Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We begin today the great season of Lent in which the Church is, each year, called to penance and conversion in a mystical journey that take her through the passion and death of the Lord, to the Promised Land of the resurrection.

Ash Wednesday also marks the formal start of a journey for those of you who seek to be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church through the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Your pilgrimage through the desert of Lent will, this year, be especially poignant.

In the First Reading at Mass today we hear this sentiment rehearsed once more: “Come back to me with all your heart [...] turn to the Lord your God again, for he is all tenderness and compassion”.

That call to continuing conversion - the recognition of our sin and a true spirit of contrition and repentance - is a universal call to sanctity which, in a special way, you bravely take up this Lent.

Take courage that the reward of faithful commitment to Christ is a deepening  of our personal relationship with him, in and through his Catholic Church.

As you study the faith and prepare spiritually for your reception during Holy Week, allow your heart to be fully converted toward Christ, and fully open to him, so that his love and his grace finds there fertile ground to take root, and to flourish. Only then can we completely allow his heart to speak to our hearts, and know truly the depth of his love.

May God bless you as you set out on this journey, and may Our Lady, Star of the Sea, be your guide to the safe harbour which awaits you.


The Right Reverend Monsignor Keith Newton
Ordinary of  the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
©KeithNewton2012

The second part of the Ordinariate Ordo, covering Lent to Trinity Sunday, has now been published and is available to download here.

One hundred clergy and lay people of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham are currently accompanying Monsignor Keith Newton on a Pilgrimage of Thanksgiving to Rome. Daily coverage of the events and activities is available on Twitter and Facebook.

The Archbishop of Southwark, the Most Reverend Peter Smith, assisted in choir at an Ordinariate Mass on a recent visit to St John the Baptist, Mongeham.

Fr Christopher Lindlar, a priest of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, celebrated the Mass having welcomed the Archbishop to preside at the Parish Mass (Diocesan) in the morning.  St John the Baptist, Mongeham, is a parish of the Archdiocese of Southwark, and Fr Lindlar has been appointed as the Parochial Administrator of the parish.

Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter under the patronage of Our Lady of Walsingham Homily of the Ordinary at the Solemn Mass of Installation Sunday 12 February 2012 Co-­‐Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Houston “Behold how good and joyful a thing it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1). With all our hearts, let us thank Pope Benedict XVI for this beautiful gift, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, and let us pray that it may further the goal of Catholic unity. When Cardinal Wuerl told me that the Holy Father would establish the Ordinariate under this name, I truly rejoiced, for it goes to the heart of what our mission should be. And it helps us to understand why our Lord entrusted His Church to Saint Peter in the first place...

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A London Based Ordinariate Lent Course for those new to the Catholic Church. Mondays of Lent at St George's Cathedral. Mass 6pm; Course 7pm. A series of topics and speakers talking about all those things you never liked to ask about.

See poster

40 Hours Eucharistic Adoration in Newman’s chapel at Littlemore from Friday, 17th February to Sunday, 19th February 2012

Evensong will be sung every Sunday during Lent at the church of the Holy Ghost, Balham.  Although a parish of the Archdiocese of Southwark, Deacon James Bradley from the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is resident in the parish: "Fr Stephen Langridge, the Parish Priest, encouraged me to think about celebrating Evensong in Lent as a way of deepening our engagement with this holy season. As we pray and meditate on the psalms, using the beautiful language and music of the Anglican tradition, I hope that Catholics and Anglicans from the area will gather at the foot of the cross, and there find the source of the unity for which we all long - Christ himself".

Evensong will be sung at 5pm, followed by Mass at 6pm. For more information, please contact the Reverend James Bradley

Find Us: Holy Ghost, Nightingale Square, London SW12 8QN (nearest tube: Balham and mainline from Victoria). More details on the parish website

Former Anglican clergyman of 48 years, the Reverend Paul Miller, and his wife Hilary, were received into the full communion of the Catholic Church on the feast of the conversion of St Paul.

Vicar of Woburn until his retirement, Paul Miller was Episcopal Vicar of the Bishop of Ebbsfleet for the Diocese of Hereford.

The date of the reception was a triple celebration because Paul was received on his name day, and Hilary on her birthday.

Fr David Mawson received Paul and Hilary for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham at St Milburga, Church Stretton, in Shropshire. They are now members of the Shropshire Ordinariate Group. They were joined by other clergy and faithful from the Ordinariate and the Parish Priest of St Milburga, Fr Ambrose Nicholson.

Photograph L to R: Fr John Pitchford; Fr Ambrose Nicholson; Fr Richard Smith; Fr David Mawson; Hilary Miller & Paul Miller (seated).

THE ORDINARIATE - ALIVE AND GROWING IN ENGLAND
A Report from London
Most Rev Peter J. Elliott

The first birthday of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was celebrated fittingly on Sunday January 15th 2012  at St James, Spanish Place, with Solemn Evensong, Sermon, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, Te Deum and Benediction. Together with other clergy, I assisted in choir at this act of thanksgiving on the last night of a fascinating two week visit to London.

The Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton presided and preached. What I found most encouraging was not only his “upbeat” message, full of his own warmth and pastoral confidence, but the sense of achievement and joy among the large congregation who had gathered for the celebration.

The choir of St James brought forth the best of the Anglican Patrimony, wedded to the English Catholic heritage,  We entered to Parry “I was glad when they said unto me” (vivid memories of the coronation in 1953). Stanford provided the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. “Alleluia! Sing to Jesus!” accompanied the Eucharistic procession, while the canopy over the Sacrament was borne by four robed Knights of Malta. Stanford again gave us his Te Deum, while Elgar provided a limpid O Salutaris, not forgetting the traditional translation of Benediction used across three centuries by the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament. 

