What will it take...?

This morning I had a round trip of forty miles to say Mass. Fr Bill, the Parish Priest in Southbourne, is off work after an asthma attack. Meanwhile another retired priest was celebrating in Lymington, where I live, because our Parish Priest, Fr David Adam, is off work with a back injury. Just up the hill from us is the Priory of St Joseph, and their priest, Fr Richard Saksons O.Praem. is in hospital..

So, dear friends still ministering in the Church of England, may I ask you that if you believe (as many of you do) that your future lies in Communion with Peter in the Catholic Church, why delay an longer?  Your ministry is needed now. What will it take to persuade you? You are concerned for your present faithful Anglo-Catholic congregation. Of course you don't want to abandon them; but one day, through retirement or death, they will not have your ministrations. Look around at neighbouring former Catholic strongholds and see what has become of them. Your people are going to have to decide at some time, and far better that you should give them a lead while you still can.

There is a pressing need today in the Roman Catholic Church in this country for more priests. The faithful are there, ready and waiting - and hugely appreciative when a priest makes an effort to help them, whether the journey is twenty miles from Lymington, or the distance from Thames to Tiber. Daily I am grateful to Pope Benedict for making it possible for groups of Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church together. On this day when we hear Our Lord in the Gospel say that he has other sheep, not of this fold -  can we do more to realise what he said -"there will be only one flock and one shepherd".

Party time

The garden comes into its own for a party

Hospitality is one of those elements of the Patrimony which some say is Benedictine. The recital of the daily Offices by the clergy, saying the entire psalter each month, is another. It would be a good exercise to try to discern just how much of what we take for granted in the Patrimony is in fact inherited from the Monastic formation of the Church in England. At any event,  our Ordinariate Group responds to every chance of a party.

F rDarryl and head Server Trevor

We've had a summer luncheon for our Ordinariate Group each year, and Fr Darryl was happy for us to continue the tradition this year. So on Sunday after Mass about forty of us (which included a few non-Ordinarians - Catholics who regularly support us and seem to enjoy worshiping with us at St Thomas More, came over to our house in Lymington.

John and Teresa are off on a week's  cruise soon!

Sadly a few were prevented from attending by illness or prior commitments, but it proved a very happy occasion; not least because in such a setting you can talk to people you would otherwise not know very well. The weather was much better than forecast, and some bad brought their own garden chairs, so there was room for everyone.

Some took to the house to avoid any possible insects!

Once again, there was food and drink enough and Jane had provided two hot main dishes and any number of puddings, cheese &c.We filled not just the house and garden, but also the conservatory .The overwintering plants were pushed out to take their chance... fortunately we avoided any frosts before I cold restore them to shelter.

Some of the younger guests enjoyed chippolatas on the grass

If the Ordinariate is to flourish, it will have to make many more such occasions - we cannot rely on just one or two annual get-together in Westminster or Walsingham. Perhaps we need to start inviting other groups to join us across a region? I'd quite fancy a run down to Torquay, or up to Reading - and they'd enjoy Bournemouth, I think. We don't always have to go to London to meet! What do you think?

Jane dispensing food at the serving table

Easter Afloat

This was an Easter like no other. No new fire or Exsultet, but everything else - and at the right time, too. We began the First Mass of Easter at 23.30 on Saturday,  when more of the Crew were free from their secular duties. Earlier that day P&Os' Adonia had returned from a cruise.. The crew - Stewards, Waiters,Cooks, everyone indeed, had helped those passengers off with their luggage, cleaned throughout, then made it seem as though those joining for the next cruise were the most welcome sight in the world. By late evening they must have been exhausted - but they were determined to have a real Easter celebration..

The choir after the Midnight Mass

The crew are mostly from Goa: very proud of their forebears having been converted to Christianity by Jesuits and Franciscans in the sixteenth century. When they might have pleaded tiredness and a need to get to bed, with another long and tough day ahead, they even produced a choir, and sang a capella throughout the Mass - Introit, Kyrie, Offertory, Post-Communion. It was a quite unforgettable Easter, one of my best ever.

A dining room became our chapel

Each morning I was able to say Mass for the Passengers - only a handful attended, never more than a dozen. But on three of the four evenings I was on board we sang a late evening Mass for Crew members. Then on Wednesday we bade a sad farewell. That afternoon Jane and I went up to a bird sanctuary on one of the volcanic hills above the town centre of Porto Santo, and had a view of Adonia as she made her way towards Madeira. The next time the crew will have a chaplain resident on the ship will be at Christmas. Please remember to pray for them, and for the ministry of the Port Chaplains of the Apostleship of the Sea.

Adonia leaving Porto Santo

More at sea than ever

Disaster; I did not make the flight (see previous entry). Are they going to let me join them on Saturday in Southampton?

