The First Personal Ordinariate in England: Our Lady of Walsingham

On September 19, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI capped off his brief visit to Scotland and England by beatifying John Henry Cardinal Newman in an open-air Mass at Cofton Park, outside Birmingham, England.

The Pope had begun his visit after flying from Rome to Edinburgh by meeting Queen Elizabeth II at Holyroodhouse on Thursday, September 16. After they exchanged official greetings and gifts, he celebrated St. Ninian's Day with a parade in Edinburgh. Then he traveled to Glasgow, where he held the first Mass of his visit. Leaving Scotland, he went to London.

One of the great highlights of his visit in London was a sequence of meetings with the Archbishop of Canterbury and other Anglican bishops (at Lambeth Palace), with members of Parliament in Westminster Hall, and an ecumenical service of Evening Prayer at Westminster Abbey, all on Friday, November 17. The first meeting was cordial; both the Archbishop and Pope Benedict commented on what unites Anglicans and Catholics. The second meeting was remarkable: the Pope reminded the gathered government officials that religion was not a problem for the state to solve, but makes it own contributions to society. He cited St. Thomas More, who was tried and found guilty of treason in a sham trial by the state during the reign of Henry VIII, as an example of someone who stood up against the state over a matter of conscience. The last event was redolent of history, as Benedict reminded all present that the Abbey's patron saint is St. Peter; as the current successor to St. Peter as Bishop of Rome, his visit there was extraordinary.

On Saturday, November 18 Pope Benedict celebrated Mass at Westminster Cathedral, the Catholic church built after Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and the restoration of the hierarchy in 1850. That evening he lead a huge congregation in Eucharistic Adoration in Hyde Park, just steps away from Tyburn, where Catholic priests and laity suffered brutal execution for their faith in the 16th and 17t centuries. During the prayer vigil he spoke of Cardinal Newman's tremendous desire to know the Truth and his courage to follow the Truth wherever it led him--even to the Catholic Church!

He described that desire and that courage as something that could be costly to the follower of Truth, citing those martyrs and their suffering as an example:

"Newman's life also teaches us that passion for the truth, intellectual honesty and genuine conversion are costly. The truth that sets us free cannot be kept to ourselves; it calls for testimony, it begs to be heard, and in the end its convincing power comes from itself and not from the human eloquence or arguments in which it may be couched. Not far from here, at Tyburn, great numbers of our brothers and sisters died for the faith; the witness of their fidelity to the end was ever more powerful than the inspired words that so many of them spoke before surrendering everything to the Lord. In our own time, the price to be paid for fidelity to the Gospel is no longer being hanged, drawn and quartered but it often involves being dismissed out of hand, ridiculed or parodied. And yet, the Church cannot withdraw from the task of proclaiming Christ and his Gospel as saving truth, the source of our ultimate happiness as individuals and as the foundation of a just and humane society.

"Finally, Newman teaches us that if we have accepted the truth of Christ and committed our lives to him, there can be no separation between what we believe and the way we live our lives. Our every thought, word and action must be directed to the glory of God and the spread of his Kingdom. Newman understood this, and was the great champion of the prophetic office of the Christian laity. He saw clearly that we do not so much accept the truth in a purely intellectual act as embrace it in a spiritual dynamic that penetrates to the core of our being. Truth is passed on not merely by formal teaching, important as that is, but also by the witness of lives lived in integrity, fidelity and holiness; those who live in and by the truth instinctively recognize what is false and, precisely as false, inimical to the beauty and goodness which accompany the splendour of truth, veritatis splendor."

The vigil, obviously was preparation for Sunday's beatification Mass at Cofton Park near Birmingham, England. When John Henry Newman became a Catholic, he traveled to Rome to study for the Catholic priesthood; there he determined the best way to live out his priestly vocation was in the Congregation of the Oratory, founded by St. Philip Neri. Newman established the first Oratory in England in Birmingham, including an Oratory school that J.R.R. Tolkien would later attend. At that Mass he declared Newman beatified, announcing his feast day as October 9, the date on which, in 1845, he was received into the "one true fold of Christ" as he ever after called the Catholic Church.

During his homily Pope Benedict described the outline of Blessed John Henry Newman's life and works; the meaning his motto as Cardinal, Cor ad Cor Loquitor (Heart Speaks to Heart) and his efforts to serve the people Birmingham as a priest, caring for them in so many material and spiritual ways. After the Mass he went to the Birmingham Oratory for a special tour of Newman's rooms, chapel, and the new shrine established in the church there.

Speaking about this Beatification--an unusual event for Pope Benedict to celebrate as he has been wont to let the local bishop in the diocese of the beatified to officiate at such ceremonies--at his General Audience the following week, he said:

"Sunday, then, was a moment of deep personal satisfaction, as the Church celebrated the blessedness of a great Englishman, whose life and writings I have admired for many years and who has come to be appreciated by countless people far beyond the shores of his native land. Blessed John Henry Newman's clear-minded search to know and express the truth in charity, at whatever cost to his own personal comfort, status and even friendships, is a wonderful testimony of a pure desire to know and love God in the communion of the Church. His is surely an example that can inspire us all."

After all these important public events (and others I have not described) Pope Benedict met with the bishops of England and Wales at Oscott College--another historic venue, since it was here that Father John Henry Newman, Oratorian, had given his great Second Spring sermon during the first Synod of Catholic clergy since the 16th century. It was at that meeting that the Pope reminded the bishops of his desire for them to be generous in implementing the Apostolic Constitution he issued in October, 2009, "Anglicanorum Coetibus":

"The other matter I touched upon in February with the Bishops of England and Wales, when I asked you to be generous in implementing the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. This should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics. It helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all. Let us continue to pray and work unceasingly in order to hasten the joyful day when that goal can be accomplished."

The generosity he sought has been extended to the first Ordinariate. On January 1, 2011 three former bishops in the Church of England were received into the Cathoilc Church at a midday Mass without fanfare or great announcement. On January 15, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols ordained Keith Newton, Andrew Burnham, and John Broadhurst as Catholic priests. The same day the Vatican announced the formation of the first Ordinariate, named for Our Lady of Walsingham and placed under the protection of Blessed John Henry Newman. The first leader of the Ordinariate--which is like a Catholic diocese but not limited to a geographical location--is Keith Newton, one of the former Anglican bishops. He and the other two leaders will be in charge of catechesis of groups who will be received into the Catholic Church at Easter in 2011 and preparation of any other former Anglican clergy who seek ordination as Catholic priests.

The title "Our Lady of Walsingham" is very appropriate, because England was once known as Mary's Dowry, designating its special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary before the English Reformation. Our Lady of Walsingham is a great pilgrimage site today, restored after it was destroyed in the 16th century. Placing the first Ordinariate under the protection of John Henry Newman is just the perfect outcome of the Pope's visit to England--he is the right patron for such an effort because he is the guide to true unity while respecting the legacy of the Church of England.

Sources:

Stephanie A. Mann, Supremacy and Survival: How Catholics Endured the English Reformation (New York, Scepter Publishers, First Printing 2009; Second Printing 2010).

Official website for the Papal Visit: http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/

Staff Report, "Full Text of Decree Erecting the Ordinarite," The Catholic Herald, January 17, 2011: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2011/01/17/full-text-of-decree-erecting-the-ordinariate/