Ordinariate Pilgrim

Ordinariate Pilgrim is a quiet blog I that came across for the first time today, by Scott Anderson.

On February 2nd 2012 I was received into the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. I was 62 years of age and had been ordained in the Church of England for 37 years. I have the privilege to live at the moment the life of a Catholic layman, dividing my time between England and France. This means that I have three spiritual homes: the London (South) Ordinariate group provides me with Sunday worship, the friendship of fellow Ordinariate pilgrims, and a growing sense of mission within the parish of the Most Precious Blood at Borough; then for the daily Mass the Jesuit Parish of the Sacred Heart, Wimbledon with its huge and lively congregation, musical tradition and great preaching; and finally the parish of Notre Dame des Etangs in Picardy, where I have found a welcome, singing with the choir, occasionally playing the organ, and generally improving my french!

With many other former Anglicans I give thanks for the very direct welcome that Pope Benedict XVI has given to us, by setting up the Ordinariates. It is always good to feel wanted, in any aspect of life, and not least in the Church…

Visit it here.

HT: Ordinariate Expats

 

Vatican Gives iPods to Pilgrims

On loan that is. The Huffington Post reports:

Rome – The Vatican is lending iPods to pilgrims in a pilot program aimed at coupling ancient basilicas with modern technology to lower the noise level from tour guide chatter.

From a tiny booth in the back of St. John in Lateran, the Vatican has been quietly asking tourists if they want to tour Rome’s oldest basilica with an iPod in hand loaded with an app to make accessing the place’s art, architecture and Christian history user friendly.

The Vatican will formally unveil the experiment on Wednesday. Tourists from around the world were exploring the cavernous basilica with specially adapted iPods in hand Tuesday. There’s no charge, although users must leave a document as security.

The experiment runs through December.

Good Friday at Golgotha

More than ever on Good Friday, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre is the heart of Christian Jerusalem. Since dawn, pilgrims have gathered in the courtyard, waiting to take part in the liturgy of the Passion at the altar of Golgotha … next to the rock in which the cross of Christ once stood.