THE
P RTAL
May 2013
Page 3
EDITORIAL
What is the Ordinariate for?
by Will Burton
A silly question , or a question at the heart of things? Damian Thompson, writing on his
blog - http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/damianthompson, on 2 nd April 2013 - www.tiny.cc/
DamianThopson2Apr - said some very kind things about us. For this we are grateful. Addressing the question
in our headline, Damian asks the question, shall we be a permanent structure of the Catholic Church?
establish an evangelical
presence
His own answer to that question
is, “…there’s an energy and
sense of imagination here (in
the Ordinariate) that promises
great things. Essentially, the
Ordinariate finds itself in the
same position as most of the great
orders and religious communities
of the Church in their early days.”
He continues, “The challenge
for the Ordinariate is to move
swiftly to establish an evangelical
presence wherever it operates, one
inspired not just by Benedict XVI’s liturgical vision but
also by the practical spirituality of Pope Francis.”
centuries. They took the gospel to
some of the most deprived places
in England. It was there that they
not only preached and taught the
Gospel, it was there that they lived
the Gospel. If we can capture this
vision we shall succeed because it
is our heritage. But heritage is all
very well, but it is not enough.
It is easy to live in the past.
Many have, and continue to do
so. This is not for the Ordinariate.
The Ordinariate must live in the
present. Damian’s words are a
compliment, but they are also a
challenge. That challenge must be taken up.
It is the Year of Faith, and we can do no other than
respond to the call for the New Evangelisation. That is
what we are for. It is our calling - Evangelisation and
Damian ends his piece, “Put it this way: one of the Ecumenism.
treasures of Anglicanism that the Ordinariate can
bring to Rome has nothing to do with vestments or live with the smell of the sheep
prayer books – it’s the tradition of the Anglo-Catholic
This vision sits very well with that of our new Pope,
‘slum priests’ who carried the Gospel to the darkest Pope Francis. He has urged priests to go to the poor
alleyways of Jack the Ripper’s London.
and to live with the smell of the sheep. This could be
directed right at the Ordinariate. It was, of course
If that can be revived for the 21st century, then, spoken to all Catholics, but it does speak directly to
like new movements before them, the Ordinariate us. There is a direct line from those “slum priests” of
will become part of the fabric of the Church. But first yesteryear to the message of Pope Francis.
comes perhaps the most difficult part of all: blocking
the dangers of Tokenism
its ears to the carping and sneers of its critics.”
The Holy Father reminds of the dangers of Tokenism.
I am not sure about the final sentence. Do we have To work with the underprivileged has dangers. We
“carping and sneer(ing) critics”? If we have, then the can be guilty of merely playing at it; using the choices
answer to them is in the preceding part of Damian’s that we enjoy and that the poor do not to advertise
blog. The answer to this is also the answer to our ourselves.
headline.
For a real effecti ve proclamation of the Gospel to the
a compliment and a challenge
poor and marginalised, the Ordinariate must be of the
For many of us the inspiration is indeed those poor too, just like those “slum priests” to which we are
“slum priests” of the nineteenth and early twentieth pointed by Damian Thompson.
the tradition of the
Anglo-Catholic ‘slum priests’