THE
P RTAL
March 2013
Page 3
Lead story
Shock &
Surprise
by Will Burton
I was
in the Sea-Life centre with two of my Grandchildren. Not the most stimulating experience of my
life, but the young ones enjoyed it. Suddenly my mobile phone screamed as mobile phones are inclined to do.
twenty-four hour news
The message read, “The Pope has resigned!” Four
words that shook me. Four words that shook the
world. In the age of twenty-four hour news, not much
remains confidential until the “hour”. The Holy Father
kept the announcement to himself. It seems that even
Vatican officials close to him were surprised!
prayed and yearned for it.
United, yet not absorbed
United, yet not absorbed it certainly is. We rejoice
that we have been brought into that unity by a great
and holy man. Thank you from the bottom of our
hearts.
frail and, frankly, old one of his great achievements
At home I went straight to the computer and read the
various web sites that were full of this announcement.
Pictures of the Holy Father showed him looking frail
and, frankly, old. Some of the sites were truly nasty.
One screamed “Good riddance”; the usual suspects
were equally nasty. Most were as surprised as I was. It is an interesting observation on our times, that in
nearly every radio and TV bulletin about the Pope’s
resignation, scandal, corruption and intrigue were
mentioned, but hardly a word about the Ordinariates.
One suspects that when the history comes to be
written, the Ordinariates will nevertheless be one of
the great achievements of his time on the Throne of
Saint Peter.
a real father and Shepherd to us
Mgr Keith Newton, our Ordinary, told the Portal,
“Through the setting of the Ordinariate of Our Lady
of Walsingham Pope Benedict has shown himself
a real father and Shepherd to us. We will always
have a special affection for him and thank God for
his ministry which, in this way, enabled us to be in
communion with the See of Peter.”
talk, but little action
As members of the Ordinariates in the UK, USA
and Australia, we shall always remember Pope
Benedict XVI as the person who brought us into Full
Communion with the Catholic Church. We had talked
about unity for years; talk and more talk, but little
action. In many places the ecumenical movement was
like a railway train stuck in a siding, going nowhere.
Organise an ecumenical event and one struggled to
get the clergy to attend, let alone the laity!
visible, organic unity
He has achieved so much
The Conclave will elect his successor, and the Church
will carry on. We pray the Holy Spirit will guide the
Cardinals in their holy task, as we pray for he who will
be elected. However, we shall also continue to pray for
Benedict (or Cardinal Ratzinger?) in his retirement.
He has achieved so much where other men merely
talked.
New Evangelisation & the Year of Faith
His legacy will be the Ordinariates, of course, but he
has also left us the New Evangelisation and the Year of
Faith. This is more than enough to be going on with!
The old Christian countries of Europe and t he Western
World are seeing the faith in decline. It is imperative
that this decline be arrested. It is one of the tasks of the
Ordinariates to do all we can to assist the work of the
Holy Spirit in this field.
Benedict showed us how to go about the New
Suddenly, at a stroke, new life was breathed into the
movement. It happened; unity, visible, organic unity Evangelisation, Ecumenism and gave us the Year of
between Anglicans and Catholics. Benedict had cut Faith as a tool for the job.
through all the sham, through all the evasion and “nice
Let us make sure we do not let him down.
talk”, and brought into unity those who had for so long