THE P RTAL


February 2011 Father Peter’s Page At the Heart of the Ordinariate


LAST MONTH IN THE PORTAL I said that I would try to use my column as an opportunity to explain some of the difficulties/confusions that some of you might be having as you explore/decide your relationship with the Ordinariate. Tis I promise to do in the months ahead; but the events of the last few days have been so overwhelming that I have begged your editor to be allowed to share a particular reflection with you.


Diaconal and Priestly Ordinations I was privileged to be present at both the Diaconal


and Priestly Ordinations of those three courageous men who are now committed to leading the Ordinariate. Te word ‘historical’ has been used by many to describe that week which


on Saturday 15th


culminated January.


Without overplaying the use of that word, it clearly was historic . . .


But it was more than


that: it was a grace-given time for the good of the Church in this land.


So


many years of prayer, preparation and hard work by our forefathers came to fruition that day with a speed and a joy that none of us could have predicted.


Westminster Cathedral For those of us who were present in Westminster


Cathedral for the ordination of John Broadhurst,


Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton, the sense of the numinous was overpowering. Tis was truly a Kairos – God’s moment.


Tere were so many astonishing things happening in


quick succession that it is almost – even now – difficult to keep up to speed, yet alone place events in order of importance: the establishment of the Ordinariate itself; the giving of its new title - Te Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham; the naming of its Patron, Blessed John Henry Newman; and the magnificent news of the appointment of Fr Keith Newton as the first Ordinary.


But there was one small event that day – unnoticed


perhaps by many – which, when I observed it, quite literally brought me to tears.


Brave Religious Sisters In the Ordination rite there is the ‘Presentation


of the Giſts’ (technically referred to as ‘Porrectio Instrumentorum’ ) when the newly ordained priests are offered a paten containing bread and a chalice containing wine & water – symbols of their new ministry.


Quietly, unobtrusively, these were


brought up


by those three brave religious sisters – late of Walsingham, and now of the Ordinariate: Sister Carolyne Joseph, Sister Wendy Renate


and Sister Jane Louise. How


poignant . . . how appropriate . . . and how symbolic! Difficulties for Anglicans When Bl. John Henry Newman wrote ‘Te develop-


ment of Christian Doctrine’, and later, when he expanded on this in his talks ‘Difficulties for Anglicans’, he quotes the existence of Religious Life as one of the great marks of Catholicism and one of the signs of ‘growth’ and ‘development’ of a true Church.


Without in any way detracting from the priests


who had just been ordained, here at the heart of the Ordination Mass were three Religious Sisters. And they affirmed and proclaimed that - here at the Heart of the Ordinariate and at its very beginning - was Religious Life.


If anyone had any doubts before that God’s hand


was at work that day – the day of the creation of the Ordinariate – let them take note.


Our lady of Walsingham pray for us. Blessed John Henry Newman pray for us.


Fr Peter Geldard


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