THE
P RTAL
April 2017
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moment of controversy provides us with another: to
re-evaluate the Ordinariate and to discover that the
main perceived fault in the Ordinariate as perceived
by Philip North in 2009 is one of restriction. In 2010,
just after the publication of Anglicanorum Coetibus,
the Catholic League published the reflections of a
number of Anglican clergy, including Philip North.
In a contribution entitled ‘Anglicans and Catholics
in Communion: Patrimony, Unity, Mission’ (www.
thecatholicleague.blogspot.co.uk/p/anglicans-catholics-
in-communion.html). Fr North wrote a very coherent
article outlining the reasons why Anglo-Catholics
should stay in the Church of England and resist the
offer of Pope Benedict. classrooms as we expand to 350.
I would argue that this scenario of restriction has
simply not been realised. I know from my colleagues
in the Ordinariate that their ministry is even more
diverse than they had as Anglicans in the usual settings
of parish, cathedral, prisons, schools, hospitals and
missions. For example, in my parish of St Margaret
Mary in Birmingham - a parish where Ordinariate
and Archdiocese are working together - we have
Nigerians, Ghanaians, Zimbabweans, Eritreans,
Italians, Polish, Irish and so many other nationalities
comprising my congregation of 250 and we run a
primary school for nearly 300 children who are not
exclusively Catholic. We are about to build four new “Is that patrimony