his or her vocation.

Today, throughout the world there are thousands of Oblates working and praying in spiritual union with the Benedictine communities of men and women

and receiving spiritual strength and inspiration from their association as Oblates of a particular Benedictine community, in our case, Pluscarden Abbey.

Oblates are lay Benedictines: that is people who strive to live according to the spirit of the Rule of St Benedict and are connected to a particular monastery. Becoming an oblate, freely chosen, is one way of expressing a person’s commitment to follow Christ whole-heartedly. Oblates do not take vows as they are not becoming monks, but at their Oblate ceremony they do undertake ‘the conversion of life according to the Rule of St Benedict, in so far as my life permits’.

In order to become an Oblate, a person will normally need to visit the abbey and then they will begin a time of probation, usually a year. During this time the novice oblate will be helped in the path to becoming a full oblate. When one starts this journey, a copy of the Rule of St Benedict will be given, and much of the probation year will be used to help one to understand its very relevant message to living the Christian life to the fullest.

St Benedict wrote his rule simply to help all who follow it live out their Christian vocation to the full. The Rule is beautifully simple and wonderfully encouraging and has been a major influence in the Western Church for centuries. Oblates enjoy a sense of living in close union with a praying monastic community and of sharing in the Benedictine tradition. Oblates usually undertake to pray some part of the Divine Office each day. For those of us in the Ordinariate, this would be using Divine Worship: Daily Office (Commonwealth Edition).

Those who are new to reciting a daily office might begin by praying the Office of Prime and in time moving on to pray Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, and perhaps adding the evening Office of Compline. Oblates would also be expected to do some spiritual reading, especially Holy Scripture, in a similar way to a member of a monastic community.

I hope this gives a little glimpse into the role of the Oblate of an abbey and I would encourage anyone to follow the path of the oblate which is simply the path of the follower of Christ. You will find out more and can register your interest at www.dacoblates.com

Bryan Miller Obl. OSB

Ordinariate ‘Open Day’ in Wales

Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane could not resist attending

AS

REGULAR readers of  The PorTal will know, we are always looking for signs of growth in the Ordinariate, indeed, in the church at large. When we received an invitation from Fr Bernard Sixtus to attend the ‘Open Day’ organised by the South East Wales Ordinariate Mission, we jumped at the opportunity.

The event was held at the stunningly beautiful church of St Alban on the Moors, in Splott, Cardiff. Diocesan Catholics, together with some ‘nibblers’ had been invited as well as a general invitation to anyone who was interested. The attendance during the day was fluid, but in excess of forty folk were present for some part of the day.

The highlights of the day were Testimonies given by members of the Mission.

Keith Wright told us that he was received into the Catholic Church in 2004 a few years before Pope Benedict XVI established the Ordinariate. For a number of years prior to reception he had felt he was missing out, lacking the fullness of faith that the Catholic Church offers. He told us, “In many ways my decision to seek reception into the Catholic Church had very little to do with the difficulties which were emerging in the Anglican Communion, although inevitably they played a part.

“The late Cardinal Basil Hume, a spiritual and saintly man, influenced my thinking. He made Catholicism in this country seem more British as the Catholic Church developed in the years following the Second Vatican Council. He put it very simply when he stated that Catholic doctrine and belief was a set menu not à la carte. It was offering the rock, the firmness of faith which I was seeking. After a considerable amount of soul searching over an equally considerable amount of time, I sought full reception into the Catholic Church - a decision I’ve never regretted.”

He went on to tell us that he was in Rome a few years ago with his daughters. They attended Sunday Mass, at the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, no longer

standing in the side lines observing but participating in the Mass and receiving Holy Communion. It was, he said, “An unforgettable experience. I give thanks for my Anglican upbringing and also for Pope Benedict’s vision in establishing the Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum coetibus, thus enabling us to continue to enjoy what is best in the Anglican Tradition and what we can offer to the Catholic Church. I’m now, as it were, a card-carrying member of the Ordinariate.”

Amanda was admitted into the Catholic Church at Pentecost, two years ago. Thinking she was not eligible because of her irregular marriage, she was overjoyed to discover from Father Bernard, that she could be received with all the rules observed.

She was drawn into the Catholic Church by the rules and rituals, by its integrity and solemnity. She was firm in her words, “You know where you are within it as: as has been said about the set menu not the à la carte. So, I’ve had a rootless insecure life. Everywhere I’ve lived I’ve always looked for a church to go to. Sometimes I’ve found one and then had to move away again.

