New Website for ACC's Second Province in India
August 2008

Bishop Brian Iverach has recently established a new Website for the Church of India - CIPBC (Church of India, Pakistan, Burma & Ceylon) The Anglican Catholic Church's Second Province. You can visit their page by clecking on the link below

Second Province - Church of India (Anglican)

Rededication of Rochester Church
23rd August 2008

The Vicar General visited the Church of Our Lady of Walsingham and St Francis, Rochester, to rededicate the Church and bless the replacement doors, tabernacle and a statue of St Michael the Archangel. The Parish Priest Father Raymond Thompson presided at Solemn Evensong and Benediction, during which Father Mead preached and blessed the Church. As visitors to this site will know the Church was badly vandalised during Holy Week and although it has been in use since then the work in restoring the Church and making it secure has only just been completed.

After Evensong Father Thompson, on behalf of the congregation, presented Father Mead with a new 'simple' Mitre for his future ministry as Bishop.

Above:Father Thompson present Bishop Elect Father Damien Mead with the Mitre
Below:After the service some of the congregation are pictured having refreshments in the grounds outside the Church.

New Church Sign in Canterbury
August 2008

Our Canterbury Parish had the first of 2 new signs erected on the Church this month. The first is over the door of the Church. The second is planned as a traditional pub -like Hanging Sign which features the Provincial Shield. A picture of the Church Sign in situ has been placed on St Augustine's Gallery Page.

Above:The new sign at St Augustine's Church

Visitations and Receptions
Friday 8th & Saturday 9th August 2008

The Vicar General, Fr Damien Mead, visited the Mission of St Theresa, Northampton on Friday 8th August to say Mass at 6.30pm. Before the service he received into the Anglican Catholic Church Thomas Michael Reece from Leicester, who was accompanied by friends.

The next day Fr Mead visited St Alban the Martyr, Salford, Manchester to celebrate Mass and to bless the new icon of the Patron Saint St Alban. Before Mass he received into the Anglican Catholic Church, Thomas Edward Kendall.

Above:Fr Mead with Thomas Reece after Mr Reece's reception into ACC in NorthamptonBelow: Fr Mead with Mr Kendall after his reception into ACC together with Fr Tim Perkins, Curate at St Alban's, Salford.

New Doors Fitted in Rochester
Wednesday 6th August 2008

Following the 9am Mass for the Transfiguration, the congregation at the Church of Our Lady of Walsingham & St Francis of Assisi, City Way, Rochester proudly show off the brand new church doors, which have cost approximately £2000 to make and fit.

Film Crew in Canterbury
Wednesday 6th August 2008

St Augustine's Church, Canterbury was used to shoot a scene for a film by Producer and Director Tania Hoser.

Above:The Film Crew pose for a picture after filming for 3 hours in the Church

Thank you from Rochester
Following the love shown to the parish after the vandalism it suffered in Holy Week 2008

Father Raymond Thompson sent the following letter to the Bishop & Diocese of the Midwest on 23rd July 2008.

Dear Bishop,

My congregation and I would like to say a huge thankyou to you and all the folks of the Diocese of the Midwest for your overwhelming generosity and love following the desecration of the chapel here in Rochester. The amazing total of £942 has enabled us to replace the tabernacle and ciborium and also purchase a small statue of Saint Michael, who we hope will watch over us. Most of the excess amount will go into the Bishop's Fund here which will enable this Diocese to assist other parishes where there is hardship and need, just as we received help when we needed it. The sense of belonging to a large family has been strengthened by the desire of so many people to help. We are all very moved. The security measures have almost been completed at the chapel now, with the fitting of unbreakable polycarbonate sheeting over the windows, security lighting and a "mosquito" alarm, and brand new doors were fitted yesterday. We are now just waiting for the iron gates to be made and fitted to the entrance to the porch. The total cost of the work will be near £5,000 when completed, and all to keep vandals at bay. It is a very sad inditement of the times in which we live, but we have much to be thankful for and an exciting future to look forward to with our own Bishop Ordinary. Please convey the contents of this letter to your Diocese, and assure them of our gratitude, and our love and prayers.

With very best wishes to all our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of the Midwest

In Christ's service, Fr Raymond Thompson

ACC American Visitor to Dartford and Canterbury
19th & 20th July 2008

Our Dartford Mission was visited for its monthly Mass by Father Jonathan Foggin, Priest in Charge of St Francis of Assisi, Gainesville, Georgia, USA. The Mass was celebrated by the Vicar General and Bishop-Elect, Father Damien Mead, and afterwards Fr Foggin met with Dr Roy Fidge and those who attend the Mission.

