Church prepares to change allegiance (From The Northern Echo)

Darlington church prepares for Catholic future

8:00am Monday 20th February 2012 in Darlington By Lauren Pyrah, Deputy Business Editor

MOVING SERVICE: The Bishop of Durham, The Right Reverend Justin Welby, leads the final service at St James the Great Church, Darlington

THIS is not a time for apologies. It is a time for repentance.”

These were the words of the Bishop of Durham to the worshippers of an Anglo-Catholic congregation who prayed, sang and took communion together yesterday for the last time.

With incense heavy in the air and sun streaming through the stained glass window commissioned more than 100 years ago in memory of Lady Backhouse, a member of the wealthy and influential Backhouse industrial family of Darlington, the congregation at St James the Great Church, Darlington, attended a final Sunday mass before 61 of them prepare to join a new branch of the Roman Catholic church on Ash Wednesday, ending their allegiance to the Church of England.

Along with hundreds of churches across the country, the group from St James are defecting in protest at the Church of England’s decision to ordain women as bishops.

Although the congregation could not fail to be moved by The Right Reverend Justin Welby’s sermon, the service and those words were particularly poignant for both the bishop and the parish’s priest, Father Ian Grieves.

The pair have known each other for two decades, meeting when the bishop attended a training placement at St James in 1992, and remaining friends ever since.

In his 22 years at St James, Fr Grieves has increased the congregation significantly from the 18 who worshipped there when he arrived, and helped to raise thousands of pounds for improvements to the Albert Hill church.

But yesterday was the final time the two clerics would, in the bishop’s words, practise in the same way, at the same altar – because Fr Grieves is also moving to the Ordinariate, set up by the Roman Catholic church for Anglicans wishing to leave in protest at the proposal to ordain women bishops. They are among the second wave of Anglicans across the UK to depart from the Anglican church on Ash Wednesday, before spending Lent preparing to convert and joining the Ordinariate in Holy Week.

Even the stunning beauty of the richly-painted frescos and stencilled walls could not detract from the poignancy of the last mass. It was etched on the face of every member of the 200-strong congregation, with some moved to tears.

Members of St Ann’s RC Church, where the Darlington Ordinariate will worship – although at separate services – also joined the mass as a mark of respect and solidarity.

The bishop told those who were leaving, and those who were staying, it was a sad occassion, but he hoped whatever their calling had been, that it brought them closer to God.

He told the congregation the only way forward was to part as, and remain as, friends.

“The repentance is for all of us, not for moving to the Ordinariate.

Nor for not moving.

God’s guidance will also equally bless those who are staying.

“Our repentance is for being part of a church which is in such a state. What do we do now? Bless not curse.

“Of course I am so deeply, deeply sadenned that a good and quite exceptional priest should be leaving with so many of those who have worked so hard here. A teacher of great gifts, a church of great commitment. What I pray for in my chapel, is that those leaving will draw closer to Christ, will find blessing, and strength, and so also all those who stay.”