The Church of St Mary’s Ryde on the Isle of Wight hosted a Holy Hour for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham on the Feast of the Chair of St Peter on February 22.
The Holy Hour was led by the parish priest Fr Anthony Glaysher and Fr Jonathan Redvers Harris, the Anglican vicar of All Saints, Ryde, who is exploring the possibility of joining the ordinariate. They held the service to ask for blessings on the ordinariate for Anglicans wishing to be in full communion with Rome which was established by Pope Benedict XVI in January.
In his welcome to the congregation of Anglicans and Catholics Fr Glaysher referred to the significance of this feast, which he said reminds us of the leadership and authority of the Pope as the successor of St Peter. “Anglicans seeking entry to the Catholic Church,” he said, “would not be absorbed into a Roman Church. Rather they would bring their own patrimony which would enrich the Church and therefore strengthen our witness to the Faith.”
While the Blessed Sacrament was exposed for the Holy Hour, Fr Redvers Harris led the congregation in prayer and meditation. Afterwards, the Prayer for England and the Litany of Walsingham were recited at the Lady Chapel.
Nearly 100 people, both Anglicans and Catholics, were present at the Holy Hour, which included two hymns by Blessed John Henry Newman, who, together with Our Lady of Walsingham, is the patron of the ordinariate.
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