News from the U.K. Ordinariate

One of our Ordinariate readers sends in the following bit of news:

Last week the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, Monsignor Keith Newton, celebrated Mass according to the Book of Divine Worship at the end of a conference on mission and evangelisation at the church of St Patrick's, Soho Square, and at the former Anglican church of St Agatha's, Portsmouth. During the latter, a peal of bells was blessed.

At Soho Square, well-known Anglican hymns replaced the Proper of the Mass, and the setting by John Merbecke was used for the Ordinary of the Mass. In Portsmouth hymns were sung, and English plainchant propers were led by the schola. The Ordinary of the Mass was Missa de Angelis set using the traditional language English texts as published by the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society. As is proper to the Anglican tradition, Holy Communion was distributed under both kinds, kneeling at a Communion Rail. Following the example of the Holy Father, a paten (Communion Plate) was used.

Each celebration represented examples of liturgical traditions within High Church Anglicanism, one which looks towards distinctive English ceremony and vesture, the other toward the Roman liturgical tradition as embodied by the likes of the Society of SS Peter and Paul, and the artist Martin Travers.

Here are some photos. First, from Soho Square.