The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is to hold its first "Ordinariate Festival" in September this year. The guest of honour will be Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, who will deliver an address on the how the Ordinariate fits in to the life and mission of the wider Catholic Church in the United Kingdom. The festival, which will run over the weekend of Friday 19 September to Sunday 21 September, is expected to be the biggest gathering of clergy and faithful from the more than forty Ordinariate groups across the country, since the Ordinariate was established in the UK in January 2011.
The proceedings will begin on the evening of Friday 19 September with a reception at the home of the Ordinary, the Rt Revd Mgr Keith Newton and his wife, Gill, in Golden Square, Soho, which adjoins the Ordinariate's central church, Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street. The main events will be on Saturday, 20 September, organised around Mass in Westminster Cathedral at 12.30. Before the Mass, Ordinariate groups will give presentations on aspects of their mission. In the afternoon Cardinal Nichols and the Ordinary will speak. The Ordinariate clergy and faithful will be encouraged to stay on in London so that they can attend the 103.30 Sung Mass on Sunday 21 September at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory.
The festival will come two weeks after another big event being planned by the Ordinariate. Saturday, 6 September has been set aside as an “exploration day” when Ordinariate groups will organise local activities designed for people who are not currently part of the Ordinariate, but who wish to learn more about it. Among those invited to the events, which will be widely publicised, will be Anglicans – both lapsed and practising – who might be interested in the vision for truth and unity in communion with the successor of Peter which the Ordinariate offers. Typically, local events might include an address, a question and answer session, Evensong followed by refreshments. The leader – or Ordinary – of the Ordinariate, Mgr Keith Newton, said the exploration day, named “Called to be One”, was part of new efforts on the Ordinariate’s part to communicate its message “much more widely and with more vigour and enthusiasm”.
Speaking of the two events, Mgr Newton said: “The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Cardinal Gerhard Műller, recently told the leaders of the three Ordinariates worldwide that, in these early years of the Ordinariates’ existence, we would be judged on how well we manage both to preserve the integrity and distinctiveness of the Ordinariates, but at the same time, integrate ourselves into the wider Catholic Community. These two events in September give us the opportunity both to reflect on how well we are achieving that balance here in the UK and also to reach out to others and show them more of this great ecumenical project of which we are so proud to be a part”.
The proceedings will begin on the evening of Friday 19 September with a reception at the home of the Ordinary, the Rt Revd Mgr Keith Newton and his wife, Gill, in Golden Square, Soho, which adjoins the Ordinariate's central church, Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street. The main events will be on Saturday, 20 September, organised around Mass in Westminster Cathedral at 12.30. Before the Mass, Ordinariate groups will give presentations on aspects of their mission. In the afternoon Cardinal Nichols and the Ordinary will speak. The Ordinariate clergy and faithful will be encouraged to stay on in London so that they can attend the 103.30 Sung Mass on Sunday 21 September at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory.
The festival will come two weeks after another big event being planned by the Ordinariate. Saturday, 6 September has been set aside as an “exploration day” when Ordinariate groups will organise local activities designed for people who are not currently part of the Ordinariate, but who wish to learn more about it. Among those invited to the events, which will be widely publicised, will be Anglicans – both lapsed and practising – who might be interested in the vision for truth and unity in communion with the successor of Peter which the Ordinariate offers. Typically, local events might include an address, a question and answer session, Evensong followed by refreshments. The leader – or Ordinary – of the Ordinariate, Mgr Keith Newton, said the exploration day, named “Called to be One”, was part of new efforts on the Ordinariate’s part to communicate its message “much more widely and with more vigour and enthusiasm”.
Speaking of the two events, Mgr Newton said: “The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Cardinal Gerhard Műller, recently told the leaders of the three Ordinariates worldwide that, in these early years of the Ordinariates’ existence, we would be judged on how well we manage both to preserve the integrity and distinctiveness of the Ordinariates, but at the same time, integrate ourselves into the wider Catholic Community. These two events in September give us the opportunity both to reflect on how well we are achieving that balance here in the UK and also to reach out to others and show them more of this great ecumenical project of which we are so proud to be a part”.
