The Oxford Ordinariate Group meets at Holy Rood,
Abingdon Road, Oxford for a Sung Mass on Saturdays
at 6pm. All are welcome. The Mass is usually
the Vigil Mass of Sunday but, in any case, fulfils
Catholics’ Sunday Obligation to go to Mass. Before
Mass there are Confessions (from 5pm) and Exposition
of the Blessed Sacrament (from 5.30pm). The
congregation includes former Anglicans who have
become Catholics and cradle Catholics who find that
the day, the time, the place or the style suits
them. Some Holy Rood parishioners come along. Some
registered members of the Ordinariate prefer to
attend Holy Rood on Sunday, or go to some other
Catholic Church for Mass.
The Holy
Rood Ordinariate Group, as it is known locally, has
adopted the new Roman Missal, as directed by the
Holy See. We celebrate facing East, using incense,
plainsong, and polyphony, as well as singing hymns,
mostly from the Anglican tradition. Music is
provided by the Newman Consort, which specialises in
singing liturgical music. For the Divine Office and
for certain pastoral rites, the Ordinariate is
already permitted to use forms derived from the
Anglican tradition. So, a regular feature for the
Oxford Group is Evensong and there is to be an
Advent Procession of Lessons and Carols and a
Christmas Nine Lessons and Carols.
The
Ordinariate is not part of the Portsmouth Diocese.
The pastor of the Holy Rood Ordinariate Group, Mgr
Andrew Burnham, lives and helps out in the
Thames-Isis Pastoral Area, but the other clergy,
Daniel Lloyd and Fr Paul Berrett, live and help out
in Littlemore and Chipping Norton, respectively,
working closely with the Birmingham Archdiocese. The
Oxford Group meets not only at Holy Rood but also
for a 10am Wednesday Mass at Oxford Oratory and for
occasional celebrations of Solemn Evensong and
Benediction at Blackfriars Priory. Nationally,
the Ordinariate is equivalent to a diocese and its
Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, is a full member of the
Bishops’ Conference, even though he himself is not a
bishop. The pastor of the Oxford Ordinariate Group,
Mgr Andrew Burnham, is one of two Assistants to the
Ordinary.
