THE NEXT MEETING OF THE REDBRIDGE & HAVERING ORDINARIATE EXPLORATORY GROUP WILL BE ON MONDAY 17th DECEMBER AT ST. AUGUSTINE’S CHURCH, RUSH GREEN.
MASS 7.30 P.M. FOLLOWEDS BY SEASONAL REFRESHMENTS.
IT IS HOPED THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO ANNOUNCE DATES FOR MEETINGS IN 2012 BY THE 17th DECEMBER
From the Catholic Herald:
A new ordinariate will be created on January 1 to bring Anglicans into the US Catholic Church, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington has announced at an annual meeting of the country’s bishops’ conference.
Cardinal Wuerl also said 67 Anglican priests had submitted their dossiers seeking ordination in the Catholic Church, and 35 of those had received initial approval from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
They can now move to the second stage of approval, which includes a criminal background check, psychological evaluation and recommendations from the Catholic bishop where he lives and from his Anglican ecclesiastical authority, he said.
The actions followed the November 2009 issuance by Pope Benedict XVI of an apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum coetibus, authorising the creation of an ordinariate to bring in Anglicans, or Episcopalians as they are known in the United States, who seek to leave their tradition and join the Catholic Church but retain certain elements of the Anglican faith.
The announcement in the final hour of the public portion of the annual meeting in Baltimore brought immediate logistical questions, such as the relationship between the ordinariate – which will cover the entire US – and the dioceses in which the former Anglican priests will live. The physical location of its offices has not been announced
The Redbridge and Havering Ordinariate Exploratory Group will not meet during the summer but will recommence in the autumn on a date to be announced.
Please keep the Ordinary Monsignor Keith Newton and the Ordinariate in your prayers.
Yesterday, 12 members of the Redbridge and Havering Ordinariate Group went to Walsingham to join the Pilgrimage of Reparation and Consecration organised by the Ordinariate and led by Monsignor Keith Newton. It rained and rained and raine and and when we arrived at Walsingham it was just pouring. We made our way to the Anglican Shrine Café for Coffee and some of us indulged in the wonderful Norfolk Shortbread they sell.
We had arranged to hold Mass at the Barn Chapel as, of course, we were not allowed to receive at the Mass at the RC National Shrine. It had been our intention to eat lunch, after Mass, in the Shrine Grounds and then to walk towards the Slipper Chapel to join the Procession of the Blessed Sacrament.We enjoyed our lunch in the Barn Chapel but then concluded that the Procession of the Blessed Sacrament would be cancelled although we were unable to actually find out any details,We decided to visit the Flower Festival taking place in the village this week-end
The flowers in the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church and the Church of St. Mary were absolutely stunning. We returned to the Abbey Grounds but again were unable to get much information except, as we thought, Benediction had been cancelled. We decided to go to the Shrine Grounds and wait and see what would happen. Eventually the Procession arrived carrying a Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham and then there was a service of Sprinkling in the Shrine Church which we attended.
Although our plans for the day had to be changed with the weather ruining our plans and soaking us all, we had a really enjoyable day..
Today the Holy Father celebrates the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the Sacred Priesthood. We thank God for Pope Benedict and offer our prayers on this wonderful occasion.
O God, the pastor and ruler of all the faithful,
mercifully look upon thy servant Benedict
whom thou hast been pleased to set as pastor over thy Church:
grant him, we beseech thee,
to be in word and conversation a wholesome example
to the people committed to his charge;
that he with them may attain unto everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
On Tuesday the Redbridge & Havering Ordinariate Exploratory Group combined with the Harlow Ordinariate Group for Exposition, Prayer and Benediction followed by a meeting held at the Church of the Assumption, Manford Way, Hainault. The Parish Priest Father Salvini hosted the evening and acted as MC. Monsignor Keith Newton, the Ordinary presided at Benediction, Father Mervyn Jennings played the organ, Father Robert Page acted as Deacon and Father John Corbyn led the Litany of the Sacred Heart. After the service, we went to the Parish Hall for refreshments and a talk with questions and answers from Father Keith. Also present was Father John Corbyn’s curate. Father Robert Page who is now a Roman Catholic Deacon is due to be priested this Saturday; Father Page was Vicar of St. Margaret’s until earlier this year. Please keep him and all the others to be ordained as Roman Catholic priests this weekend in your prayers.
It was a very worthwhile evening and our grateful thanks to Father Salvini for organising it and members of his congregation for making us so welcome.
We are hoping to arrange a further meeting with the Harlow Group later in the year.
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate, let us therefore continue, with our Christian brothers and other believers, to be for the world what Cardinal Suenens called the “soul supplement”. I am happy to tell you that besides Catholic Bishops, I have been able to have brotherly meetings with Archbishop Rowan Williams and with some other non Catholic religious leaders; it is interesting to note they share this view. After my seven year mission in the Russian Federation, where I had the opportunity and privilege of meeting closely with two great Patriarchs and knowing the Russian Orthodox Church pretty well, I hope that my mission here will also enable me to know and share our concerns with the Church of England and other churches and religious denominations in this country.
As you know, following the proclamation made by the Holy Father, the Holy See is preparing the Ecumenical Meeting of Assisi. That meeting, as similar previous meetings, will certainly be an occasion to highlight what we can commonly offer to our society.
Dear brother Bishops, I have the honour to tell you that during my meeting with the Holy Father before I left Rome to come here to take up the function that he had entrusted to me, he asked me to bring his pastoral solicitude to all of you and to the clergy, religious, faithful and people of Great Britain. He recalled keenly the hospitality he had received from Her Majesty and Her Majesty’s Government, and also from the Church and the British people. He remains grateful to all of you. He also reminded me that he had asked you to be “generous in implementing the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus” (Address to the Bishops of England, Scotland and Wales, St Mary’s Oscott). In his name, I wish to thank all of you for the way you have meticulously carried out that mandate. At the same time, I wish to congratulate and encourage Monsignor Keith Newton who was appointed first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and pray for the continuous development of the relations between Anglicans and Catholics in this country.