The next day, whilst Canterbury was in the midst of 'purple fever' as the Lambeth Conference of the Church of England got under way, Fr Foggin attend the Parish Mass at St Augustine's Church, Canterbury, and was afterwards given a brief tour of the Cathedral and St Augustine's Abbey by Fr Mead.

Above:Fr Mead & Fr Foggin after Mass at St Augustine's Church Below: Outside Canterbury Cathedral , just out of picture to the right, an Anglican Archbishop (attending the Lambeth conference from Australia) was giving a press conference - unfortunately neither Fr Foggin nor Fr Mead had thought to bring an ACC banner to wave in the background!

Consecration Date Set
To be held on Saturday 20th September 2008

The Consecration of the The Very Revd Damien Mead as 2nd Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the United Kingdom will take place on Saturday 20th September 2008 during Pontifical High Mass at St Augustine's College Chapel, Canterbury Road, Westgate on Sea, Kent at 12 noon.

The ceremony will be followed by a buffet reception in Bishop Mead's honour. Chief Consecrator, representing Archbishop Haverland, will be The Rt Revd Rommie M Starks, Bishop of the Diocese of the Midwest, USA. Co-Consecrators will be The Rt Revd Roger Dawson, Retired Bishop in the Patrimony of the Metropolitan and The Rt Revd Denis I Hodge, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand.

We anticipate a large congregation and although attendence is open to all, admittance will be by invitation only, if you wish to attend you must notify the Diocesan office in advance (by 31st August) to ensure you recieve an Invitation. This is to ensure seating and faciliate catering.

Above:The outside of St Augustine's College, a former Convent and School and now a wedding and conference venue Below: The inside of the Chapel where the Consecration will take place

Election Confirmed
1st July 2008

Archbishop Mark Haverland has confirmed that Father Mead has received the required number of consents from the College of Bishops of the Original Province of the Anglican Catholic Church. Plans are now under way to arrange a date for Bishop-Elect Mead's Consecration.

Bishop elect presented with crucifix
15th June 2008

On Sunday 15th June Fr Damien Mead, visited the Church of St Andrew and St Margaret of Scotland, Alexandria, Virginia, for their 11.15 Sung Mass. After the service Father Nicholas Athanaelos presented Father Mead, in celebration of his election as 2nd Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the United Kingdom, with a wooden Crucifix. Father Mead has placed this in the domestic oratory at St Nicholas House, his home in Lydd.

Above: Fr Nick Athanaelos presents Fr Mead with a crucifix. Below: The Crucifix in the Bishop elect's domestic Chapel in St Nicholas House, Lydd.

Vicar General's visit to USA
Walsingham Festival, St Jame's Church, Cleveland Ohio 7th June 2008

The Vicar General, Fr Damien Mead, visited the USA in June to fulfil two speaking engagements in the ACC. On Saturday 7th June he was the Guest Speaker at the Annual Walsingham Festival at St James Church, Cleveland, Ohio. During the afternoons devotions Fr Crume, Rector of St James, asked Fr Mead to assist in the 'sprinkling' of water from the Holy Well, which Fr Mead had brought with him from the Shrine in Norfolk. After the Festival the good folk of St James gathered in the Church Hall where a special cake, iced with a Union Jack and the words "God save the Queen" iced upon it was presented to Fr Mead and the 1st verse of the British National Anthem was sung.

Above: The Altar Party after the Walsingham Mass.

Above: Bishop Rommie Starks, Fr Damien Mead and St James Rector Fr Cyril Crume.

Above: The Patriotic Cake presented to Father Mead.

Warm Welcome to Vicar General in Virginia

Synod of the Diocese of the Mid Atlantic States, Natural Bridge, Virginia, 13th June 2008

on Friday 13th June, Fr Mead was also, at the invitation of Bishop William McClean,the Banquet Speaker at the XXXI Synod of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic States in Natural Bridge, Virginia. Before he spoke those assembled stood to sing the hymn "Jeruslaem" as a tribute to Fr Mead and the Diocese of the United Kingdom. Father Meads address was greeted with a standing ovation and he was accorded the warmest greetings and friendliest welcomes throughout his visit with the ACC in America.

Above: Fr Mead addresses the Synod Banquet.

Above: The clergy of the Diocese of the Mid atlantic States with their Bishop, The Rt Revd William McClean. Fr Mead can be seen (just) at the back of the photograph.

Above: Fr Mead poses with The Rt Revd William and Mrs Lorraine McClean after the Synod.

