Temporary altar in my house
I remember the frustration of Anglo-Catholics some years ago when the General Synod decided to tackle the issue of ‘extended Communion’. For the best part of 100 years an increasing number of parishes had been ‘reserving’ the Sacrament, so that it might be taken to the sick and housebound: increasing to such an extent that Liverpool (Anglican) Cathedral – once a bastion of Protestantism – had installed a safe for reservation in one of its side-chapels. Naturally, the place of reservation became also a place of prayer. But no, such was the intransigence of the Evangelicals (lovely people, devout Christians, but still fighting Reformation battles) and their fear that some of us might engage in idolatrous bread-worship that ‘extended Communion’ had to be timidly presented to the Synod.
Yet how wonderful has been the tabernacle, and with it the worship of Christ present in the Host, which is now sustaining us in these times when the public celebration of the Mass is not possible.
Here am I: send me
Thank goodness, the churches are able to be opened here in France. Perhaps, in spite of the separation of Church and State, there is a recognition here of the need of people to come into the presence of the Lord Jesus. The Catholic instinct has been shown to be spot on in this time of confinement.
Easter morning, just three of (all of us well apart) in the church at Pont Rémy. A family came in and sat apart. After Benediction as I returned to the tabernacle they burst into a song of praise, harmonising, singing most beautifully.
Thus Communion, narrowly interpreted as receiving the consecrated Bread and Wine, is extended and becomes Communion at the deepest level with the Lord himself, in prayer and worship, thus feeding us with the life of the Saviour, even during this time of Eucharistic fast.
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.
Ordinariate Pilgrim 