I went recently to Sunday Mass outside London: a modern church, a congregation of about a hundred, and a relatively new parish priest; three hymns (two ‘trad’ and one ‘mod’) and the Kyrie, Gloria and Agnus sung to the simple chants of the new missal, led by a small group of singers at the back; a carefully worked out homily for which the children were asked to come and sit at the sanctuary step with the celebrant, and there took place a form of catechising, question and answer, with the adults being drawn in to the instruction as it proceeded; an unhurried feel to the Mass, with the prayers read carefully and thoughtfully, and the people joining in without rushing; the sanctuary simple (it was Lent) some nice iron candlesticks by the altar and heavy woven vestments of a very full shape.
Spectacular? No. Just good Sunday worship, with care taken about every part of it and full use of the simple resources available. Above all, the sense that the liturgy belonged to everyone, and that the priest was not dominating it by chattering, or by making things up as he went along. Perhaps this is the new spirit to the liturgy which is now developing among us.
About Scott Anderson
Formerly an Anglican priest (ordained 1975) received into the Catholic Church in February 2012, and ordained to the Diaconate on 27th July 2013. I took early retirement, and divide my time between London and northern France. I am deeply committed to the Ordinariate as a gift of the Holy Spirit in the search for unity. Like many Ordinariate members I feel a personal gratitude to Pope Emeritus Benedict, together with loyalty to our Holy Father, Pope Francis. My blog tries to make a small contribution to the growth of the Ordinariate by asking questions (and proposing some answers) about the 'Anglican Patrimony'.
I have always been fascinated by the whole issue of growth and decline, and therefore concerned for appropriate means of evangelisation in western Europe. I believe that the Holy Spirit is constantly renewing the People of God and that we must be open to him. My love of music and motorcycles will occasionally surface in my posts.
On Saturday 19th October 2013, I was ordained to the Priesthood at Most Precious Blood, Borough, by the Most Revd Peter Smith, Archbishop of Southwark, for the service of the Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham. I continued to serve the Ordinariate group and Parish at Most Precious Blood until the end of 2014. Subsequently, I helped in the care of the Ordinariate Groups at Hemel Hempstead and Croydon, and in the Archdiocese of Southwark, until the beginning of September 2015. With the agreement of my Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, the Bishop of Amiens appointed me Administrator of the Parish of Notre Dame des Etangs (Pont Remy) in Picardie, France. This appointment is to last for a year, to give the Bishop the opportunity to assess the future of the parish.
Several years later, a different Bishop recently arrived, I am now curé in solidum of the parish, and my French has improved. For various reasons - including COVID and a nasty accident, I do not now return regularly to the UK as once I did. The parish seems happy enough to have me around most of the time.
Thanks be to God for all his mercies.
Ordinariate Pilgrim 
Sounds nice.
It was. One member of the congregation told me that she was a recent arrival, and was so glad to have found the church and congregation. I think Catholic congregations need to recover a sense of the goodness of their worship, their fellowship and their care for each other and their neighbours, and to be glad for what God is doing in them and through them.