...is London's famous Jesuit church and it is magnificent. A beautiful Mass there this evening to mark the centenary of the National Catholic Library (founded 1912) and to see the presentation of the Bene Merenti medal to a longtime volunteer staff member. Celebrant at the Mass was Bishop John Sherrington. The church gleams and glitters - it's in superb condition and, on this bitterly cold evening, was gloriously warm. There are several Masses there every Sunday including the sung Latin one which is noted for its fine music.
Back in 1992, I was in the Catholic Library - then based in Westminster, just behind the Cathedral - on the day the Church of England Synod debated the ordination of women. The librarian asked the two people - one was me - working in the reference room if we minded if she listened to the debate on the radio. We rather wanted to hear it too. We listened. I was underwhelmed by the arguments put for priestesses. I thought the people explaining how Scripture and Tradition pointed to the continuity of the Church's teaching in this matter had the better of the debate. I had to leave the library before the discussion ended. As I walked down Victoria Street I saw people coming out of the Synod, and two gleeful ladies told me they had won. I was sad.
But things have moved on and now, twenty years later, we are watching with awe the opening chapters of the next part of the history of Christianity in these islands - the unity for which so many have prayed, the fruit of ecumenical efforts over the years. We have the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Deo GRatias.
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7 comments:
Other than Westminster Cathedral and the Ely Chapel, what do you think are the most important Catholic churches/parishes for someone to visit in London, particularly if she has an interest in English Catholic History (and is of course a Catholic) and wants to see that heritage alive now? Thank you for your insights, in advance?
Certainly St Patrick's Soho Square, St James' Spanish Place, Brompton Oratory, St George's Cathedral Southwark, Farm Street Jesuit Church, Sts Anselm and Cecilia in Holborn, Tyburn Convent, St Mary's Draycott Terrace Chelsea, Holy Redeemer and St Thomas More Chelsea, and St Etheldreda's in Ely Place (which is a good-sized busy church rather than a chapel.
best wishes
JB
Given the relatively small numbers of clergy and laity who comprise the Ordinariate and the large numbers that remain in the Church of England, this is not 'reunion' so much as factional absorption. The greater body of the Anglo-Catholic party and a few Evangelicals became Catholics on an individual basis after the Synodical decision of 1992. All the Ordinariate proves is that Anglo-Catholicism is now residual.
I doubt if the Ordinariate has a life of more than ten to twenty years, if that. It is too small to have a strong identity and many would think this a good thing. Remember, too, that the majority of members are elderly.
I've been readin Joseph Pierce's book The Quest for Shakespeare where he pulls together solid proof that Shakespeare was a practicing Catholic. I highly recommend this book. Pierce gives the background of the times and of the Catholic persecutions. I had no idea that there were so many martyrs and persecutions in Elizabethan England. It was eye opening. My heart goes out to the Catholics over there and I feel the joy of coming home to Rome. Shakespeare would be proud! In fact I'm sure he is, looking down.
Thank you, Joanna, for your enthusiastic support for the Ordinariate. Even the Ordinary does not know where it will be in 10 years' time, but for now it deserves support not negativity or, Peter, condescending remarks. Let us wait and see. I am not of the Ordinariate, having been received in 1994, but I support it because it has enabled many friends to 'come home' and also because it is one of the very few ways in which any progress towards the unity which we must seek can be made. If it is of God....
Stephanie - the most 'important' Catholic churches are surely those where the faith is most effectively taught. Don't just go to the 'grand' or historic ones, find some ordinary parishes doing extraordinarily well the work of God.
Thank you, Joanna, very much for the great list--I hope to visit London again this year! Need to soak up some inspiration for my second book, on the English Catholic martyrs!
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