A prayer service took place on Thursday morning at London’s Lambeth Palace, the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to officially welcome four members of the Catholic ecumenical community Chemin Neuf.
An Anglican married couple, a Catholic sister and a Lutheran man training for ministry will form part of the resident Lambeth community to “share in the daily round of prayer” and to “further the ecumenical and international dimensions” of the Anglican leader’s ministry. The move was described by England’s Cardinal-elect Vincent Nichols as “a clear and bold sign of the importance of prayer in the search for visible Christian unity.”
To find out more Philippa Hitchen spoke first to Anglican Chemin Neuf member Alan Morley-Fletcher and then to the French founder of the community, Fr Laurent Fabre….
Well of course, we used to have Anglican nuns – those who didn’t die off largely moved to the Ordinariate and I am not sure if the ones who were at Lambeth have retired or been given the boot along with the rest of the staff.
How ironic that the Catholics having taken our nuns, loan us a few members of the wacky Order of the Chemin de Fer to staff the palace; presumably in return for an attic room and a bowl of gruel a day. Did I hear some bishop mention the minimum wage recently?
While one is all for symbols of ecumenical wotsit, is it really appropriate to have staff whose loyalty is to the Pope [Article XXXVII?] working in the English Primate’s Office? Is there a cat’s chance of reciprocity? Don’t be silly.
Lambeth Palace is a very peculiar place these days. Oh well.