THE P RTAL
October 2013
followed by cake in the Rectory,
and a busy committee meeting planning carol singing, a
children’s project, and a seaside outing for the summer. Sounds
a bit like any traditional church ladies group anywhere in Britain
any time in the last century or so, doesn’t it? Well, that’s fine,
because the Ladies Ordinariate Group believes firmly in tradition
and heritage, and we celebrated our First Anniversary in style and
with great joy.
LOGS
The LOGS are a cheery group of ladies, and this
birthday gathering saw us with a good deal to celebrate.
Our first gathering, back in the Autumn of 2012, was
in a rather cheerless room at Precious Blood Church
at London Bridge – since restored to its original use as
a beautiful sacristy, with a rediscovered fine “lantern”
ceiling – but all subsequent meetings have been held in
the pleasant comfortable parish room in the Rectory,
with an abundance of good coffee and a healthy supply
of buns and biscuits.
Birthday gathering
For this Birthday gathering, we celebrated a
further step in our development: we now have
members not only from the original Precious
Blood group but also from the Central
London and Croydon Ordinariates, so we
went to the Church of the Assumption at
Warwick Street for our celebration. Mgr
Keith Newton celebrated Mass for us, and Jill
Newton welcomed us to the Rectory for our
meeting, which began with a rousing “Happy
Birthday to Us!” and a candlelit cake.
Distressed Gentlefolks Aid
Society
It’s been a good year. We have
had some excellent talks, with
members taking it in turns to
research the life and message
of a notable
Christian
woman in Britain.
Thus we have tackled
Elizabeth
Finn,
the
remarkable founder of the
gloriously-named Distressed
Gentlefolks
Aid
Society
(which she established when
she was 72, after a lifetime of
other good works including a selfhelp manufacturing co-operative
for poor people in the Holy Land),
Auntie Jo a n
A beautiful Mass
Abeautiful Mass,
Page 6
na
and about
J a n e t
Ransome
Wallis,
the
founder of the Mission of Hope.
wri tes
This last was of special interest to us, as being a local
story, centred around Croydon, and with a strong prolife message, helping unmarried mothers in days when
they faced very tough times. Many children, born in
difficult circumstances, were given loving homes
through a well organised adoption service centred on
real care – an example for us to heed today.
Towards Advent Festival
We ran the Ordinariate stall at the Towards Advent
Festival at Westminster Cathedral Hall – and will
be running it again this year. We organised a big
London-wide project for children at Anglican
and Catholic primary schools, and its success has
emboldened us to run it again and on a bigger scale
in 2014.
We had a wonderful summer pilgrimage, visiting
the new Vocations Centre at Whitstable in
Kent, with Mass, a hearty lunch, and a
beautiful Rosary in the garden shrine
there, and a walk by the sea: praying
for the young men studying at
Whitstable is now added to our
other responsibilities.
carol singing
Looking ahead, we’ve got carol
singing at London Bridge
station, a