This year the Personal Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham celebrated ten years of its existence. In human terms the fact that we are still here after that length of time is against all the odds.

For this part of the Ordinariate, in Eastbourne, we have seen many joys and a few sorrows in the last ten years. The journey hasn’t always been easy as we have tried to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance in being wholly a part of the Roman Catholic Church in this area, while also retaining the gifts and distinctive character that our Anglican heritage brings.

To establish ourselves at St Agnes, to whom we are most grateful, seemed natural given the history of the relationship between Christ Church, where most of us came from, and St Agnes. Good friendships were formed in particular through the Walsingham Cell and our annual ecumenical pilgrimage to Walsingham.

Our slot became 4pm on Sunday afternoon at St Agnes and this has served us well over the years. However, for the last couple of years I have become aware that, having embedded ourselves and parts of our liturgical life within the Catholic Church, there needs to be a second phase of development. After much deliberation and in the light of my appointment three years ago as parish priest at Christ the King with St Joachim’s, this next phase will be best served by moving our main Sunday Mass from St Agnes to Christ the King. We will start with a 4pm Mass on Easter Sunday at Christ the King. There may need to be other adjustments as we settle in to this new phase, but this change will give us greater scope in developing the life of the Ordinariate within the wider Catholic Church.