Lent: Always we begin anew

Photo credit Mazur/catholicchurch.Org.Uk

"So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes." Daniel 9:tiga

Anglicans who regard themselves as 'Catholic and Reformed' face a new dilemma this Lent now that the Anglican Church which provided themiddle way for themdeclared itself to be hell-bent on reducing the once great Established Church of England to the status of a protestant sect on the wane.

John Henry Newman was a committed Anglican who made a conscious decision to leave the Church of England and tread a new path to spiritual fulfilment. Today, for many cradle Anglo Catholics, the way is not so clear cut after finding that their church has left them, creating a sense of abandonment.

ThePersonal Ordinariate launched under the patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman is the obvious starting point for those seeking a new spiritual home in the Apostolic Church. For Anglo Catholics able and willing to make the journey, this Lent will have an added poignancy as they strive to reconcile their 'reformed' beliefs with the demands that separate them from their Roman Catholic brothers and sisters. Failure to do so will leave them effectively un-churched.