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 24^th 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.