Delays

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A number of emails have come to me asking if I know the real reason why the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham for England has been delayed.  No, I do not know why.  I do not know if it is true that all pre-orders in the USA were cancelled by Amazon.  Honestly, I know nothing about any of this, and I do not think it matters a jot.


Que será, será...


To know what will be in the new Customary, I suggest one read "A Manual of Anglo-Catholic Devotion", "Common Worship" (Church of England), "The ASB 1980", the Series liturgies, the Proposed but rejected Book of Common Prayer 1928 (Synod of the Church of England), and the current Ordinary Form Roman Missal in English.  Imagine it mixed together in a 'blender' or processed through a Cuisinart and then pressed through an RSV English strainer, and you will have a pretty good idea of what is ahead whether in the Customary or in future books.


Perhaps the best indication of what is to come can be found in the Ordo 2012 for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.  I believe this link should still be working or you may wish to click here.  Note the reliance upon the Church of England's Common Worship.  

I gather the collects quoted now have some official standing in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.  I am very pleased to see that the collects for the various saints and doctors of the Church include an expression imploring or asking for their intercession.  It is an extremely well done Ordo and is an example worth following in North America and the Ordinariates.


(This book Common Worship is a directory of services and options currently authorised in the Church of England.  One can be forgiven for being a bit confused as "Common Worship" is a title previously used only by Presbyterians for their worship books.  Some are thrilled with this new book, and others regard it as simply a large beermat or paperweight.  The truth is that it is a very mixed bag with some dreadful material in some places and some outstanding developments in other locations.)

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Support • Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

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If you would like to donate and support the mission and ministry of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom, please visit their secure Donation page.  

Also, PayPal link and other methods are provided for those who may wish to use them. 

Monsignor Andrew Burnham

 I strongly encourage all of us who can to do so at this time.  With the reprehensible decision of the Charity Commissioners, let's all step forward -- all of us about the globe -- and contribute what we can.  Can we of the Anglican diaspora all around the world raise £1 million? Let's give it a good try. Yoda says: 'Do or do not do. There is no try.' Let's give it our best!

Monsignor Newton of Our Lady of Walsingham's Ordinariate

+Magnificat anima mea Dominum

New Evangelisation Retreat in the OLW Ordinariate

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Click on the image of the Holy Father to enlarge the information below.

 I sincerely hope that many will attend this Saturday retreat by Professor Tracey Rowland. 

Not Anglican enough?

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I reprint the following from the Our Lady of Walsingham Ordinariate website.  It is regrettable that the article from The Tablet about this matter misses the important point that the Ordinariate returned the funds of its own volition.  Perhaps in missing such a point (and writing in such a way as to make it appear that the Ordinariate had been ordered by Authority to return the funds) those writing for the Tablet justify its being called The Pill.

There is so much I could write about what all of this represents, but I would be pointing to things already decided that could not be undone.  The tragedy is that those who objected to the gift could not see the Ordinariate in relationship to the stated purpose of the Confraternity i.e., "advancement of the Catholic faith in the Anglican Tradition".  What should wake us up is that the Charity Commissioners could not look at the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and see "the Anglican Tradition".

The question of course is whether or not the Ordinariate is Anglican enough to be seen as carrying forward the Catholic faith in the Anglican Tradition.  By way of example, it calls into question an editorial decision in the otherwise excellent forthcoming Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham ...  the use of the Roman Breviary 2 year Office Lectionary instead of the Office Lectionary in The Book of Divine Worship which is of Anglican Communion provenance.  In relation to a separate decision taken, the ill-advised statement that there is no well-beloved Anglican baptismal rite needs to be withdrawn forthwith: it is manifestly untrue.  What a huge loss of beautiful Anglican prayers would take place if our leaders decided to make the futile Ultramontane gesture to simply use the Ordinary Form of the Baptismal Rite.


So I take this ruling to be a wake up call to be intentionally Anglican in every area in a manner that is not in conflict with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the ordinary magisterium.  The various Vatican Congregations will be more than happy to make it clear if we have gone too far.  But we must go as far as we can for the sake of this catholic Anglican Tradition that we love.  Our leaders and those deputised for the liturgical Working Group must be advocates for the Anglican experience in its world-wide catholic expressions and avoid unhelpful and unnecessary Latinising that so plagued the Eastern Catholics before Blessed Pope John Paul II.  There are many of us who understand the vital importance of these matters and have nothing to lose by being bold for our heritage, tradition, and Patrimony.
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Latest News from the Ordinariate
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Statement . 28 June 2012   A grant of funds from the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament to the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has been returned.  . The grant was awarded by the Trustees of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament following extensive legal advice in 2011.   . Subsequently the grant was challenged and, as the result of an investigation by the Charity Commissioners, the Ordinariate has returned the funds of its own volition.  . Until the conclusion of the investigative process undertaken by the Charity Commissioners, the charitable aims of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham precluded the return of the funds.   . . It is deeply regrettable that this generous benefaction is to be returned, but our sincere hope is that the conclusion of the legal process regarding this grant may now lay this issue to rest. . ENDS

