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.

Confinement – the French way

Here are a few reflections on current life (during this time of confinement) in a small country parish in France. You will have gathered that I have continued my ministry here as parish priest way beyond the original one year … Continue reading

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Making – and keeping – new Catholics

A new report by the Catholic Research Forum (an initiative of the Benedict XVI centre at St Mary’s University, Twickenham) has something to tell us about evangelisation. 7.7 per cent of the 3.8 million Catholics in the UK are ‘converts’ … Continue reading

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Sunday Mass with our Bishop

Last Sunday, the third Sunday of Eastertide, the Bishop of Amiens celebrated Mass in the parish at St Peter’s, Pont Remy. It was a very happy occasion for us, and the people had worked hard getting everything ready. The chorale … Continue reading

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Holy Week and Easter in a French Parish

THE HIGH ALTAR IN THE CHURCH OF ST PETER, PONT REMY I think it was Mother Theresa SSM, when she was at Haggerston Priory, who wrote that it was difficult to find time both to do the work and to … Continue reading

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A crisis in religious teaching

St Honorius of Amiens       d.653       Last Sunday in the parish of Notre Dame des Etangs in northern France saw the return of the Catechism for a new year. Under the 1905 separation of Church and State in this … Continue reading

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A not-so-subtle attack on the confessional

18th century funerals conducted in the latest historical drama on the TV by a clergyman in a lacy surplice and green chasuble – but does it matter? Not as much as when a popular series deliberately alters the facts in … Continue reading

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Please don’t try and wear the burse on your head

Period drama nowadays goes to extreme lengths to ensure accuracy. In every area, that is, save the ecclesiastical. There, I’m afraid, one is still likely to see a scene from a Jane Austen novel with the clergyman conducting a funeral … Continue reading

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A Saturday Farewell & a Sunday Celebration

On the last Sunday of September the Diocese of Amiens in northern France celebrates in honour of its first Bishop, St Firmin, whose relics are kept in the cathedral (which is, I think, the largest Gothic cathedral in France). In the parishes … Continue reading

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Ordinariate pilgrim in France

At the beginning of September I was appointed Administrator of a small parish in northern France, as a result of an agreement between Mgr Newton, my Ordinary, and the Bishop of Amiens, Mgr Olivier Leborgne. The appointment is for a … Continue reading

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Studies in Holiness: Lincoln Stanhope Wainwright

Father Wainwright (1847-1929) lived and died a member of the Church of England. Had it been otherwise, he would perhaps have been canonised and known as ‘The English Cure d’Ars’. He ministered as curate and then vicar of St Peter’s, … Continue reading

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