THE P
RTAL
Is the Nursery of Ecumenism in Gloucestershire ?
January 2018 Page 12
Ronald Crane visits the Catholic Congregation in Moreton-in-Marsh
Mainly because of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity , January is the month for ecumenism .
As our regular readers will know , one of the founders of this annual week of prayer was the Revd Spencer Jones , for forty years Rector of Moreton-in-Marsh , Gloucestershire . Unfortunately , there are now no signs of his long incumbency in the Parish Church . All that remains is a cup he donated for bell ringing . The Portal understands it is still awarded today .
However , the whole quest for Christian Unity is not forgotten in Moretonin-Marsh . At the very basic level , Christians of different denominations often share resources . There is a supreme example of this in Moreton today . The local Catholic community celebrates mass each Sunday in the Congregational Church . To make this even more interesting to The Portal , the celebrant is usually Fr Stephen Lambert , a priest of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham . You will find an interview with him in the October 2017 edition of The Portal .
So it was that I arrived in Moretonin-Marsh for the 9am Mass in the Congregational Church in Oxford Street . It was a cold and damp Sunday morning . The welcome was warm and friendly ; the church beautiful and well ordered . It transforms into a Mass Centre quite easily . This is made all the more convenient as the Catholics have their own storage space for vestments and all the other things required for mass .
The mass was beautifully celebrated , and the congregation of about thirty took an active part in the liturgy . Every age group from children to elderly were represented . All was done with care , devotion and holiness . It was a privilege to be present . If you find yourself in this part of Gloucestershire one Sunday , make your way to The
Eileen Viviani MBE
John Robertson
Polly Asher
Congregational Church , Oxford Street , Moreton-in-Marsh , Gloucestershire , GL56 0LA for the 0900 mass . You will not be disappointed .
After mass , I was taken to the Redesdale Hotel for coffee . There I met five members of the congregation . Anne and John Robertson had set things up in church prior to the mass . Both are retired , Anne as a GP , and John from financial management . All the members I met were retired , although many Catholics at mass are not . Polly Asher was a legal accountant manager , Lynn Bedford worked at a food research station nearby , dealing with agricultural matters , and Eileen Viviani MBE was a civil servant .
Those present mused upon the gunpowder plot and Baddesley Clinton . How things had changed ! Now their priest was a convert and married as well . Eileen thought that perhaps the Reformation was unravelling . Polly said that her maternal forebears were involved at Baddesley Clinton , and all were Catholics . “ She knew of churches in Birmingham that had been built to look like factories , as they were not permitted to look like churches .” Eileen added , “ All this history , and here we are now !”
The group commented on the fact that , even today , Catholics tend to keep their heads down . It seems that