At the end of January, I attended the biennial meeting between bishops of the Catholic Church and the Church of England, which took place in Norwich for 24 hours. I arrived late after a five-and-a-half-hour direct train journey from Liverpool. There were no changes, but the train changed direction twice! At Sheffield, the train backed out the station to resume its route, and the same thing happened again at Ely. Even with all that, the journey would have been quite relaxing except that the refreshment trolley was cancelled. By the time I got to Norwich I was tired, dehydrated and quite agitated; possibly even grumpy.

 

For me, that train ride summed up my frustrations with our ecumenical journey: stop and start, backwards and forwards, and as dry as a desert. As a young man, I really hoped that there would soon be visible church unity, at least with the Church of England. As the meeting began, I was not of that mind and wished I was miles away from Norwich.

 

But my ecumenical heart was restored by the good company and a visit to the cell of Mother Julian. We prayed together, reflected on the religious meaning of the coronation, discussed the recent Roman Synod, and finally listened to an inspiring talk by Mgr. Roderick Strange on St John Henry Newman. When I got the train home to Liverpool, the ecumenical world looked a lot more hopeful. What’s more - the tea trolley had reappeared. As Mother Julian said, “All things will be well. All manner of things will be well”.

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Most Reverend Malcolm McMahon OP

Archbishop of Liverpool

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