MEETING ON 21ST NOVEMBER

On Wednesday the Redbridge & Havering Ordinariate Exploratory Group met at St. Augustine’s for Mass and a Discussion. It was decided to hold our final meeting as the Ordinariate Exploratory Group on the 19th December when will meet for Mass and a Social Evening. From the New Year we will rename ourselves as the Redbridge & Havering Exploratory Group when we will look at all aspects of the Christian Faith and which, during Lent, will become the Lent Group.

As always everyone interested is welcome to our meetings

MEETING 19th SEPTEMBER 2012

We will be meeting on Wednesday 19th September at 7.30 p.m. for Mass followed by a discussion on the Magisterium of the Church

VISIT TO THE HOLY LAND IN 2013

WITH

FR. MERVYN  AND FR. MARTIN

Brochures are now ready for the Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2013.  We are stopping at two excellent hotels and all entrance fees, three meals a day, and all gratuities are included. We plan to visit all the well-known holy places including Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Tiberius, the Sea of Galilee, the River Jordan etc. using air-conditioned coaches with an excellent Tour Guide. There will be a Daily Mass.  Travel Insurance is extra if needed (many people have an annual policy so don’t need the cover offered by the travel company) This is a trip of a life time organised for us by one of the best and most experienced travel companies McCabe.

The Pilgrimage is open to all who are interested so if you would like more details contact Father Mervyn or Father Martin

MEETING 18th July

Tonight 12 of us gathered at St. Augustine’s Church, Rush Green to celebrate Mass. After Mass, which we offered for all persecuted Christians followed by refreshments,we had a discussion about the adjournment of the debate about Women Bishops at the recent General Synod Those present were asked to support the petition by the Revd. John Richardson, Vicar of Ugley, to the Bishops asking them to keep the amendments they had made. We also discussed the decisions made by the Episcopal Church of the USA.

The next meeting of the Ordinariate Exploratory Group will be on Wednesday 19th September at St. Augustine’s Church when we will continue our study of the Evangellium Course.

ELEVATIONS TO RANK OF MONSIGNOR

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

The Ordinary, Mgr 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”.

The Redbridge & Havering Ordinariate Exploratory Group Meeting Wednesday 16th May

Yesterday evening there was a meeting of the Redbridge & Havering Ordinariate Exploratory Group which started with a Mass offered for the Ordinary Monsignor Keith Newton, for all those who have joined the Ordinariate and for all those exploring if the Ordinariate is right for them. After tea and coffee we had a meeting in two parts: the first considered the impact of the Passover Meal we shared on Palm Sunday and then, in the second, we considered our future programme which will include spending some more time on the Evangelium Course

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NEW BISHOP OF CHICHESTER

It has been announced that the new Bishop of Chichester is to be the Rt. Revd. Dr Martin Warner, Bishop of Whitby. Many people will know Father Martin from the time he was the Administrator of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Please keep Father Martin in your prayers as he takes up his new responsibilities.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The date of the next meeting is Wednesday 16th May at 7.30 p.m.

PASSOVER MEAL

On Sunday Evening, after attend Evensong in St. Augustine’s 12 members of the Ordinariate Group gathered for a Passover Meal in the Vicarage which had been prepared for us by Jan, Ann, Carol and Father Martin. After the ceremonial lighting of candles by Jan Father Mervyn began the Passover with the reading of the Haggadah during which we partook of Kosher wine, bitter herbs, matzah and heard the story of the Exodus. After following the Course of the development of the Eucharist through the Old Testament and into the new the Passover ceremony put The Eucharist very much into context. We were able to understand that the Rite we celebrate so frequently was firmly based on Scripture and that Jesus had brought the Seder, originally for Jewish people, to be something for us all. It was with gusto that we ended the meal with traditional shout of “NEXT YEAR IN JEREUSALEM”

Meeting 21st March 2012

Yesterday the 12 of us met for|Mass and, following refreshments, for a time studying the start of the Mass in the Lord’s Supper and its development. On Palm Sunday we will be meeting at St. Augustine’s Vicarage for a Passover Meal and we discussed some of the arrangements to make this as authentic as we can. This will begin with Evensong in Church and we will then go to the Vicarage for the Seder.

LENTEN MESSAGE FROM THE HOLY FATHER

In his Lenten message to the Church throughout the world, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The Lenten season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon the very heart of Christian life: charity. This is a favourable time to renew our journey of faith, both as individuals and as a community, with the help of the word of God and the sacraments. This journey is one marked by prayer and sharing, silence and fasting, in anticipation of the joy of Easter.”

Meeting 15th February

13 of us gathered for Mass on Wednesday 15th February and, following refreshments, we spent the rest of the evening learning how the Mass had been prefigured in the Old Testament. At our next meeting we will be studying the start of the Mass in the Lord’s Supper and its development. On Palm Sunday we will be meeting at St. Augustine’s Vicarage for a Passover Meal and we discussed some of the arrangements to make this as authentic as we can.

FEBRUARY MEETING

We will meet on Wednesday 15th February for Mass at 7.30 p.m.This will be followed by a look at how the Eucharist is prefigured in the Old Testament.

