Congratulations to Fr Edwin!

Many congratulations indeed to Fr Edwin Barnes, former Bishop of Richborough, former Principal of St Stephen's House, Oxford, who was ordained priest yesterday to serve in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. As an ordinand, I spent a week in his parish at Hessle, near Hull, on a pastoral placement - when the world  & the Church of England seemed a very different place, and our prayers and our vision for the future (unrealistic perhaps, but we were young and full of idealism and, as it turned out, blind to the difficulties...) were filled with hopes of a reunion with Rome of a somewhat different form...
Oh well, in the familiar, and patrimonial, verses of William Cowper, words which seem ever more apt to our own circumstances:

"God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain."

Reports Here and here in Fr Edwin's own words
And news of several clergy resignations up and down the country in preparation for Ash Wednesday, here at the Ordinariate Portal and, significantly, from Fr Hunwicke [here]