Sometimes instead of taking the car into Romford I make use of my bus pass and catch the bus. Parking is not always easy and, after all, it’s environmentally friendly to do so. The trouble is when I arrive at the bus stop I’m never sure whether I’m going to have to wait a long time for the bus or if, by chance, I’ve just missed one. I have to exercise my patience and stand and wait. Returning home is far more difficult. As Romford is quite a large town I have to find the right bus stop as there are many and not all of them close together. Come back around 3.45 p.m. the journey will be one of complete misery as then all the school children will be getting on and their sole aim in life seems to be to annoy the other adult travellers as much as they can.
Last year, in Croatia, we decided to take a trip on the local bus which only runs a few times a day. When we arrived at the bus station there were crowds of school children waiting for the bus and we did wonder if we would actually get on it. When the bus arrived I couldn’t believe it when all the children stood to one side so the adults could get on the bus first and when the last of the adults got on, they did. They were well mannered and polite and such a contrast to what we often receive in the UK.
It occurred to me that waiting for the bus is very similar to those of us who are waiting for the Ordinariate or deciding if there is another bus that can be taken. We don’t know when it will come or the route any other body will take. Already a branch of the Orthodox Church are advertising the fact that Anglo-Catholics could go to them if they so desired and keep an English Liturgy which has been authorised for use via the Russian Orthodox Church. I personally think this would be the wrong “bus” to catch but some might be attracted. I think I will wait for the Ordinariate “bus” whenever that might arrive. At least on that I will know I am going to the right destination.
I do not know if the Orthodox "bus" is the correct or the wrong bus. I simply know that it is a dishonest bus. The Orthodox will never truly allow an English liturgy, unless of course, one believes that an "English Liturgy" is simply the Russian tradition in badly translated English. Please, please let us not forget the fiasco of the so-called "Pilgrimage to Orthodoxy" and its supposed offer of a western rite. I sincerely doubt that the Orthodox have changed their spots! Also, let us remember that the Russian group presently making this promise does not believe that Anglicans are baptized Christians, and will demand that we re-baptized to join their sect.
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