THE EUCHARIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The next meeting of the Redbridge & Havering Ordinariate Exploratory Group will be held on the 15th February with Mass at 7.30 p.m. After Mass we will be looking at how the Eucharist is foreshadowed in the Old Testament. At the meeting on the 18th February we will look at the Eucharist in the New Testament and its relationship with the Passover. On Palm Sunday we will meet in the evening at St. Augustine’s Vicarage to share a Passover Meal.

MEETING on the 18th JANUARY

 

We began the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on the 18th.

Tonight’s meeting began with a said Mass, offered for Christian Unity during which we prayed for all Christian Leaders particularly the Holy Father  Pope Benedict, Bartholomew the Ecumenical Patriarch, Rowan Archbishop of Canterbury, Keith the Ordinary, Stephen Bishop of Chelmsford, Norman and David Suffragens, The Leaders of the Reformed Tradition and for all those who profess the faith of Christ Crucified.

After Mass and refreshments we had a short “business” meeting. It was proposed that in future we should have a retiring collection which would be used to make a contribution to St. Augustine’s Parish for the heat and light that we use and that we would then make a contribution to the Ordinariate.  This was in the light of the information Father Mervyn gave the meeting about the various items of correspondence he had received concerning the finances of the Ordinariate.

The date for the Passover Meal would be Palm Sunday at St. Augustine’s Vicarage. Members would be asked to prepare items for the meal. During the next two meetings we would consider the origins of the Passover Meal in the Old Testament and it’s development into the Last Supper in the New Testament.

The possibility of a mid-week Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham was discussed and more details would be obtained and we would discus this again in February.

Ordinary’s Message for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2012

18012012

Mgr Keith Newton writes: On the night that our Lord was betrayed, in the upper room, he prayed that his followers should all be one (cf. John 17:21). That all Christians are not united is a source of great scandal - because it limits and distorts the work of evangelisation, to which all Christ’s faithful are called.

In the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we have the opportunity to rekindle our desire for the full, visible unity of all Christians, and to assess once more the importance of Christ’s call – that all may be one.

Pope Benedict, in his response to Anglicans seeking fullness of communion with the Catholic Church, has shown us how this hope can be realised – in and through the unifying office of the Bishop of Rome, as the successor of St Peter. He is truly the Pope of Christian Unity, because he shows that in the one Body of Christ we do not need to be divided to cherish our richly different traditions and identities, and that the Catholic Church is truly ready and able to manifest the unity of the Universal Church within its own life.

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham exists, not as a museum for the Anglican patrimony, but as an expression of how our vibrant and living tradition flourishes in, and because of, communion with the See of Peter. We are not a ‘structural solution’ to Anglican problems, but a vehicle of evangelisation and mission for the whole Church, contributing the gifts and treasures of our Anglican heritage alongside those of other Catholics, with whom we are now united.

Those who share the faith of the Catholic Church, but not the beauty of communion with her, must see in us the deep impression that our new relationship with Christ makes, so that they might find the strength to answer his call to fullness of unity in the Church with the successor of Peter, and enjoy the fullness of communion and peace in which we now share.

Thus we have been commissioned by the Holy Father to be those members of the Catholic Church who give her a special awareness of Anglican life and tradition from the inside, as she reaches out to the Anglican Communion to build the ecumenical work of common cause and proclamation in the world, towards the complete reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion that must come, because our Lord has prayed for it.

For many of us, this past year has seen relationships strained as we have moved into the Catholic Church, whilst close friends and colleagues remain in a position where communion with the Catholic Church is for the moment partial. As we journey deeper into communion with Christ, though, we move into a more profound relationship – not just with him, but with all those with whom we share the sacrament of baptism.

So let this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity be a time of intensified prayer for the unity of all Christ’s faithful, and let it be for us a time for renewed vigour for the work of Christian unity, of which the Ordinariate is a humble fruit.

As part of that, I commend to you Fr Paul Couturier’s prayer resources for the Week of Prayer produced by the Catholic League (www.unitas.org.uk), who have supported the Ordinariate from the outset and who – with us – share a vision for truth and unity.

The Right Reverend Monsignor Keith Newton

Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Ordinary welcomes appointment of US counterpart

Monsignor Keith Newton has enthusiastically welcomed the appointment of the Reverend Dr Jeffrey Steenson as the first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of The Chair of St Peter, erected today in the United States.

On hearing the news of the appointment by Pope Benedict XVI, Mgr Newton said, 'Fr Steenson is a warm and compassionate priest with a wealth of experience, and I am delighted by his appointment'.

The appointment of Fr Steenson marks the official establishment of the second Personal Ordinariate for those from the Anglican tradition who wish to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church, whilst retaining those elements of Anglican liturgical and spiritual patrimony consonant with Catholic faith and practice. Dr Steenson formerly served as a bishop of the Episcopal Church before being received into the Catholic Church, and ordained under the Pastoral Provision.

Speaking of the erection of the US Ordinariate, Mgr Newton said, 'The Holy Father's vision for the visible reunion of Anglicans with the Holy See continues apace. As we enter in 2012, we pray that many more will take up Christ's call - ut unum sint - and fulfil the prayer of generations for an Anglicanism united but not absorbed'