All at Sea

This image is from the Apostleship of the Sea's facebook page. Over Holy Week and Easter a number of priests from England, some of us of the Ordinariate, will be on cruise ships bringing the Sacraments to all those on board - but especially to those who work on the vessels, and spend so much of the year away from family, friends and Church.

In case you think this is a very happy and self-indulgent way to spend the next fortnight, maybe you'd like to consider my own itinerary. After the Ordinariate Chrism in London on Monday, an evening trip to Victoria to get to Gatwick. The flight departs late evening, and I should be in Oporto around 00.30hrs. Five and a half hours later we take off again, to Lisbon; a rather quick change of planes for the last leg to Horta where I am due around 8am - to meet P&O Cruise Ship Adonia later that day. We are due back in Southampton on Saturday. There I hope Jane joins me (lugging the various booklets, rosaries &c which the Apostleship have asked me to distribute). We sail to Porto Santo (Madeira) over the first few days of Easter and disembark there for a two day stop-over before flying to Heathrow.

Most days there will be a Mass or Liturgy of the day around 11pm for the Crew members, and a morning celebration for the passengers. So it will be different from the usual Parish Triduum and Easter. Please pray for those far from the Sacraments at this time, and especially those separated from their families.

I hope you might like to see a few pictures on my return.

Nicodemus, a Ruler of the Jews

St Anne's is one of the prettiest Catholic churches in our neighbourhood. Last evening I celebrated their Mass. They have a liturgy of the word and distribution of Holy Communion (what is curiously called a "eucharistic service") on Wednesday, a Mass on Sunday evening  - and that is all. If there were more priests available, it would be a thriving church.Many would love to have a daily Mass. There is a lively community in Brockenhurst, and there is great lay enthusiasm at St Anne's. What is more they SING; not just hymns, but also the responses to the Sursum, the Sanctus, the Acclamation. Anglo-Catholics would feel very much at home there.

Sanctuary seen from the Lady Chapel 

Many Anglican clergy friends of mine are waiting on the brink of joining the Ordinariate; they just want to get this particular job done, complete this child's education, wait to see just what it will be like when there is a lady Bishop in the diocese, get another year or two onto their Pension provision.

Lady Altar at St Anne's Brockenhurst

I just fear they might leave it too long. There are so many disillusioned lay people in the Church of England, hoping that some Anglican priest might give them a lead. There are so many Catholic laity, waiting in the hope that their church will not be closed for he shortage of priests. There are Catholic Bishops and our Ordinary involved in a juggling match, trying to ensure the best use of a reducing number of clergy. And still Anglican clerics, entirely catholic at heart, hang on for another year or two, 'until'. If only we could somehow let them see what a joy it is to be in Communion with the See of Peter. The welcome that awaits them is wonderful. Well the Lord is very patient - yesterday's Mass readings were about Nicodemus. Poor timid Nicodemus, who could only approach Jesus by night (for he was a Leader of the Pharisees - what would people think?). Later, he dared speak up a little ("You can't condemn a man without giving him a hearing" he said - and he was berated for his speaking out. Eventually, he came into the light; and outdid the Apostles by joining with Joseph of Arimathea in taking care of the Body of Jesus and giving it decent burial, without bothering what his old friends might say. I hope there are many who, from timid beginnings, are getting ready to declare themselves and join the Roman Catholic Church - whether through the Ordinariate, or by the circuitous route of offering for the diocesan priesthood. Whichever you decide, once the decision is made, you will not regret it.

Handover

This weekend Mgr Keith Newton was with us to inaugurate Fr Darryl's ministry as Pastor to the Bournemouth Ordinariate Mission. He preached on the Epistle - 'not many wise, not many mighty' - then we all joined in a very happy lunch party.

Here he is seen talking with John and Jan Hares, who came to us from the Reading Group earlier this year.
You may notice an intruder in the front of the photo; he is the last of the Chicco BOMs, all the others having been bought. Tracey's inspired knitting of these egg-cosies will have added more than £50 to the Torbay Ordinariate Appeal.

Here Mgr Keith is speaking with Mary Taylor after Mass. Among other things Mary is our safe-guarding officer - a task she also undertakes in her daily work which involves organising the fostering of children in the Bournemouth area. Mgr Keith is modelling the Lenten Vestments recently bought by the Mission, and known affectionately as the Cadbury's Dairy Milk set.









As always the bring-and-share lunch was a huge success. Almost everyone who was at Mass contributed to the party, so that there was enough food left over to fill the proverbial twelve baskets.





Mgr Keith insisted on having a photo with our youngest members (and our largest family group) children of Sherlyn and Dennis.

Mgr Keith and the Rowlands

The First shall be last