My husband, who is Catholic, suggested I go to the Catholic Church in Usk. I had assumed it was out of bounds but Fr Bernard’s warm welcoming message on the website was a lifeline and after about a year of attending, a lovely lady physically dragged me over to Father to ask to be admitted. She thought it was about time. It was Katie (Present). My first school was a Catholic Convent and as a tearful nervous child I remember feeling calm and comforted by the daily services in the chapel there and all the songs that the nuns taught us; there was just so much singing at that school.

Fr Bernard Sixtus

Amanda

“During Covid, all the Ordinariate services took place in Usk, and that’s when I first heard the beautiful singing of the Cantors in the Ordinariate service. So: to become an actual Catholic at the age of 64 felt like coming home, which sounds really corny, and I do apologise. But it did feel like that. In fact on the day I told a member of the congregation that I felt as if I were getting married, only happier, and that was true and I haven’t regretted it at all.”

The final Testimony was given by someone The Portal has known since its beginning, Derek Seimans. He began by saying, “In one simple word, it’s beauty that’s brought me to the Ordinariate.” He grew up in Canada, in an Anglican household, Sunday church goers, at least for nine months of the year. God went on vacations in the summer or so he understood.

“The first Anglican church that I went to was I suppose, sort of Anglo Catholic, but in Canada anyways the Prayer Book, which is one of the great treasures I think of the Anglican Tradition. It had a revision in the sixties which was quite Catholic sympathetic. Whereas since the beginning of the Anglican church there was always been that broad umbrella and the struggle between the more Catholic and more Protestant minded. I found myself growing up going to church on Sundays.

“We moved to another church, within the Anglican Tradition, and what that taught me was, with the prayer book there was room for this incredible sort of high Anglo Catholic worship as well as a very low Anglican church which was probably far more evangelical. But it still had the Prayer Book. We had Morning Prayer twice a month and the Eucharist twice a month. I learnt things like consubstantiation rather than transubstantiation. I was small ‘c’ Catholic, the English or the British expression of Catholicism.

I grew up thinking that King Henry was not quite a hero, but he wasn’t the monster some Roman Catholics might make him out to be. In my late teens and early twenties I walked away. I moved away from home and I was doing things that weren’t conducive to a Christian life. But when I met my now wife, who is Italian and grew up in a Roman Catholic home, we started exploring the faith together. We came back

into a Christian practise together, at a very High Anglo Catholic parish in Montreal. We were married there and spent a number of years there, until she started playing with an orchestra rehearsing on a Sunday morning. My brother who went on to become a priest, said to me your wife has lovingly accompanied you to your Anglican church for all these years. Now she is forced to go to mass on Saturday evening at the local Roman Catholic church, you ought to accompany her. I went to this mass with her. The music was terrible. It all felt very casual.

“The priest really rubbed me up the wrong way. He didn’t stand in the pulpit. He walked back and forth around the front. He had a mike that sort of wrapped around his face. This was really uncomfortable.

“Then he started to talk about St Teresa of Avila. I thought she’s notoriously one of the most difficult ones to understand. Yet this guy was putting it in terms that somebody stupid like me could understand. And I had palpable feeling of the real presence. It got me thinking, I might have to continue coming here.

“Then we were invited to the World Youth Day. I really didn’t want to go somewhere where there’d be a bunch of young people with guitars. That does not appeal to me. But I was convinced to go by my wife. When John Paul was about this far from me as Fr David is now, (Fr David Hathaway) he passed in his Pope mobile. There was this force field of holiness around that man. He said a few things at that World Youth Day that touched me deeply. That’s when I realised I had to be received. So that was my journey into Catholicism, Roman Catholicism.

“But I did miss a lot of my Anglican practice, and the beauty of the liturgies. That church in Montreal appealed to all my senses. They had a semi-professional choir, the music was sublime. There was incense, bells, the vestments were beautiful. They had priest, deacon and sub deacon, acolytes and servers, the works. Your smell, your hearing, what you were seeing, was like a liturgical dance in its precision. Everyone knew what to do, and where to be. I did miss that.

“When the Ordinariate was announced a few years later and we were living here in Britain by that time, I quickly tried to find out more about it. We moved Ø

Fr David Hathaway

Derek

over to Bristol because they were using the Ordinariate mass. The idea that music is important in the liturgy really hit home. All my experiences as a child we used the Merbecke mass. I realised I was walking back into Ordinariate liturgy that was using all the words that came flooding back. I no longer needed the missal.

“The music, the incense, the worship that brings you out of the regular world and brings you into a sacred space. I’ve heard people make fun of the language and say ‘Oh, faux Tudor’. I don’t know if this is correct, but I don’t think they spoke exactly like that, even back then. My understanding has always been that the language was never vernacular. It was always a sacred language.

