Author Archives: Scott Anderson

Unknown's avatar

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.

‘Songs of Praise’ does it again!

Surely a trailer for ‘The Moral Maze’? But no – there it was in the ‘Sunday Telegraph’ guide to Radio and Television (Sunday 2 August 2015): Songs of Praise A woman who acted as a surrogate mother for her sister … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

‘Song of Praise’ and the faith of Christians

My caller last Sunday evening was not angry but rather puzzled. “Have you watched ‘Songs of Praise’ this evening?” I explained that it was not something I often watched these days. My caller continued: “The theme was marriage, and after … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

A possible way into the Ordinariate liturgy

Like many former English Anglican clergy of my generation I grew up at a time of liturgical change. I can still recite by heart some of the liturgy of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer which I learnt as a … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How the liturgy bridges the centuries

I had the privilege of presiding at Mass today in the Catholic Church where my sister and brother-in-law belong; the Parish Priest is on holiday at the moment. We celebrated the First Martyrs of the Church at Rome, honouring those who gave … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Catholic – or Christian?

Last week I stopped off, mid-morning, to have a cup of coffee in Wimbledon. The cheerful waitress asked me if I was a Catholic priest. Then she went on to tell me that she was a Catholic, but her friend … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Religious education – or running scared?

When I was at Grammar School in the 1960’s the demolition of Christianity had already started. Assemblies were perfunctory – a hymn, a Bible reading, and a couple of prayers. There was one period of Religious Education for every class, often ‘single-sex’ … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Catholic attitudes on abortion

Since my  Catholic ordination I have said Mass on a regular basis for the Good Counsel Network, which promotes Catholic pro-life teaching , and gives practical and emotional support to couples and single mothers choosing not to abort an unplanned pregnancy. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Another model for Ordinariate life and mission

In the early days of the Ordinariate I tried to identify some ‘models’ which might be appropriate for groups with their pastors. My initial experience was of the ‘church-planting’ model, successfully applied at the Most Precious Blood at Borough in … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Sunday worship of the People of God

I went recently to Sunday Mass outside London: a modern church, a congregation of about a hundred, and a relatively new parish priest; three hymns (two ‘trad’ and one ‘mod’) and the Kyrie, Gloria and Agnus sung to the simple … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Obedience

  I came across this story relating to Fr Benson, the founder of the Society of St John the Evangelist. SSJE, often known as the ‘Cowley Fathers’, after their Mother House in Oxford, was the first men’s religious community in the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment