THE
P RTAL
March 2016
our readers who know us will understand
when I say, if that was a ‘light’ lunch, we
do not think we could cope with a ‘heavy’
one! The lunch was magnificent, and we
certainly enjoyed it to the full!
“I feel like I am at home here. That is because
it is a small group, and one knows one
belongs. We often have Sunday lunch together
– we all bring something and share.
“A worry is, how long Fr Paul will be able to
keep things going. He will retire at some point
I expect. What will happen then? Does the
Ordinariate supply someone?”
Adrienne Nyholt is the Group’s newest
member. She works at Tesco, and also does
the shopping for various other people. “I
have always been to church,” she told us, “I
went with my Mum to the CofE in Barming.
I was christened and confirmed there. At Ella Preskett
the age of fourteen I
fell away.
Robbie Mace told us, “At the moment we
are renovating a statue of the Sacred Heart.
In addition to Mass
on Sundays and
Thursdays, we have
Stations of the Cross
on Friday evening
during Lent.
“Then at twenty,
I went to the
USA as a nanny.
Their gardener was
a Christian. We
talked about Jesus.
The gardener was a
Pentecostal, and he
gave me a book to Fatmir and Marjeta
read. The seed sprang to life again, but I
was in the USA for only six months.
“We are trying to do
outreach, there is the
Shroud day coming
up with over forty
people booked to
attend. We try to introduce the Ordinariate
to others of all denominations.”
“I knew I wanted to go back to church
again. I went to the Manor Christian
Fellowship in Maidstone. It so happened
that I worked with the Pastor’s daughter.
I loved it. A full band, lots of singing and
hand clapping. I was there a long time.
“As you get older, you want
something
different,
more
meditative. At thirty five years of
age, I went to Australia and liked
it there. My husband and eldest
boy, Tom, were there five years.
After a year we moved to Sydney.
I made friends with a local Vicar’s
wife, and started to attend.
Barry Johnson informed us that
the Anglican Guild of the Servants
of the Sanctuary is coming one
Saturday in June. They sing their
Office and Fr Paul gives Benediction
with a Procession around the garden.”
Fr Paul Gibbons
“Back in the UK I went to
St Michael’s in Maidstone. It Lunch after Mass
was High Anglican. My
Godmother went there too
and so I met Fr Paul. That was
ten years ago now. Then I met
Robbie and Christine and
when they built the Chapel
of St Mary, I came here. I
became a Catholic recently,
and of course joined the
Ordinariate!
Robin Mace
contents page
Page 13
Fatmir interjected to say,
“Some people only come once
in a blue moon!” Eleanor told
us she is “eight and a half ”.
She is to receive her first
Holy
Communion
at
St Francis, Maidstone, and is
looking forward to it.
Denise Preskett said, “Some
who join the Ordinariate want
it their way. There is a certain
amount of conformity and
a certain sacrifice required.
But: for what it is worth, I
think it is 100% worth it!”
Sylvia Simmonds
Mass is at 11 every Sunday
at The Chapel of St Mary,
Chapel Cottage, 37A Barming
Road, Wateringbury, Kent,
ME18 5BD.