“The last thing I would like to share is, in addition to the language, our Ordinariate Liturgy also has certain prayers that have always been particularly special to me. I like our general confession. We also have the prayer of humble access: beautiful.”

This was a lovely and beautiful day. A good day was had by all who attended. It would be a good idea for groups looking for growth to do something similar. Beautiful worship, an instructive opening talk by Fr Bernard Sixtus, and not forgetting what was a really good lunch! Well done the South East Wales Ordinariate Mission.

Photographs © Marcin Mazur

“There and Back Again”: A Camino to Santiago de Compostela

Fr Michael Halsall and Deacon Richard Cerson

ITWAS just under a year ago that Fr Nicholas Leviseur and Fr Michael Halsall first put their heads together to discuss the possibility of a Camino for our seminarians, newly ordained, and aspirants to the permanent diaconate. To have potentially nine men, accompanied by Fr Leviseur, Deacon Richard Cerson, Fr Halsall, and our trusty guide – James Jeffrey – demonstrates how far we have come in terms of promoting and fostering vocations for the Ordinariate. Our older seminarian – Martyn Rogers – was dispensed due to his years, but supported us in prayer.

Just prior to Christmas the decision was made to run two Caminos: one for the laity, and one with a distinct focus on formation. In hindsight, it was the correct decision. (Camino is a Spanish word, meaning way, path, or road, but it can specifically mean a ‘journey of faith and adventure’).

It was also decided that the ‘formation Camino’ would be more physically challenging, with accommodation being more basic, and covering more miles than the lay Camino. The fact that Frs Leviseur, Halsall, and James Jeffrey have all served in the Army had some influence on the planning: each of us knowing the value of rising to a significant physical challenge; the need for careful and sustained physical preparation; and the added challenge of sleeping at close quarters with other people - often complete strangers; male and female – and in a different place every night.

We were delivered on time by Easyjet from Gatwick to Porto airport, to be met by the Ordinary, his wife Gill, Fr Nicholas and James; and after hearty greetings and a blessing, we were dispatched into vehicles somewhere north on the outskirts of Porto. The half day’s walk sounded like a good warm up – and it was very warm – and hilly, and dusty. At the top of ‘the hill’, as it is affectionately named, we caught sight of the terrain for the next seven days hiking: green, humid, hilly, and Santiago seemed such a long way away. And so we walked.

The first night’s Albergue, perhaps lulled us into a false sense of comfort, as they provided a hearty supper with wine and white port, and an ample breakfast prior to our first days’ walk.

It also gave us the opportunity to meet for the first-time fellow pilgrims which began a series of meaningful encounters. Following days would find us snatching toast and coffee in a local café, then setting off on the long day’s march.

A particular joy was praying the daily round of the Office together, wherever we could snatch some space and peace, which offered an opportunity to grow as a group in prayer. Each of us led the Office, read the lessons, and the seminarians, aspirants, and newly ordained each gave a short reflection during Mass or the Office. Celebrating Mass without the comfort, safety, and familiarity of a church was also a challenge.

Whilst we planned to offer Mass as close to midday

as possible, we had to change our plans regularly, and offer the Sacrifice of the Mass often in the open air, and sometimes joined by other pilgrims and walkers. Many took photos and walked by; others perhaps were reminded from what (or whom) they are lapsed or have become separated. They need our prayers, which was very much a personal intention when the memorable pilgrim Mass was celebrated at the Cathedral in the evening of our arrival in Santiago de Compostela. Kneeling at the Tomb of St James, we offered the many intentions entrusted to us by friends, relatives, and parishioners.

The hard miles in rising temperatures (up to 31°C) took their toll on the feet of some; the mental struggles brought about by lack of sleep affected us all but we all pressed on in good cheer, and James did a great job of patching up the ‘walking wounded’.

Each morning we set off to the strains of the  Salve Regina, praying the Rosary along the way, walking in pairs or small groups, and also enjoying some hours and miles of solitude. It was heartening to hear the men openly speaking of their faith and vocations with fellow walkers, many of whom accompanied us over the miles day by day, and at our journeys’ end we walked through the narrow streets of Santiago singing the Litany of the Saints.

The evenings – after showers and washing clothes – were spent either eating out in groups or all together on a couple of occasions, or sharing simple food purchased locally. This offered ample opportunity

to get to know one another better, given that we come from different parts of the country –though mainly from the South of England.

So what do we take back from the experience? Firstly, the satisfaction of completing a pilgrimage perhaps like no other: being self-reliant, supporting one another, and having to carry all one’s possessions along the 150 km journey. Secondly, there is a plenary indulgence to be gained from the Camino, under the usual conditions. To gain Plenary Indulgence, individuals must:

• Visit the Cathedral of Santiago, where the Tomb of Saint James the Great lies.