I expect that the lesson taken from the Charity Commissioners ruling will be focused on the particulars of the ruling regarding the inquorate vote and the impropriety of the donors giving to something from which they will benefit (?!?).  Others will come away saddened by the mean-spiritedness of some who have chosen to stay in the C of E.  I hope the larger issue of Anglican-ness does not get lost.  If one were to mount an appeal (I admit I do not know if it is now possible to appeal the ruling of the Commissioners), would one not want to fit the very definition of the CSB's stated purpose: for the advancement of the Catholic faith in the Anglican Tradition...

+Christ, have mercy upon us.

Wonderful News from the UK

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Praise be to God!  Fr John Hunwicke was ordained in Oxford according to a post on Facebook by the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England.

After his great -- and entirely unnecessary -- suffering, this is tremendous news.  I can only hope that the Ordinariate in the UK will be wise enough to make good use of his very special gifts.

On his blog one can read news regarding his First Mass in the Extraordinary Form at Brompton Oratory as well as his First Mass in the Ordinary Form.

Deo gratias!

And in case you missed these glad tidings:

Pope Benedict XVI has elevated three priests of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham to the rank of Chaplain of His Holiness (Monsignor).

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Monsignor Edwin Barnes, Monsignor Robert Mercer, and Monsignor David Silk, have all received the honour from the Holy Father, recognising their former ministry as Anglican bishops.

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Msgr Barnes and Msgr Silk were received and ordained via the Personal Ordinariate in 2011, whilst Msgr Mercer was received and ordained in 2012.

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The Ordinary, Msgr Keith Newton, said “By establishing Personal Ordinariates, Pope Benedict is seeking to be generous in making provision for those Anglicans who wish to come into the full communion of the Catholic Church. In every possible way he has sought to recognise the fruitful Anglican ministry which we undertook before entering the Catholic Church; this honour for these three distinguished men is a further sign of our Holy Father’s love and warmth toward this project”.

Note: On this blog I use the North American abbreviation "Msgr." for Monsignor as the abbreviation "Mgr." signifies "Manager".

+Laus Deo!

A Question of Collaboration

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Why did the USA not benefit from the kind of name accorded to the UK in the establishment of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham?

Clearly, the English, Anglican, and Catholic convergence in the UK was recognised around its most central apparition of Our Lady at Walsingham as the most appropriate name for the Ordinariate under the patronage of that most famous convert Blessed John Henry Newman. Deo gratias!

Was there nothing similar in the USA?  Does the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter resonate with anyone as uniquely expressive of the American Anglican experience being welcomed into the Church?  I entered the Church on the feast of the Chair of St. Peter so that has meaning to me.  And communion with the Chair of St. Peter has been a most important aspiration over the years.

The name is majestic and wonderful, but does it speak to the American Anglican experience and the long held desire for corporate reunion with Rome?  Of course, it does, and in that respect it is successful. But it could be just as true in Australia or South Africa or elsewhere.  Unfortunately, there is no explanation of how this name was chosen, but it is said that it came to be chosen without any consulation of the Anglican Use parishes, clergy, and people.  How very sad if true.

I am long on record that I had hoped the Ordinariates around the world would all be called Ordinariates of Our Lady of Walsingham.  We would have been able to set down the difficult appellation "Anglican", and we could have been called "Walsingham Catholics" as a kind of short-hand the world over.

I also held a second opinion that if each were to be different bearing something of national character then Father Paul Wattson and Mother Lurana had clearly pointed the way for us.  I have no doubt that the 'Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Atonement' would have been the best choice.  For those who do not know, Fr. Paul and Mother Lurana were Episcopalians and their communities came into the Catholic Church with a devotion to Our Lady of the Atonement for the sake of Christian Unity.  This devotion was embraced by the Catholic Church and the Pope himself embraced the devotion and honoured it.

Does it make a difference?  I think so.  How much more appropriate would the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Atonement under the patronage of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton be in comparison to what was chosen.  St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was of course a convert from the Episcopal Church, and it is her major relic that is in the High Altar of the gorgeous Our Lady of Walsingham Church in Houston, Texas which over many years was my home parish.

Of course, no one asked.  So how could I or any others have made representation to authorities of our hopes or aspirations regarding a name or anything else?  No the generosity and openness of Pope Benedict XVI in Anglicanorum coetibus was met with a brotherhood of absolute secrecy worthy of Freemasons in the establishment of the U.S. Ordinariate.

