One of my colleagues, a cradle Catholic and a Diocesan priest, challenged me recently to say what exactly is this Anglican Patrimony which we in the Ordinariate are supposed to bring with us as a gift to the whole Church. He had been to an Ordinariate Funeral concelebrated by a group of priests wearing black latin chasubles reciting ‘our’ Eucharistic Prayer (as my colleague put it) but put into ‘tudor’ English. Anyone who has read some of my posts will not be surprised to learn that I tried to steer him away from thinking that this was indeed the ‘Anglican Patrimony’. But that still leaves me to answer the question, ‘If it’s not birettas, latin vestments and the maniple, what is it.
Can I give you a couple of examples which came my way recently – the first really quite trivial, the other not at all trivial?
The first is that custom we had of singing the Benediction hymns to seasonal tunes. Tomorrow at Adoration, therefore, I shall try Tantum ergo to the tune of Once in royal.
The second is much more serious. I’ve been looking again at the writings of Michael Ramsey who was Archbishop of Canterbury in the ’60’s and ’70’s. His stuff on priesthood just would not make sense if it were written and preached for today’s Church of England. But reading it now as a Catholic it has a richness and resonance which is deeply impressive. Could it be that the theology of Ramsey (and others) now find their place in a bigger and fuller communion that he ever imagined?
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 