THE
P RTAL
January 2018
had in interview with John Pontifex of ACN. This
was truly harrowing, and we are full of admiration
for the work done by ACN. Our support for them is
unconditional. Fr Simon Ellis interviewed Fr Vaughn
Treco, an Ordinariate priest from the USA. Jackie and
Ronald visited two old friends: Fr Jeff Woolnough
with the people of St Peter’s, Eastwood Road North,
in Southend on Sea; and joined the celebrations for
the Golden Jubilee at St John Vianney, Clayhall, North
London with Fr Rob Page.
Page 8
Looking forward to 2018, there will be our second
Retreat for Lay people at the Dowry House in
Walsingham from 2 nd to 4 th March 2018. £150 per
person, sent to the usual address, or see the advert.
The Ecumenical Marian Pilgrimage Trust is holding
a day pilgrimage to OLW Willesden on Saturday 5 th
May 2018. We shall be there, as we shall be at the
Ordinariate Pilgrimage to OLW on Saturday 23 rd June.
A major event in 2018 is the Ordinariate Lay
In September we returned to the subject of church Conference at Worth Abbey from 7 th to 9 th August
music with an interesting interview with Keith Brown, 2018. It is hoped that each group will be able to send
and Jackie and Ronald went to Wales to see the Group two delegates. Groups will be advised by the committee
at SS Basil and Gwladys in Newport. There
directly.
was also a review of Fr Mark Vickers’
excellent book “Reunion Revisited” and an
A second major event is the Eucharistic
interview with George and Shelia Campbell.
Congress “Adoremus” in Liverpool from
Shelia’s ancestors were CofE clergy actively
7 th to 9 th September 2018. Be assured that
involved in ecumenical work.
T he P ortal will be present and will report
in full for the October edition.
October was a momentous month for T he
P ortal . Our Co-Editor, Jackie Ottaway,
Of course, in 2018, we shall continue
was chosen as one of the four Catholic
to visit groups and interview interesting
Women of the Year, along with Antonia
people. We hope you will send us news and
Moffat, Kathy Kelly and Sr Mary Kendrick.
pictures of events and happenings in our
A great honour for Jackie, of course, but
various Ordinariate Groups. Your letters
also an honour for the Ordinariate in
are always welcome. We enjoy reading
general, and T he P ortal in particular.
your thoughts, ideas, and comments.
This was a busy month for we travelled
to rural Gloucestershire to interview Fr
The Revd Fr Julian Green will leave us at
Stephen Lambert, the Ordinariate Festival
the close of 2017. He feels that his column
in London and the meeting of the three
has reached a natural conclusion. We thank
Ordinaries in Australia.
him for his hard work. We have enjoyed
his contributions. Joanna Bogle, Fr Mark
Every month, the Revd Paul Benfield
Woodruff, the Revd Dr Dn Stephen
keeps us up to date with events in the CofE. In October Morgan, the Revd Paul Benfield, Murcadha O’Flaherty,
he uncovered the discussion of transgender; a subject Geoffrey Kirk, Will Burton, and Snapdragon, will
we may well return to in 2018.
write each month; a treat is that we welcome the Revd
Ashley Beck to our regular correspondents. He will
In November we returned to the important subject write on Catholic Social Action.
of ecumenism, and the distressing subject of abortion.
The Bishops issued a statement on the latter, and
Of course, there will be as yet unknown events to
Ronald was invited to attend the meeting of the report. Whatever 2018 holds for us, for The Ordinariate
Eastern Catholic Bishops of Europe. We reported the of Our Lady of Walsingham, for the Catholic Church
Ordinariate Pilgrimage to Normandy, and interviewed in general, and for the world, you may be sure that we
Patti Fordyce, one time international tennis star, now shall report it.
working with LOGS.
All this is not bad for free! Of course, it is not really
Last month we returned to the vexed subject of free at all. It costs to produce. We are grateful to those
abortion with words penned by Lord David Alton, and whose financial support makes T he P ortal possible.
an interview with The Revd Dn Stephen Sharpe of the I suppose each issue would cost £2 were we to charge
charity “Life”. There was a visit to our first parish, in for it. Maybe you could set that sum aside each month,
Torbay, and a report on St Agatha Portsmouth’s giving a and then send it to us for your yearly contribution?
home to the “Homeless Bus”. This is a wonderful initiative One never knows how long our benefactors will be
and we hope to give you more news of it in 2018.
able to continue supporting us financially.