New Bishop Elect
29th March 2008

The Diocese of the United Kingdom meeting as an Electoral Synod before the Annual Diocesan Synod on Saturday 29th March 2008 in the City of Westminster elected The Very Revd Damien Mead, currently Vicar General of the Diocese, to be the next Diocesan Bishop. Fr Mead's name will now be forwarded to the Archbishop and ACC College of Bishop's to seek the agreement and ratification of the College.

Please pray for Fr Mead and the Diocese at this exciting time and also for the Archbishop and College in their deliberations.

Presentation of gift
29th March 2008

The Diocese of the United Kingdom was pleased to present the Rt Revd Rommie M Starks with a gift of an Icon of St George, Patron of England, painted on to a cross section of polished stone in grateful appreciation of his service and dedication as Episcopal Visitor to the Diocese.

Above: Dr Roy Fidge presents Bishop Starks with the Icon of St George Below: The Icon

Blessing of New Icon in Canterbury
23rd March 2008

On Easter Day The Rt Revd Rommie M Starks blessed a new Icon in St Augustines Church, Canterbury, written in honour of Blessed Elizabeth Barton, the Holy Maid of Kent(1506-1534).

Fr Damien Mead writes ...

Little is known of the Holy Maid's early life, although she appears to have come from a poor background, as she was working as a servant when her visions first began in 1525. During that year she suffered from a severe unknown illness. At the Chapel of Our Lady, Court at Street, near Aldington in Kent she was healed of her illness upon witnessing a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who instructed her to light a taper (candle) at her Shrine in the Chapel (the Chapel still exists although in a poor ruined state). Thereafter Blessed Elizabeth's visions of the Blessed Virgin either predicted future events or more frequently took the form of pleas for people to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church, to go to Mass, make Confessions and, in particular, she urged people to pray to The Virgin Mary and undertake pilgrimages.

Shortly after she had begun receiving visions, she entered St. Sepulchre's Convent in Canterbury (the area is now known as Nunnery Fields) and became a Benedictine nun. She rapidly became popular among both rich and poor alike. Barton held a private meeting in 1528 with Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, the most powerful man in England after the King, and shortly thereafter met with the King himself on two occasions.

Unfortunately for Blessed Elizabeth, the existing order changed when Henry VIII, in order to obtain an annulment from Catherine of Aragon, decided to break with Rome. Barton was strongly opposed to the Henrician Reformation. During her trances the Holy Maid urged Henry VIII to give up his plan to divorce Katherine of Aragon, and prophesied that if he did so he "should no longer be king of this realm...and should die a villain's death." In 1532 Henry passed through Canterbury, and it is reported that she forced herself into his presence and tried once again to ask him to give up his marriage to Anne Boleyn.

However, Henry's marriage to Anne was celebrated in January of 1533, followed in May by annulment of the marriage to Catherine. Blessed Elizabeth's statements were seen as increasingly inflammatory and treasonable. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (who performed Henry's annulment) had Blessed Elizabeth arrested and interrogated, at which point she confessed that she had feigned her trances and invented the religious visions, however this Confession appears to have been fabricated by the authorities.

At the conclusion of the trial it became clear that there was insufficient evidence to convict either Blessed Elizabeth or her companions, Dom Edward Bocking, a Benedictine monk from Christchurch Priory, Canterbury, and the Holy Maid's Confessor, Dom John Dering a learned Benedictine Monk who had written a book about the Maids revelations, Father Henry Gold, former Vicar of Ospringe and who had been Secretary to the late William Warham, previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Father Richard Risby, Guardian of the Franciscan Friars in Canterbury, and Father Hugh Rich one of his Franciscan Brethren.

In January, 1534, Henry VIII gave his Royal Assent to a bill of attainder (that is an Act of Parliament) that condemned the Holy Maid and the others to death. The Maid and the other prisoners were publicly hanged at Tyburn Gallows, Westminster, on the 21st of April, 1534, in the presence of an enormous crowd. Blessed Elizabeth's head was displayed on London Bridge - the usual practice for traitors.

Although never formally recognized by the Church as a Saint and with references to her in the history books blackened by the reformers, she remains nevertheless, a Holy Maid of Kent.

Father Damien commissioned the Icon, pictured below, from Marice Sariola, a finish born iconographer who now lives in Australia (her website is www.iconsbymarice.com.au).

Easter in Rochester
23rd March 2008

Fr Thompson writes: On behalf of my people and I may I say how we have been overwhelmed by the messages of love and prayerful support which we have received from all parts of the ACC, and from without, following the desecration of our chapel. We are especially very moved and give grateful thanks to our Episcopal Visitor, The Rt Revd Rommie M Starks and friends in his Diocese of the Midwest for their generosity in assisting us to purchase a new tabernacle for the Chapel.

