Give thanks with a grateful heart

On February 2nd 2012 I was received into the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. I was 62 years of age and had been ordained in the Church of England for 37 years. I have the privilege to live at the moment the life of a Catholic layman, dividing my time between England and France. This means that I have three spiritual homes: the London (South) Ordinariate group provides me with Sunday worship, the friendship of fellow Ordinariate pilgrims, and a growing sense of mission within the parish of the Most Precious Blood at Borough; then for the daily Mass the Jesuit Parish of the Sacred Heart, Wimbledon with its huge and lively congregation, musical tradition and great preaching; and finally the parish of Notre Dame des Etangs in Picardy, where I have found a welcome, singing with the choir, occasionally playing the organ, and generally improving my french!

With many other former Anglicans I give thanks for the very direct welcome that Pope Benedict XVI has given to us, by setting up the Ordinariates. It is always good to feel wanted, in any aspect of life, and not least in the Church. We stand, perhaps a little nervously, on the edge of the vast sea which is the Catholic Church. We knew the Church of England well, although as Anglo-Catholics we saw ourselves and our concerns increasingly marginalised and even ridiculed. The Ordinariates are new, and will continue to feel their way within the wider Church for some time to come. One hears the question, ‘What is the Ordinariate?’ We have its constitution in Anglicanorum Coetibus, which provides the framework for its mission and organisation. But how will the people of the Ordinariate live as Catholic Christians, how will they worship, how will they aid the restoration of unity between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, and how will they play their part in bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their friends and neighbours? If this blog could contribute in some tiny way to any or all of these questions, I would indeed give thanks with a grateful heart.

Scott Anderson

About Scott Anderson

Formerly an Anglican priest (ordained 1975) received into the Catholic Church in February 2012, and ordained to the Diaconate on 27th July 2013. I took early retirement, and divide my time between London and northern France. I am deeply committed to the Ordinariate as a gift of the Holy Spirit in the search for unity. Like many Ordinariate members I feel a personal gratitude to Pope Emeritus Benedict, together with loyalty to our Holy Father, Pope Francis. My blog tries to make a small contribution to the growth of the Ordinariate by asking questions (and proposing some answers) about the 'Anglican Patrimony'. I have always been fascinated by the whole issue of growth and decline, and therefore concerned for appropriate means of evangelisation in western Europe. I believe that the Holy Spirit is constantly renewing the People of God and that we must be open to him. On Saturday 19th October 2013, I was ordained to the Priesthood at Most Precious Blood, Borough, by the Most Revd Peter Smith, Archbishop of Southwark, for the service of the Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham. I continued to serve the Ordinariate group and Parish at Most Precious Blood until the end of 2014. Subsequently, I helped in the care of the Ordinariate Groups at Hemel Hempstead and Croydon, and in the Archdiocese of Southwark, until the beginning of September 2015. With the agreement of my Ordinary, , the Bishop of Amiens appointed me Administrator of the Parish of Notre Dame des Etangs (Pont Remy) in Picardie, France. After nine years as parish priest, with wonderful and supportive parishioners, I decided that the time had come to retire and return to the UK. A nasty accident four years ago and contracting COVID has left me physically rather feeble! I shall be ever grateful for the years in France, a wonderful ending to the years of parish ministry. So here I am back in the UK, taking a long rest, setting up home, coping with all the new Safeguarding procedures - and wondering what next.

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1 Response to Give thanks with a grateful heart

vivianruthsawyer says:

22/11/2012 at 4:09 am

My husband and I are Anglicans in Louisville, Kentucky (USA) with no church, and therefore going through RCIA (the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) at our city’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. Next year I plan to embark on a Master’s in Divinity program at Asbury Theological Seminary (United Methodist in affiliation). We are eager to help work toward unity between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, as our Lord was explicit in John 17 that this was His heart’s deepest desire.