THE
P RTAL
September 2018
Page 11
Around the Blogs
Confined to the house, Arnold Herron has been reading the Blogs
D uring a
period when I have been confined to the house because of illness, I have been scanning
various Blogs having a relationship to the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
I began at www.liturgicalnotes.blogspot.com where
Fr John Hunwicke was concerned about the lack of
action surrounding the child abuse scandal rocking
the church. He writes:
The current unease in the worldwide Church
Militant is not confined to any single tendency.
The Australian Archbishop Coleridge spoke for
many when he said that, while HF’s letter on
clerical child abuse was good, action was needed.
So-called liberals (Tina Beattie) and so-called
conservatives (Bishop Egan) have expressed
a desire for lay involvement in the solution of
a problem which has, disastrously, impinged
horribly upon the laity. Clergy invited to
participate in any contemplated initiatives could
profitably be married clergy drawn from the sui
iuris Oriental Churches and the Ordinariates.
The Holy See has a dismal record in this area....
The Curia is under a cloud, suspected of itself
having a strong, perhaps dominant, homosexual
element. The Episcopate’s record has been
lamentable or worse.... Bishop Egan’s suggestion
of a Lay Congress followed by an Extraordinary
Synod is a good one.
At www.ignatiushisconclave.org the question is asked:
Ordinary Catholics will remember Dallas,
2002, when (with Vatican approval) the
American Catholic bishops adopted a policy
of ‘zero tolerance’ of sexual abuse. Why is that
policy, shocking as it was then, not being adopted
now? Why is the Pope himself, as were so many
American priests, not deemed to be guilty until
proved innocent?
ww.rorate-caeli.blogspot.com contented itself with
this quote from the Holy Father himself: “I will not
say a single word about this”.
With this sentence, uttered August 26th 2018,
on his return flight from Dublin to Rome, Pope
Francis responded to the shocking revelations
made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, which
involve him directly. To the journalist Anna
Matranga (NBC) who had asked him whether
the things the former Nuncio to the United
States had written were true, the Pope in fact
replied: “I read that statement this morning, and
I must tell you sincerely that, I must say this,
to you and all those who are interested: Read
the statement carefully and make your own
judgment, I will not say a single word on this. I
believe that the communiqué speaks for itself,
and you have enough journalistic skills to draw
the conclusions. It’s an act of trust (confidence):
after a while when you have drawn your
conclusions, perhaps I will speak. But I’d like
your professional maturity to do this work: it will
be good for you, truly. Fine like that.”
While from the Anglican perspective www.
ancientbritonpetros.blogspot.com has this:
Last year the Pride Cymru Eucharist Service
was celebrated by Joanna Penberthy, the first
woman bishop in the Church in Wales. In
another first, the Revd Sarah Jones, the first
transgender priest in the Church of England,
was chosen to celebrate Holy Eucharist in a move
that could be regarded as a calculated snub to
supporters of traditional marriage.
It is a mystery why someone who has
complained about being “OUTed” (see the
3.45pm event, above) would want to attract so
much publicity but the Revd Sarah Jones is not
shy when it comes to preaching about same sex
marriage:
From her own website: “Before ordination
Sarah played on the UK acoustic music scene...
Sarah also speaks to conferences and groups on
a range of topics including sex and gender, social
influence, leadership and diversity.”
Currently Rector of St Mary’s, Ross-on-Wye, St
Michael’s, Walford and St Michael’s, Brampton
Abbotts, Sarah Jones has been appointed to the
post of Priest in Charge of the City Parish of St
John The Baptist, Cardiff, described as being at
the heart of Cardiff City Centre and a significant
post in the Diocese of Llandaff.