• Say a prayer: at least the Apostle’s Creed, the Our Father and a prayer for the intentions of the Pope. It is also recommended that the individual attend Mass.

• Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (go to confession) and receive Holy Communion within the 15 days before or after the visit to the Cathedral.

Such graces take us beyond the mundane and hard sweat of the march, and transport us beyond the demands of the body to the nourishment of the soul. Thirdly, the Vocations team (Fr Michael and Deacon Richard) had an opportunity to get alongside the men and get to know them better. We are privileged in the Ordinariate that those in formation have a much closer relationship with the Ordinary and Vocations Director than those in the various dioceses throughout England, Wales and Scotland.

News from the Ordinariate

Deacon Matthew Topham

THEREVD Deacon Matthew Topham’s ordination to the priesthood is on Saturday 15th July at 12 noon at Warwick Street when the ordaining bishop will be the Bishop of Portsmouth.

Basil Youdell writes:

THELONDON Eucharistic Octave (leading up to the Feast) has become a regular feature at the Catholic Church of Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, in the heart of Covent Garden.

Each evening a different Rite or Usage of the Catholic Church is celebrated, and this has included the Ordinariate Usage of the Roman Rite from the beginning. This year, on Tuesday evening, we had the privilege of participating in the Alexandrian Rite of the Coptic Catholic Church, this for the very first time at Maiden Lane.

We are very fortunate in London in being able to share in so many of of the eucharistic liturgies used by the ‘sui iuris’ churches (The Catholic Church consists of 24 churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic churches.) thus demonstrating the rich and diverse liturgical heritage of Catholicism, of which the Ordinariate Usage is a part.

Corpus Christi Procession at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, attended by Ordinariate priests and people

Coptic Liturgy

THIS MONTH’S DEVOTION

Month of The Precious Blood

HOLY FATHER’S INTENTIONS

For a Eucharistic life: We pray that Catholics may place the celebration of the Eucharist at the heart of their lives, transforming human relationships in a very deep way and opening to the encounter with God and all their brothers and sisters

Just

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

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: Sunday 4pm, Thur 7pm (both Divine Worship) CONTACT: Fr Neil Chatfield: 07718 123304 - neil. chatfield@eastbourneordinariate.org.uk- www. eastbourneordinariate.org.uk

EXETER Holy Cross Topsham, 17 Station Road, Topsham, Exeter EX3 0EE MASS: 1st Saturday 12 noon (Divine Worship) CONTACT: Fr. Colin Furness: 01392 879264 - 07720 784219 - colin.furness@prcdtr. 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, CONTACT: 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. CONTACT: 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 (during University term time): 12 noon (Divine Worship) CONTACT: Fr Len Black: 01463 235597 - fr.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 – July 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

1st 12 noon Solemn Mass to celebrate 150th Anniversary of Arundel Cathedral, London Road, Arundel BN18 9AY

2nd 11.00am Mass and Reception into full communion, St Basil and St Gwladys, Tregwilym Road, Rogerstone, Newport, NP10 9DW

5th 1.30pm Finance Council, 24 Golden Square, London

9th 11.30am Mass and Confirmation, St Edward’s, Home Park Avenue, Peverell, Plymouth PL3 4PG

14th 12 noon 170th Anniversary of the Dominican Convent at Stone

15th 12 noon Ordination of Revd Matthew Topham to the priesthood by Bishop Philip Egan, Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, London W1B 5LZ

17th 7.00pm Confirmation, St Margaret Mary, St Margaret’s Road, New Moston, Manchester, M40 0JE

22nd 11.00am Ordination at St John’s Catholic Cathedral, Bishop’s House, Bishop Crispian Way, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 3HG

23rd 10.30am Mass at Wardour Chapel, Wardour Castle, Tisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 6RH

12 noon Mass with Ordinariate Mission St Osmund’s 95 Exeter Street, Salisbury SP1 2SF.

27th 2.00pm Meeting of Trustees and Governing Council, 24 Golden Square, London

30th 10.30am Solemn Mass at Our Lady of the Assumption & St Gregory, Warwick Street, London, W1B 5LZ

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

Corpus Christi Procession through central London

Peter Sefton-Williams tells all

THE

ANNUAL Corpus Christi procession took place on Sunday 11th June from the Ordinariate church in Warwick Street, Soho, to St James’s, Spanish Place, and attracted more than 1,000 people. On a scorching hot day the faithful were invited to gather in the church of the Assumption at 1pm for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The monstrance was placed on a throne above the tabernacle for two hours until the procession commenced at 3pm. Interestingly, the throne was recently found discarded in a cupboard behind the confessional and, after some repairs, was re-erected especially for the occasion.