What I discerned in London is an Ordinariate that is growing steadily, facing challenges, especially church sharing, yet moving ahead. Nevertheless, some Catholic journalists have claimed that undue control is being exercised over the Ordinariate by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales. Frankly I do not share that concern.

The Bishops I talked to want the Ordinariate to flourish and are not overprotective. But, to be realistic, at this stage the Ordinariate is very young, a “nursling in arms”. It needs much support, care and encouragement as it gradually finds its place in the wider Church. It will not be absorbed and it will not be turned into an ecclesiastical nature reserve. Nor should we heed mischievous rumors that some people are reverting to Anglicanism out of disappointment. Long ago, that tale was spread about Blessed John Henry Newman himself. It is a standard fantasy, the gossip of those who feel insecure about other people’s choices. In fact, new groups are forming and emerging and individuals are quietly making their choice for unity.

What I came to understand better in England is what a “group”, “coetus”, means, and why our Holy Father Pope Benedict wisely focused on “groups” in Anglicanorm Coetibus. The little communities that make up the growing Ordinariate are mutual support groups, the gathering of Christians, men and women tied together not by being “disaffected” or battle weary. but by common worship, by friendships, by the service of others and an appreciation of Catholicism in terms of the concrete reality of the Church and her mission. This “coming together” of groups seeking unity is the final act and fulfillment of the Oxford Movement.

In that perspective, I was most impressed by the South London group. They worship in the modest but noble church of St Wilfred, Kennington Park, which they share with a small Catholic parish. The Mass I celebrated for them on the eve of Epiphany Sunday was the postconciliar rite, the new translation (which is much welcomed), with Anglican hymns and good ceremonial. Parishioners were happy to be part of the liturgy.

Afterwards we gathered at the pub, as you do after church in England. Here I met people who are so happy to be in full communion with the Catholic Church. They are happy be free, to have put behind them all the hurtful “issues”, to be able to walk into Westminster Cathedral and say “I belong here”. But they are also happy to be able to maintain those human and cultural bonds that can flourish in distinctive communities which maintain the Anglican Patrimony.

I then dined in an elegant Indian restaurant with a key group of clergy and laity who have been involved in Forward in Faith. Geoffrey Kirk was as irrepressible as ever.  His last message in New Directions is tough reading, realistic and challenging.

At Kennington I learnt that a new group is emerging in South London, based at Croydon. This pattern of new groups is being replicated in other parts of England. Some call it a “second wave”. I would rather see it is the normal growth of the Ordinariate in the English situation. The future growth of the Ordinariate in Australia may turn out to be different,  more a pattern of core groups drawing people to them,

There are other significant differences between the situation in England and Australia. Women bishops are already a reality in Australia. When they appear in England, as is inevitable, the impact of the reality of a novel polity will have its effects. That might be the real “second wave”.

In Australia the early years of the Ordinariate will require care and encouragement, as in England, with much mentoring and support on the part of Catholics. However, I would speculate that the Australian Ordinariate will be different in ways that ought to hasten its autonomy and make it less dependent.

Firstly it is not being drawn from one source, as in England. Rather it already draws on two sources, some members of the official Anglican Church together with Anglicans of the “continuum”, represented by the Traditional Anglican Communion. The former groups are used to struggle and the disappointment of the marginalized. The latter groups are used to making sacrifices and working in isolation, derided and without much support. The challenge to the Catholic community and its pastors will be to support, honor and appreciate these people who come with their own gifts, talents and hopes.

Secondly the geography of our vast continent means that the groups will be evenly distributed across most States. Each group will have to work out its relationship with the local diocese. Already there are good signs of cooperation and a welcoming spirit as we await the official timeline for the Ordinariate in Australia.

However, my main reason for enduring two weeks in a London winter, was a meeting of the Interdicasterial Commission, “Anglicanae Traditiones”, convened by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Divine Worship to work out an Anglican Use liturgy for the Ordinariates. Meeting at the Brompton Oratory, where I stayed for the second week of my visit, the commission has worked well and what it finally produces ought to contribute much to the identity and spirituality of the Ordinariates.

At this time we are all called to pray for the new Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter in the United States of America. Announced on January 1st 2012, the Ordinariate will be launched with a Solemn Mass of Institution and the Installation of Rev. Jeffery N. Steenson as first Ordinary on Sunday February 12th. The Mass will be celebrated  in the new Co-cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Houston Texas, hosted by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington and Delegate for the Ordinariate, and Cardinal Daniel Di Nardo, Archbishop of Houston. Australians will be able to see something of what is in store for them when the Personal Ordinariate for former Anglicans is established in our great Southern Land.

©PeterElliott2012

The Reverend Scott Anderson, formerly Vicar of St Andrew’s, Willesden Green, and St Mary the Virgin, Lewisham, has been received into the full communion of the Catholic Church at St James', Spanish Place for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. He was joined by friends and colleagues, including Fr David Irwin (Westminster), his predecessor at Willesden Green, Fr Chris Marshall (Ordinariate), a former colleague at Kelham Theological College, and fellow curates from Sheffield who acted as his sponsors. Also present was the Rector of Spanish Place and long-time friend, Fr Christopher Colven, who received him as they gathered to celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas). Scott now joins the London (South) Ordinariate Group.