On Good Friday and Holy Saturday some of us were able to travel to St Augustine's Church, Canterbury to be with the Bishop and Vicar General for the Liturgies on those holy days.

On Easter Day some of us took shelter from the snowfall, in the church porch, the only part of the building we currently have access to, an act of fellowship celebrated a service of Holy Communion from the Reserved Sacrament. (Photo on our Gallery page.)

Rochester Church Vandalised
17th - 19th March 2008

Sometime over 17th or 18th March The Mission of Our Lady of Walsingham and St Francis, Rochester, suffered a devastating attack of vandalism. The Doors of the Church were broken and split and left hanging off their hinges the inside of the Church was trashed, and the tabernacle broken open and the ciborium containing the Blessed Sacrament was trodden underfoot and the vessel completely squashed.

Every drawer in the vestry was opened and the contents scattered all over the floor. This appalling and heart rendering scene greeted the Priest in Charge, Father Raymond Thompson and members of his congregation as they arrived at the Church for Mass on the morning of Wednesday 19th March. The Police were called and finger prints taken and the Church is now temporary out of action. That this should happen at anytime is dreadful but especially at this time during Holy Week, the most sacred time in the Church's year. Messages of support for Father Thompson and his people can be left in our Guestbook on this website by clicking on the link above.

Whitby Welcomes Episcopal Visitor
Sunday 9th March 2008

The Episcopal Visitor, Bishop Rommie M. Starks and the Vicar General, Fr Damien Mead, visited St Ninian's Church, Whiby, For the Parish Mass. The Bishop celebrated and preached, Dom Philip James French OSB (the Parish Priest) Deaconed the Mass and and the Vicar General acted as Bishop Chaplain.

After Mass the ladies of the Parish entertained the visitors with a lovely set out a side Chapel (pictures in gallery).

On the day the Bishop also blessed a Statue of St Jude and dedicated a shrine to the Sacred Heart.

New All Seasons Frontal in St Alban's, Salford
Saturday 8th March 2008

The Episcopal Visitor, Bishop Rommie M. Starks and the Vicar General, Fr Damien Mead, visited St Alban's Church, Salford, Greater Machester. The Bishop celebrated and preached at the Parish Mass. Fr Tim Perkins the Curate assisted the Bishop.

During the Mass the Bishop blessed a new frontal made by Mrs Pat Johnson, wife of the Parish Priest, Fr Charles Johnson. (Picture in gallery).

The evening before the Parish entertained the Bishop at a local Italian Restaurant.

Episcopal Visitation to the Diocese
7th March 2008 - 30th March 2008

The Rt Revd Rommie Starks, Episcopal Visitor to the Diocese of the United Kingdom, will be visiting the Diocese during March. On the evening of Friday 7th March he meets with the clergy and people of our Salford Parish for a meal. On Saturday 8th March at 12 noon he will celebrate Pontifical Sung Mass at St Alban the Martyr, Great Cheetham Street East, Salford, Greater Manchester. On Sunday 9th March he will celebrate the Parish Mass at 10am at St Ninian's Church, Baxtergate, Whitby, North Yorkshire. On Monday 10th March Bishop Starks will visit the Mission of our Lady and St Bernard, East Retford, on Tuesday 11th he will visit The Mission of St Therese of Lisieux, Northampton, afterwards returning to the Diocesan Office in Lydd.

During the rest of his stay he will celebrate Holy Week in Rochester and Canterbury and preside of the Annual Diocesan Synod in London at Central Hall Westminster on Saturday 29th March. He will celebrate Pontifical High Mass on that day at 12 noon to oppen the Synod. The day will also feature an Electoral Synod for the Diocese of the United Kingdom.

News From Council of Advice
12th January 2008

The Council of Advice, Meeting as the Guardians of the Spiritualities of this Diocese of the United Kingdom agreed by a large majority vote to petition the Metropolitan Archbishop Mark Haverland (under Article 4 Section 4a of The Constitution of the ACC) to issue a Writ of Election to enable us to proceed to an Electoral Synod for the purpose of selecting a candidate for Bishop Ordinary of this Diocese. Further details will be posted here in due course.

Change of Canterbury Mass Times
FROM 1st February 2008

Father Damien Mead, Parish Priest of St Augustine's, Canterbury, reports that from the above date any Feast Days upon which Mass would have been celebrated at 7pm will now have Mass at 12 noon instead. Sunday Mass remains at 11am.

Change of Rochester Mass Times
FROM 6th January 2008

Father Raymond Thompson, Parish Priest of Our Lady and St Francis, Rochester, reports that from the above date the Sunday Mass at the Church will be moved to 10am.