The procession itself was jointly led by Mgr Keith Newton and Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, the Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family. The splendid six-pole canopy above the Blessed Sacrament was held aloft by Knights (and a Dame) of the Holy Sepulchre and the Order of Malta. In previous years the procession had made its way to Spanish Place via the quiet back streets of Mayfair. This year the decision was taken to go via a busier route – mainly along Regent Street and Oxford Street. This emphasis on public witness proved successful and, we hope, spiritually fruitful for those passers-by and tourists who saw it. By co-incidence a “super car” rally was taking place along Regent Street and the roaring of the engines added considerable drama, at times drowning out the singing. Many of the tourists who witnessed the procession in Oxford Street were from the Middle East and their reaction could not have been more respectful. As we passed, we were met largely with smiles and/or respectful silence.

After Bond Street station we turned off Oxford Street and made our way to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cathedral in Duke Street where Bishop Kenneth gave a blessing at a, specially erected, outdoor altar. The huge church of St James’s was packed as Benediction began. Once the faithful had taken their seats, the organ and choir opened with Felix Mendelssohn’s  Lauda Sion – a truly spinetingling moment. Benediction was once again given

by Mgr Newton. Afterwards many of the helpers and faithful assembled at the nearby pub of “The Angel in the Fields” where the celebrations continued until late into the evening. Although members of the Ordinariate were well represented – including three young members from Houston on their way to Walsingham - we hope that next year even more will participate.

David Chapman adds:

With the permission of the Editors I would like to add to what Peter has written. I was there! Unsure if I had the stamina to do more than a part of the procession, in the event, the sheer joy of participating carried me through! I want to add two things:

One is that the majority of the multitude of multiethnic participants were young adults, many being families with their children, all taking part with obvious joy and devotion in this most traditional act of witness. The other is that we should all thank God that in this country we are able to profess and demonstrate our faith so publicly that we bring part of Central London to a temporary standstill!

Bishops and church leaders should take note of the first thing and ALL Christians should be prepared to stand up for the second. Such freedoms are already under threat. Will YOU be there next year? You should be!

© Marcin Mazur

Aid to the Church in Need Sister in Iceland is ready for Mars

Amy Balog

THERE ARE only around 14,000 Catholics and a single diocese in Iceland. For Sister Selestina Gavric, driving long distances in search of a Catholic is a real-life treasure hunt. The Croatian sister is one of four Carmelites of the Divine Heart of Jesus currently living in Iceland, in a parish that stretches over 310 miles. Without the car she received from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), it would be impossible for her to meet the faithful face to face.

The Diocese of Reykjavík has six parishes, some of which are very distant from each other. Sister Selestina regularly drives long hours by herself to meet Catholics to keep them engaged with the Church. Even harsh winters don’t stop her fulfilling her mission. “I have seen so many Catholics fall away from the Church due to lack of personal contact. We have to go out to meet them,” the sister said.

The sparsely populated country’s Catholics can get a surprise visit from the feisty Carmelite at any time. When she knocks on their door, it’s often just to see how they are.She explained: “We have one family here, another there. When I don’t see people in church, but I know that they have a seven-year-old child, for example, I go knocking on their door. ‘You have a child that is this old, and you are Catholic. Your child has the right to get to know his or her faith better. We have catechism classes for children. Are you interested?’”

It takes a unique character to go knocking on people’s doors to convince them to let their children attend Sunday school. Sister Selestina’s boldness and courage comes from the bottom of her heart. When it’s not possible to visit parishioners in person, the sister makes good use of the Internet. Even though there’s no genuine substitute for real-life interactions, online contact is still better than neglecting a child’s spiritual formation.

Sister Selestina was surprised at first when she was asked to move to Iceland. She’s now been living in the Nordic country for 20 years, and she said she wouldn’t hesitate to go even further if the Church were to request it. “[From the moment] we make our vows, we belong to the congregation. If they built a convent on Mars, we’d willingly go there to live and work,” the sister said.

The congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus was founded in 1891 in the Netherlands by Blessed Mary Theresa of Saint Joseph who’d converted from the Lutheran Church. The order currently has around 400 sisters in 15 countries. Aid to the Church in Need - www.acnuk.org contact: acn@acnuk.org or call 020 8642 8668

Praying with Saint Hilary in Poiters

Dr Simon Cotton

TWO GREAT battles of early French history were fought in western France, just north of Poitiers. On June 22nd 507, the army of Clovis, the ruler of the Franks, defeated the Visigothic ruler Alaric. Clovis saw a sign from heaven, a fiery light above the church of Saint Hilary in Poitiers, and he carried the day. Just over two hundred years later in 733, the troops of Charles Martel defeated a Muslim army. Both these battles had important implications for Christianity, as the Visigoths were Arians.