If the way the U.S. Ordinariate began shrouded in secrecy is to be the norm, then a key element of the Anglican patrimony is to be left behind.  Collaboration cannot be reduced to a few folks gathered together in an unnecessarily secretive liturgical committee or particular Working Group.  None of this is the Manhattan Project. 

This post is actually meant to undergird this simple plea: that those to be affected by decisions be invited to collaborate prior to the final judgements being rendered. Our Anglican background has taught us well how to do this, and it does not mean that we are putting anything to a vote.  But now without the sort of vote that Anglicans once held in synod and on council, surely collaboration and investigation of the laity's aspirations and ideas prior to delivering decisions is the wisest course of action to ensure that there are no unnecessary troubles along the way.

+Memento mori.

Pope Benedict, New Evangelisation, Ordinariates

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In the United Kingdom the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham continues to lead in its forward vision of programming and events to build up that newborn portion of the Church.  After my brief comments, I have copied the list of forthcoming happenings as printed in the excellent e-Newsletter of the OLW-Ordinariate which keeps all apprised both home and abroad of the work of the OLW-Ordinariate.  

Naturally, these sorts of events are normative from the C of E experience, but it is wonderful to see the Personal Ordinariate not missing a beat and carrying on with what needs to be done in a calm and efficient manner.  Of course, that is what the English do, isn't it?  Keep Calm and Carry On. Bravo to Msgr. Newton for guiding this little barque in the flotilla of St. Peter forward and locating the Personal Ordinariate daily within the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The forthcoming one day event at Buckfast Abbey with Professor Tracey Rowland entitled "The New Evangelisation in the thought of Pope Benedict" I wish to 'underline' as a valuable and important contribution toward locating the theological resources that should underpin the Missionary Vision of the Personal Ordinariates as they are adapted in local situations.  For those of us from the English-speaking world outwith the UK, should we be in England on holiday it would be most worthwhile to take in this event.  I'd think to be certain that there is room available for one to attend it is best to contact Fr Ian Hillyer at the link provided. 
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Saturday 30th June 2012 -  The New Evangelisation in the thought of Pope Benedict
Professor Tracey Rowland, Dean and Permanent Fellow of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, Melbourne, will present a concise examination of the idea of the New Evangelisation in the writings of Pope Benedict XVI, with particular reference to the establishment of Personal Ordinariates. The day will take place at Buckfast Abbey Conference Centre. Tickets are £5 (to help cover costs) and are available from Fr Ian Hellyer.

Forthcoming events in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, UK

Sunday 24th June 2012 at 11am - Ordinary to preside at Mass in Portsmouth

Monsignor Newton will preside and preach at the Church of St Agatha, Portsmouth for the IoW and Portsmouth Ordinariate Group.

Saturday 30th June 2012 -  The New Evangelisation in the thought of Pope Benedict

Professor Tracey Rowland, Dean and Permanent Fellow of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, Melbourne, will present a concise examination of the idea of the New Evangelisation in the writings of Pope Benedict XVI, with particular reference to the establishment of Personal Ordinariates. The day will take place at Buckfast Abbey Conference Centre. Tickets are £5 (to help cover costs) and are available from Fr Ian Hellyer.

Friday 6th – 8th July 2012 - Invocation 2012

Invocation is a national festival for young adults held in the grounds of St Mary’s College, Oscott from 6-8 July 2012. The festival is aimed at young men and women aged 16-35, who are looking to deepen their relationship with Christ and are open to possibility of a vocation to the priesthood or Religious life. A number of members of the Ordinariate were present last year. This year the relic of the heart of St John Vianney will be present at the festival. 

Saturday July 14th 2012 - Annual Pilgrimage of Reparation and Consecration to Walsingham

This will be Led by Fr. Ivan Aquilina of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. 

Saturday 28th July 2012 – A day with Newman at Littlemore

The Portal Magazine is organising this event giving the opportunity to spend a day in Littlemore on Saturday 28th July 2012. Hear about Blessed John Henry Newman’s time at Littlemore, attend Mass and enjoy a good lunch. Further details, timings and booking details for the day are published here. 

Thursday 9th - 12th August 2012 - Blessed John Paul II Walking Pilgrimage

Members of the Ordinariate are taking part in the Blessed John Paul II walking pilgrimage to Walsingham for the New Evangelisation in England & Wales. The 50 mile pilgrimage starts with Mass in the ruins of the Abbey at Bury St Edmunds and concludes at the Sunday Mass in the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Accommodation and food are provided as is transportation each day for luggage. Morning & Evening Prayer is sung each day and Mass is celebrated en route with prayers, hymns, rosary and talks as the pilgrims walk along. The cost is £55 per person. Further information and booking from Sister Hyacinthe OP. 

Saturday 15 September 2012 - National Pilgrimage to Walsingham

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is organising a National Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham on Saturday 15 September 2012. More details here. 

+Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.