Catholic schools can apply to become academies Report, page 32
Closure of centre ‘bolt from blue’
Sam Adams
WESTMINSTER DIOCESEis to close its main pastoral centre by the end of the year. Multi-million pound plans to upgrade the All Saints Pastoral Centre in London Colney, Hertfordshire, have been judged by the diocese to be unaffordable, forcing the decision to put the property up for sale. The listed building, which provides spiritual
retreats and is home to SPEC, an outreach ministry for young people, is to remain open until the end of 2011 while a buyer is sought. Archbishop Vincent Nichols said in a state- ment that the closure was regrettable, but that it would “help the diocese make better use of its resources in what is a challenging economic climate”. He said alternatives for the centre’s long- term use had been explored – including substantially upgrading its conference facilities and developing it as an education centre – but that the diocese’s trustees had decided this would not be a “prudent” use of resources. The centre’s director, Mgr Vladimir
Felzmann, said news of its closure had come as a “bolt from the blue” and that the centre had been making money.
The chapel at All Saints Pastoral Centre, London Colney,
designed by Sir Ninian Comper. Photo: Ian A. Wood
Newton warns of hard road to the ordinariate
But he added that major repairs were needed to the centre’s roof and its historic chapel, designed by Sir Ninian Comper. Mgr Felzmann said finding a buyer for the site, which was valued at around £3.5 million two years ago, could be complicated by its listed status and by a covenant imposed by its previous owners that requires it to be used only for religious, agricultural or educational purposes. All Saints was bought by the Diocese of Westminster in 1973. Its 32 staff will be consulted about job losses during the next month, although the diocese said it would do all it could to find them alternative posts where possible.
An alternative location for SPEC has yet to be identified, although Mgr Felzmann believes the diocese’s purchase of the Grail Community centre in Pinner, north London – announced this week and believed to have cost around £3m – is a likely solution as a new home for SPEC.
Rival publishers clash over new Catholic Bible
THE CATHOLICTruth Society has called into question a rival publisher’s claim that the text of its new Catholic Bible will be used in the new Mass, writes Elena Curti. HarperCollins, one of the world’s biggest publishers of Bibles, is next month publishing its latest Catholic Bible that will bring together in a single volume the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) with the Grail Psalms. The company says that it is aimed especially at Roman Catholics and that the NRSV trans- lation “will be used in the new edition of the Lectionary which is coming soon”. But Pierpaolo Finaldi, commissioning edi- tor at the Catholic Truth Society, who is leading the team producing the new Missal, said the current Lectionary, which uses the Jerusalem Bible text, would remain in use for a consid- erable time. “HarperCollins has jumped the gun a bit as the text for the Lectionary hasn’t been approved yet,” said Mr Finaldi. He added that while there were plans to
use the NRSV text in the new Lectionary, it would not be the same version that appears in HarperCollins’ new Catholic Bible. But HarperCollins this week maintained its Bible would be highly attractive to Catholics. A spokeswoman said: “It has all the books of the Bible in Roman Catholic order, it has the Grail Psalms and other fea- tures such as Mass Tables – all of which make it Catholic, and of course it bears the impri- matur. The text for the new Lectionary hasn’t been agreed yet by Rome, absolutely, but we’ve been advised that it’s several years away. When the new text is agreed, we will certainly look to update the text in this Bible.” The NSRV translation is currently being adapted so that it conforms with the instruction, Liturgicam Authenticam issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship in 2001. This requires translations to be more literal and for gender-specific language to be used.
IT IS LOOKING increasingly unlikely that ordinariate Catholics will be allowed to share Anglican churches, the leader of the new group has warned potential converts, writes Liz Dodd. Fr Keith Newton delivered a downbeat assessment of the prospects for church sharing with Anglicans when he took part in a question and answer session at St Agnes’ Church, Kennington Park, south London, last Saturday. Fr Newton, who is the ordinary of the ordinariate for England and Wales, was responding to questions from the 60-strong audience about whether those who join the Catholic Church via the ordinariate would still be allowed to worship in their old Church of England church. He told them the decision would largely rest with the new Anglican vicar. Fr Newton was more pessimistic on the issue than he was last month when he expressed the hope that “there would be some possibility of ordinariate groups sharing a church they have used before”. Fr Newton told the St Agnes audience
that leaving the Church of England for the ordinariate was “a hard journey” and that support for those clergy planning to leave varied from one Anglican diocese to another. “Some clergy have been told as soon as they make a final decision they must leave. Others have been offered help so that when they do resign, when they leave their houses, there’s a conversation about it. Many bishops have been very open-hearted about it, which is what we’d hope,” he said. The provision of livelihoods for priests entering the ordinariate remains a concern, particularly those with families. He stressed that Anglicans who join the ordinariate are motivated by an imperative for unity. Although priests who have made the decision to convert are encouraging their congregations to discuss the ordinariate, he said this was not damaging relations between the two Churches. Fr Newton said the first groups to join the ordinariate would be received into the Catholic Church on Maundy Thursday, separately from other converts who are usually received during the Easter Vigil. He said it was important to distinguish baptised Anglican converts from those unbaptised catechumens who have followed the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) course.
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