This brings us to Saint Hilary. Born into a pagan family around AD 315; he became a Christian when he was already married, receiving baptism in 350; elected Bishop of Poitiers in 353, he remained as bishop until his death in 367, but this was not a peaceful episcopate. Despite the Council of Nicaea (325) coming down on the side of orthodox Christology, there was a continuing struggle between orthodox Christians and Arians over Christ’s divinity. You either took the Catholic view that all three persons in the Trinity were co-equal, or the Arian view that the Father was pre-eminent.

In his teaching, Hilary displayed his conviction that the eternal Word of God, incarnate as Jesus, is of one substance with the Father, expressed in his writings

such as De Trinitate. Gentle and courteous, Hilary was sent into exile in present day Turkey in 357 by the Arian Emperor Constantius; Hilary used his exile to write De Trinitate. Hilary’s return from exile in 360 was wildly popular in the Poitiers region, where he was regarded as a saint in his lifetime. Saint Martin of Tours, the great evangelist of Gaul (d. 397), was a disciple of Hilary, who gave him the land nearby at Ligugé on which Martin built the first monastery in Gaul.

It is believed that Hilary had a chapel built in Poitiers to serve as his tomb. The present church is linked with King Canute’s wife, Queen Emma of England, who probably endowed the rebuilding of the church here in 1026 when her husband went on pilgrimage to Rome. Designed by Queen Emma’s architect Gauthier (Walter) Coorland, it was consecrated on All Saints Day 1049 in the presence of thirteen bishops and archbishops. It has triple aisles on each side of the central nave, giving the appearance of a forest of columns and arches. At the east end of the nave, high above your head, a stone capital depicts the death of St Hilary; two priests keep watch over his body, while two angels carry his soul to heaven; at ground level, people still come to pray where a modern casket enshrines the relics of Saint Hilary.

‘Anyone who fails to see Christ Jesus as at once truly God and truly man is blind to his own life: to deny Christ Jesus, or God the Spirit, or our own flesh, is equally perilous’. (De Trinitate)

Two notable Catholic CofE societies

Fr Paul Benfield

THEYEAR 2023 sees the 150th anniversary of two notable Catholic societies of the Church of England formed in the second phase of Anglo-Catholicism. The first is the Guild of All Souls, formed in March 1873 as the Guild Burial Society ‘to provide furniture for Burial according to the use of the Catholic Church to set forth the two great doctrines of the Communion of Saints and the Resurrection of the Body; and Intercessory prayer for the Dying and the repose of the souls of the deceased members and all the faithful departed’ in an age where the burial of the dead was frequently conducted without any reverence.

Prayer for the departed remains one of the Guild’s most important functions but its work now includes prayer and care for the sick, dying and bereaved. Readers are probably aware of the Guild of All Souls Chapel in the grounds of the Anglican Shrine at Walsingham.

In March this year the 150th celebrations were held at St Stephen’s, Gloucester Road, London. The Bishop of Richborough presided at a thanksgiving mass and a lecture prepared by the Fr Robert Beaken entitled O Valiant Hearts’: The First World War, the Church of England and Prayer for the Dead was delivered on his behalf by Dr Colin Podmore CBE. There was also the launch of a reprint of a 1931 biographical memoir of the Guild’s founder Fr Tooth by the Guild’s first President.

The second society celebrating its 150th anniversary is the Society for the Maintenance of the Faith. The object of the Society was, and remains, ‘to promote and maintain catholic teaching and practice within the Church of England’ – principally through the acquisition and exercise of patronage (the right to present priests to the relevant bishop for appointment as rector or vicar). Unlike other patronage societies SMF did not purchase advowsans (the right to present) because it believed trading in such property rights was uncanonical (it is now illegal).

The intention was that SMF should become the principal holder of patronage for the Anglo-Catholic movement, but this did not come about as other Societies also held patronages (including the Guild of All Souls which now holds 40). This meant that it was slow to acquire patronages as they could only be acquired by gift or by a will.

By 1901, 28 years after its creation it still had only 11. But gradually it has acquired more and is now the patron (solely or jointly) of 99 livings.

Pastoral reorganisation has resulted in a great increase in the number of multi-parish benefices, often with several patrons, and in many cases parishes with a catholic tradition have become part of a benefice that also includes parishes of very different traditions.

As a result of these factors, in many cases it has not been possible for the SMF to maintain a catholic tradition in the parishes of which it is patron.

