THE
P RTAL
August 2012
Page 4
Salisbury
anything but plain!
Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane visit the Salisbury group
When you think about Salisbury, what image comes to mind? Is it the army with its tanks on Salisbury
Plain, a city and county deep in rural England, the Racecourse, or a great Cathedral? The city is not large. In
2001 it had a population of 39,726, although this is expected to be greatly increased in the 2011 census. For us,
Salisbury calls to mind a remarkable Ordinariate Group led by their able priest Fr Keith Robinson.
The Most Holy Redeemer
The Group worships at the Church of
The Most Holy Redeemer for the time
being. It is a pleasant modern building,
set by a lovely Green amid, what look
like, former Council Housing. There
were about thirty people present for Mass
on the Sunday of our visit. The welcome
was warm by any standards, and the
Mass beautiful. The homily was as good
an homily as one could hope to hear.
Mike Burbeck
disappearing into the general diocesan
Catholic structure, but I do see diocesan
Catholics joining us!”
Michael Burbeck
Over Coffee after Mass
we spoke to members of the
congregation. Mike Burbeck
(60) is a former member of
General Synod. An engineer
with Network Rail he regrets
leaving some of the Conservative
Evangelicals behind. “We have
walked away and we have a
future. They do not” he said.
Mike told us that their
welcome into the Catholic
Church has been very warm. John Antell and Fr Keith Robinson
“It could not have been better. We
have gone from being outside and
marginalised to being welcomed”.
“We do have a treasurer, but we
do not have a committee. Instead,
because of our present small size, we
hold congregational meetings.”
“I think we shall grow as disaffected
CofE members come and join us as
they push same sex marriages and
women bishops. We then become
a place of sanctuary, but only when
the time is right. I do not see us
“The Most Holy Redeemer is a
temporary stop. We are still in the mode
of establishing ourselves and our mission.
It is important that we stay together and
do not develop a seige mentality. We
must remember that we are all part of a
much larger group.”
John Antell
John Antell (55) is a Barrister.
He was received into the
Catholic Church in 1997 in
Wincanton. Impressed when
the Ordinariate came along, he
had to join. “I had been waiting
for it to get to me, but in the end
I had to move to it” He said.
“The only thing I really miss is
Evensong! Now learn that we
have even brought that with us!”
“Our future is unsure, but I
hope we can go in the direction
of developing some Mission and
Evangelisation policies.”
“I think the Portal is well produced
and the Ordinariate is marvellous! No
one expected it, and it is wonderful!”
Fr Keith Robinson
Alex Lloyd
Fr Keith is an old friend. We have
both known him for many years. A
real gentleman. After lunch he told us
that he didn’t have any regrets about
joining the Ordinariate. The Synod
in July 2008 made it clear to him that
there was no return. He felt a sense