Friday 16 July 2010

Meeting at South Benfleet

Today I attended the local SSC Chapter of which I am a member which was held at St. Mary’s, South Benfleet. I was shocked when I drove into the car park to find that to park in South Benfleet would be a very expensive experience. The charge was £4.50 which allowed parking for 24 hours, coming and going as you wished. No wonder the car park was nearly empty.

After the Angelus, Mass and lunch, Father David Waller, Vicar of St. Saviours, Walthamstow and member of General Synod told us about the recent meeting of Synod in York when members decided that they would make little or no provision for Catholic or Conservative Evangelical Christians when women are consecrated.

After Father David spoke, the Bishop of Richborough gave a short talk and answered questions on the future for the Church of England. Rarely have I been to such a sombre meeting as Anglo-Catholic priests mourned the demise of the church they loved and which they have given loyal and devoted service to, many for a great number of years. There is no doubt that we now face a period of bereavement and I suggested at the meeting that what we needed to do was to pray and think, and to think and pray, and to go to the Sacred Synod on the 24th September at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster.

In the end I think we will come to the conclusion that, in fact, General Synod has done us a favour by not making the provision we asked for. Now there is nothing to prevent us taking up the Holy Father’s generous offer of the Ordnariate.

2 comments:

  1. Now by chance our Chapter of SS Peter & Paul met in Christchurch Priory today; and we heard from our Vicar about the meeting with the Bishop of Nottingham, and were greatly cheered to know how welcoming Bishop McMahon had been. Many of us have our sights already set on Anglicanorum Coetibus, and today took us a little further along that road. See you at the end of it (all roads lead to Rome, remember) +E

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  2. Father, £4.50 for the glories of St Mary the Virgin, South Benfleet. Cheap at half the price! Good to see you today.
    Fr Lee Bennett

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