Where a parish has passed a resolution under the House of Bishops Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests, the Society will only present a male priest ordained in the apostolic succession. Where no such resolution exists the Society will present the best candidate, male or female, irrespective of who ordained them.

On 18th June the Society celebrated its anniversary with a solemn mass at St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge at which the preacher was the Bishop of Oswestry. I was privileged to attend in my capacity as a vice-president of the society, together with other members and representatives of the parishes of which the Society is patron.

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 > NEWS > Bulletin

‘Defying Hitler’

The White Rose Pamphlets

Alexandra Lloyd - Bodleian Library, Oxford. 2022 - ISBN 978 1 85124 583 3

Review by Fr Simon Ellis

ONA visit to Munich last year, specifically to the Ludwig Maximilian University, to the centre of operations of the White Rose (die Weiße Rose) resistance to Hitler, I was struck by the sheer number of books now published on Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans, Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf and Professor Kurt Huber, who were all executed by the Nazis in 1943. This recently published book, however, will stand alone as a testament to the original collaborative effort of these Munich students. The translation of the pamphlets presented in Defying Hitler is itself a collaborative project of students of Oxford University, supervised by Alexandra Lloyd, tutor in German Studies and a Fellow by Special Election of St Edmund Hall. Dr Lloyd is also a member of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, whose musical expertise is also widely appreciated, not to mention her husband’s priestly ministry in Oxford! There is a delicious irony in this work, then, that St John Henry Newman is given some mention, as his work - translated from English into German by Theodore Haecker – provided inspiration to the White Rose movement, Catholics and Lutherans alike.

Lloyd, and her students, have crafted something very special, bringing a freshness and vitality to a subject brimming with relevance for our culture, where there is a similar battle for the recognition of the sacredness of all human life. Hitler’s agenda was recognised by the White Rose resistance as being demonic. Those opposing Nazism were involved in an existential battle against evil, which the pamphlets recognise in many places. There’s a further connection with today, in that those who object to the new orthodoxy are ‘cancelled’ as Kurt Huber experienced when he was stripped of his doctorate, title and pension.

Of course, recognising something is fundamentally wrong and doing something about it are two separate things. This book reminds us how courageous Sophie Scholl and her companions were, secretly printing and then distributing pamphlets around the University and sending them out by post. Sophie’s mother, writing the day after Sophie, Hans and Christophe Probst had been executed, wrote ‘Yesterday before sundown we laid our two children to rest…the Chaplain said he had never seen such courage’. No wonder, this work informs us, that Alexander Schmorell was, in February 2012, proclaimed a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church: Alexander of Munich and a cause was opened in the Catholic Church for the cause of Willi Graf. As for the Scholl siblings, who were Lutheran, their desire to become catholics wasn’t fulfilled, even at the last hour, on the recommendation of their chaplain, but heroes of the faith they remain, alongside Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and his brother Klaus, active in the resistance. In fact, following the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad, the two Bonhoeffer brothers, together with the theatre

director Falk Harnack were due to meet with Hans Scholl in Berlin on the evening of 25 February 1943, but Scholl had already been put to death.

Not that, in all of this, we should forget the heroism of the Jews. Of all the vignettes presented of the White Rose leaders (together with beautifully presented archival photographs) one such figure was the distinguished chemist, Hans Leipelt, the son of a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father, classified in the pejorative term ‘Mischling’, meaning mixed Aryan. He was executed in 1945.

As the German novelist, Thomas Mann predicted of all the members of the White Rose in 1943: ‘You shall not have died in vain; you shall not be forgotten.’

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 ORDINARIATE OF OUR LADY 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 ORDINARIATE OF OUR LADY 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.

Pondering Newman: A Guide to John Henry Newman: His Life and Thought

(The Catholic University of America, 2022)

Reviewed by Fr Peter Conley

Mary, as our pattern of faith-filled reflection, according to Newman, inspires us to be ‘detectives’ of God’s Providence because, like her, we “investigate, weigh and define as well as profess the Gospel.” (University Sermons XV)

In view of this, I eagerly opened a parcel containing a scholarly, accessible and interesting volume of essays edited in the States, by a good friend of mine, Fr Juan Valez. It is entitled A Guide to John Henry Newman: His Life and Thought (The Catholic University of America, 2022) and I recalled that Newman, a super sleuth himself, always took copious notes. As I grabbed my pen and paper, his words rang in my ears “dipping into books or skimming them, and consulting them is not reading.” (LDXXXl, p.33*). Point taken!

This particular text is very timely, given the synodal pathway discussions taking place across the world, as it invites St John Henry Newman to be a shining light upon them, and provide inspiration for the future shape of the Church. Looking at the table of contents, I was immediately drawn to consecutive Chapters, focusing on Newman’s ecclesiology. I found, in them, keys to listening for his pastoral heart beating within the volume itself.

