THE
P RTAL
January 2012
Page 3
Our First Twelve Months
by Ronald Crane
In January 2011 the Portal began our task of serving the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of
Walsingham. Four thousand of you read us every month, and many download pages to read as hard copy,
as indeed I do myself along with other members of our Editorial Board - if you look on our web site at www.
portalmag.co.uk you will find previous copies of The Portal magazine: all twelve of them.
Grateful
We have been fortunate indeed to have
generous benefactors in The Catholic
League and Cost of Conscience. They
have provided the finance for us to bring
The Portal magazine to you free of
charge. It is hard to express our thanks
to these bodies and to the individuals
who also support us financially. They
went out on a limb to support us, and
we are humbled that so many of you
bother to go on line and download us
each and every month. We hope the
financial support will continue in the
coming year.
U.S.A.
If we have a duty to our financial
benefactors, and we clearly do; we also
have a duty to you our faithful readers.
We pledge to continue to reflect The
Ordinariate in the UK. But as you will
read elsewhere in this edition of The
Portal, the U.S.A. is to have its own
Ordinariate. Therefore we have secured
the services of a number of writers
across the water. We hope to carry a
report from the U.S.A. Ordinariate
every month.
Mgr John Broadhurst writes the
Ordinary’s page this month. There are
two things in that article that we must
take seriously. Finance is a problem
for the Ordinariate. In his article Mgr
Broadhurst sets out the problem in its
stark reality. We at The Portal endorse
his remarks. All Ordinariate members
should to give realistically.
group will make its own contribution to
the local Catholic Church. By directing
your giving through the Ordinariate you
will be supporting the local Church as
well. By not doing so, you risk your local
Ordinariate Group giving for you twice!
This impoverishes the Ordinariate at
every level. Our Ordinariate priests need
stipends. The only place these stipends
can come from, is us, the members of
the Ordinariate. The responsibility for
these stipends is ours, and ours alone.
Buildings
Mgr Broadhurst also touches on the
question of a Church building for the
Ordinariate. We have read Damian
Thompson’s blog and other articles
about this. Without commenting upon
them, it is clear that such a building, and
in London, is urgently needed and we
urge those who have the responsibility
for these things to do all in their power
to provide one.
It is, of course, not just in London that
buildings are needed. Local Ordinariate
groups also need places to worship. As
Mgr Broadhurst makes clear, we have
all been wonderfully welcomed by our
local Catholic Parishes, clergy and laity.
Nevertheless, without being ungrateful,
there is a difference between being a
lodger and having a place of one’s own –
even if it is rented!
YOU!
January 2012, is the start of our second
year. There will be people joining us
Finance
during this coming year, and we shall
We have heard of Ordinariate members
report their arrival and progress. Do
giving to their local Catholic Church
write and let us know your concerns,
and not to their local Ordinariate Group. We urge your thoughts, your ideas and your hopes and fears.
you who do this to reconsider. Your local Ordinariate We are here for you. A Happy New Year to you all.