De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Introduction Welcome to an account of a deeply saddening and frustrating situation that has unfolded in the heart of Walsingham, England’s Nazareth. I am Alex Cooper, the founder of Smoke & Stone Pizza and Smoke & Samphire Catering. Our kitchen, nestled at the Back of Dowry House, has been our haven for the past few years. It has been a place where we've had the honour of serving thousands of pilgrims who make their way to Walsingham, a revered pilgrimage site for Anglicans and Catholics since 1061. The Walsingham Trust (which until recently included the disgraced Bishop Robert Byrne ), the entity that owns the building we operate from, has abruptly decided not to renew our licence agreement, leaving us perplexed and disheartened and causing severe disruption to a young man’s apprenticeship. Serving the Community Beyond catering to the faithful, we have also delighted holidaymakers with our culinary offerings. Moreover, we take immense pride in our commitment to the local...

Walsingham is a most interesting place. Certainly it is one of the oldest Marian shrines in Europe; people have been coming here in pilgrimage since 1061 when Mary appeared in a vision to Richeldis de Faverches, a devout English noblewoman. Before the Reformation, Walsingham was one of the three foremost pilgrimage sites in the world, known as "England's Nazareth", along with Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostella. However, In 1538, the Reformation caused the Priory property to be handed over to the King’s Commissioners and incredibly, this extraordinary and ancient building was torn down. The famous statue of Our Lady of Walsingham was taken to London and burnt. After the destruction of the Shrine, Walsingham ceased to be a place of pilgrimage. Devotion was necessarily in secret until after Catholic Emancipation (1829) when public expressions of faith were finally allowed once again. It wasn't until Charlotte Pearson Boyd purchased the 14th century Slipper Ch...

There is a great feeling of hope growing around Brentwood's new bishop-elect, Fr. Alan Williams SM, MA, PH.D, who is currently Director of The National Shrine of our Lady at Walsingham. Everything I hear is positive and exciting about our new appointment. This weekend saw the diocesan pilgrimage to Walsingham , but also the National Association of Catholic Families' pilgrimage weekend also to Walsingham. For example, Bishop-elect Williams gave a talk at the pilgrimage yesterday where he spoke about the role of Mary and the teaching of the Church. Religion is about conversion, or it's about nothing at all stated the soon-to-be-bishop of Brentwood. He holds that we need to convert people to the Catholic faith because it's true. Wow! This is the sort of stuff we are longing for isn't it? It confirms Father Kevin's comments on Sunday: It is a great comfort to us all, and to me personally, that our new Bishop Alan Williams - has been not only the Director of the ...

On Saturday our diocese of Brentwood went on pilgrimage to Walsingham. I would have loved to have joined them, but having just returned from a very busy pilgrimage to Lourdes I was, frankly, rather exhausted! I was represented by the best possible ambassador however, in my son Michael. He met our Bishop-elect Fr. Alan Williams SM, MA, PH.D, and shook his hand, telling him we were all praying for him. He also walked the last mile in from the Slipper Chapel carrying the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham bare-foot! Here is his take on his first pilgrimage to Walsingham—England's Nazareth: On Saturday, May 24th I travelled to Norfolk with the Brentwood Catholic Youth Service to visit the Shrine of Walsingham. Upon arriving we entered the Catholic Shrine of Our Lady in Walsingham which was overflowing with pilgrims; we gathered for holy Mass together, which was concelebrated by our Bishop-elect Father Alan Williams SM . After Mass we were greeted by our Bishop-elect and had ...

Following my reflection on The Walsingham Dimension , I was introduced to this piece by Edmund Adamus which was published last year by the Ordinariate. It affirms the important Christological insights that come from a devotion to Mary. Edmund explains how Marian devotion has a particular link to Christianity in this country which has shaped and fostered an attitude which is inherently Christian, and concerned with fairness and justice (it is reproduced here with his kind permission): In his address at Oscott College just before the end of his state visit in September 2010, Pope Benedict XV spoke of the establishment of the Ordinariate as a ‘prophetic gesture’ and one which will enable a ‘mutual exchange of gifts’ from the spiritual patrimonies of both the worldwide Catholic Church and the unique English expression of a Catholic faith preserved over many generations by those former members of the Church of England, now fully at home sacramentally in the Roman Catholic Church. fre...

Since the news of his appointment,  the days have been largely full of prayers of thanksgiving and information sharing regarding our new bishop, Alan Williams. Bishop-elect Willams viewing his Cathedral. I could not help but observe that there seemed to be a lot of non-plussed clergy out there to start off with. Alan who? No one had heard of him! The appointment was described as "a surprise", "a shock". But for those who know Walsingham, England's Nazareth, there was no shock, for they knew Fr. Alan very well. In 1893, Pope Leo XIII made a pronouncement. Some might even call it a prophesy, when he asked the English Bishops to consecrate their country to Mary, the Mother of God, recalling the ancient title the land enjoyed of being “Our Lady’s Dowry”. When England returns to Walsingham, Our Lady will return to England. This claim, to be Our Lady’s Dower, or Dowry—confirmed by Pope Leo XIII in 1893—is an extraordinary one, shared by no other land. Ne...

I am so excited this morning as after 34 years, and 1,000 days since Bishop McMahon offered his notice, our new bishop has just been announced! It is Fr. Alan Williams SM who is currently the director of the National Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham. In this role he is well known to many as a holy man of great welcome and love. He has a special connection to our diocese already, as the diocese with the greatest number of members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. He also, very kindly offered the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham, who reside at the Diocesan House of Prayer at Abbotswick, the use of the Slipper Chapel Cottage when it recently became vacant. Anglican bishop Lindsay Urwin,  from the Shrine at Walsingham told me that Fr. Alan is a very prayerful man, " and modest. He has worked out what matters. " As regular readers will note from my report on my recent visit to Walsingham, there is an ecumenical dimension to the shrine which will place bishop-...

In Chapter 1 , I attempted to lay a foundation of the history of the Shrine in order to show how my first visit to Walsingham was primarily a insight into the human divisions history has wrought in our supernatural revelation. All parties at Walsingham recognise these supernatural truths of Annunciation, Incarnation, Revelation, bitter death and sacrifice, then Resurrection. These truths are born out by the long history of pilgrimage, prayer and miracle which are an indelible part of the Walsingham story. Despite our common acknowledgement of these divine realities, our shared kerygma , koinonia , and even didache , Walsingham is physically, very divided. For a Catholic like me, the immediate question this experience begs in a place like Walsingham, is why? My overwhelming sense was of the Mother of God holding all her squabbling children together. Perhaps you might think I should have been concentrating on my prayers, but I could not help thinking of Matthew 5: 22-24  whi...