The first, by Fr John Ford CSC, a well-known scholar, is entitled The Church: A Leitmotiv in His Writings (p.448-468). Using a perceptive musical metaphor throughout, Ford blends the notation of Newman’s biography memorably. Fr Velez complements this analysis with an apposite piece Newman’s Far-sighted Understanding of the Laity’s Role in the Church (p.469488) as does Tracey Rowland’s John Henry Newman on the Development of Doctrine: A Via Media between Intellectualism and Historicism (p.352-372). These contributions have direct bearing on my context as a priest combining Parish and University ministry, as does Paul Shrimpton’s comprehensive An Educator from first to last (p.191-208).

by Fr Juan Valez

I recalled that Newman viewed the daily events of his own life, and that of those he cared for, from within a liturgical framework. This led me to read Fr Keith Beaumont’s exploration of Newman from two perspectives: The Spiritual and Doctrinal Significance of His Sermons (p.309-336) and The Connection between Theology, Spirituality, and Morality in his works (p.393413). (On this theme see also John Crosby’s Newman’s Vision of Intellectual Virtue in its Relation to Moral and Religious Virtue p.233-246). I then turned to the Chapters by Fr Uwe Michael Lang and Fr Juan Velez From the Book of Common Prayer to the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Roman Breviary (p.373-393) and Msgr Roderick Strange’s exploration of Newman’s Christology Jesus as Saviour (p.414-425).

Realising that my choices were forming into cadences, I was led to Barbara H. Wyman’s The Poetry of John Henry Newman: Intimations of the Invisible World (p.247-266) which identifies the internal harmony within Newman as a poet, who experienced Christ’s call, in the midst of natural and human creation, as one world - where earth is wedded to heaven.

This made me remember the beautiful observations on nature Newman offers in his letters and diaries, and especially in his novel Callista. One of Wyman’s colleagues at McNeese University, Scott Goins, drew my attention, in his A Student and Tutor of Classics (p.140-156), to the influence that Cicero had on Newman’s sentence construction. This made me realise why his ability to ‘picture paint’ creation has had such an impact on me.

I then turned to Stephen Morgan’s appreciation of Newman as An Imaginative Mind (p.38-55), and consolidated the benefits of my literary travels, through the informative richness of the Guide, via reading John Henry Newman’s Lifelong Journey of Conversion by Fr Juan Alonso (p.21-37). I recommend the book highly.

Fr Peter Conley is the author of Newman: A Human Harp of Many Chords

Annual Mass for the St Barnabas Society

David Chapman

THEFIRST week in June was a busy week for London Catholics, but a good number found time to attend the annual Mass for the St Barnabas Society on Friday 9th June at the Church of the Assumption and St Gregory in Warwick Street.

Many Ordinarians will have good reason to know of the society. It was founded in 1896 to ‘make pastoral and financial provision for clergymen of the Church of England who sought to be received into the full Communion of the Catholic Church’. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Today that work embraces former clergy and religious of all Christian denominations, former religious and adherents of other world faiths. Many of our Ordinariate clergy have good reason to be grateful to the society, though sadly few found time to come to this mass of thanksgiving.

This being Warwick Street, the music was glorious! The mass opened with ‘Hark! The sound of holy voices…’. Verse 3 says: “They have come from tribulation… tried they were and firm they stood” – and while those helped by the society were not exactly martyred, yet the words seem appropriate. Kyrie and Gloria (and later the Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei) were from Mozart’s  Spatzenmesse and the first reading was, of course Acts, 11. 21-26 and 13. 1-3. The motet during

communion was Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus.

The Principal Celebrant and Homilist was the Rt Revd Hugh Allan O.Praem. How he finds time to do all the things he does I do not know. He is the Apostolic Administrator of the Prefecture of the Falkland Islands and Ecclesiastical Superior of the Missions of the islands of Ascension, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha as well as Abbot of his community, recently moved to Peckham! Nevertheless, he found time to preach, as he always does, an excellent homily, and to join the celebration of the society’s work which continued after mass, downstairs in the Challoner Hall.

The final hymn was ‘Jerusalem the golden’ a good hymn with an equally good tune by Alexander Ewing. I’m sorry to end with a criticism, but it was a pity that the last verse was the ‘altered’ one which scans no better than the original – and makes less sense! Never mind. It was all told a worthwhile celebration of the work of the St Barnabas Society, an organisation which the Ordinariate should hold in high regard.

Corpus Christi Procession at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, attended by Ordinariate priests and people

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.