... on the internet; where there are pictures of the two rather different churches in England allegedly respectively on offer
(i) to Fr Wach and the blue birettas; and
(ii) to Fr Newton and the black birettas.
But the answer immediately strikes me: a property in central London must be quite valuable; the Ordinariate could flog it to a developer and use the money to get something better. I somehow feel that it may not have listed status.
It was a bit odd of their Lordships to put the ordinariate H/Q in a spaceship. What were they thinking?
ReplyDeleteAh.
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100079958/look-at-this-revolting-building-and-guess-what-the-catholic-bishops-are-thinking-of-doing-with-it/
I had read somewhere on the interwebs that we had been given a church in Laxton Street, and, working in London but not familiar with that area, had planned to do a post-work detour and have a look. Now I don't need to.
Oh dear. But we Anglicans and soon-to-be ex-Anglicans have a talent for beautifying things. Now's our chance to demonstrate it. Wealthy benefactors, please form an orderly queue ...
As I understand it, this recherché bit of brick brutalism has been suggested as the pro tem. location of the Central London Ordinariate group only.
ReplyDeleteI mean, that's not say say I don't sympathise with any poor beggars who may end up with it - whomsoever they may be - but it's not been mooted as anything more than that. Yet.
I lived about a mile from this church, in Mecklenburgh Square, from August 1979 to September 1981, and I may have been there 3 or 4 times, once for the reception of a fellow research student into the Catholic Church, and twice or thrice for Chaldean-Rite liturgies, and my recollection of the interior is of a vast barrenness unrelieved by anything that could be termed “art” or even “decoration.”
ReplyDeleteA blank canvas - there's a challenge to come up with something authentically patrimonial.
ReplyDeleteA blank canvas that looks from the oustide like a municipal library opened in a coal-pit in Slough in 1936, no less.
ReplyDeleteThere is an ordinariate group near Kings Cross. Perhaps this church is just meant for them and that national events will be held in Westminster or Southwark cathedrals.
ReplyDeleteNational events can indeed be held anywhere, but the Ordinariate will need a home in London, and that should include a church.
ReplyDeleteWhat, I wonder, will become of Christ the King, Gordon Square?
ReplyDelete[message checked for nominative/accusative observance]
SSWSH and the FiF rump will continue to use Gordon Square. (I also understand there are legal difficulties about Papist worship there.)
ReplyDeleteDrat. Still, I can't see that being a long-term arrangement if SWISH-FiF numbers dwindle.
ReplyDeleteWould the Irvingites really have stitched up a trust specifically to prevent Roman Catholic use? I suppose they might, but a good trust lawyer...