Author Archives: Scott Anderson

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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.

Liturgical colours and the rhythm of the Christian year

One of my hopes for the Ordinariate in the UK is that it would introduce into the Catholic Church something of the Liturgical Revival which overtook the Church of England from the end of the 19th century until the 1960’s. … Continue reading

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The Queen’s funeral: a lesson in reality

By happy chance I was back in the UK for the death and funeral of her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. It was a moving and quietly emotional time. Since coming back to France I have had so many conversations … Continue reading

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Infant baptism, the Catechumenate – and Conversion to Christ

It was the seminary/theological college and the curacies which have informed, right through their lives, the attitudes and methods of many priests. Cartainly it’s true for me and for many (ex) Anglicans. So all my life I have struggled with … Continue reading

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Music in the liturgy – in France

One of my kind readers has asked me to continue the article I wrote last week by describing and comparing the music we use in the liturgy in France. Please realise that my observations are limited to this diocese and … Continue reading

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When did we stop kneeling?

My grandmother (born in 1891) was brought up as a Baptist though not baptised in adolescence. In fact she was baptised before her marriage to my grandfather, at St Mary’s Weymouth, a stronghold of low-church Anglicanism. But my grandmother knew … Continue reading

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A memorial of Father Richard Rowe

I received news yesterday of the death of Father Richard Rowe. When he became Vicar of St Margaret’s, Leytonstone, in East London in 1979 he inherited me as the curate. I offered to move as soon as I was able … Continue reading

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Music in the liturgy – a new beginning or the end of an era?

I read with interest of the publication of a revised edition of the English Hymnal towards the end of this year. I shall certainly add it to my collection (of English Hymnals) with the 1906 & 1933 editions, the New … Continue reading

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The living and the dead

“Now when the bells for Eucharist  / Sound in the Market Square, With sunshine struggling through the mist / And Sunday in the air. The veil between her and her dead / Dissolves and shows them clear. The Consecration / … Continue reading

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Pope Francis and the Extraordinary Form

Like many Catholics I was at first taken aback by the Pope’s recent Motu Proprio, Traditionis Custodes – On the Use of the Roman Liturgy Prior to the Reform of 1970. I had been aware of problems around the use of the … Continue reading

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Renewing the Catholic Parish

In 2009 a group of Anglo-Catholic clergy in the Diocese of London, encouraged by the then Bishop of Fulham, now Monsignor John Broadhurst, met to discuss a plan for parish renewal. I have kept the aide mémoire circulated after their … Continue reading

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