Last Sunday, August 29th, Saint Gregory the Great was delighted to welcome a new Christian into our Lord’s Church, and — in so doing — welcome a new family into the Ordinariate. The parents, Anthony and AnneMarie, are both New Englanders (she from Maine; he from the South Shore) who met at Boston College. They now live in Mechanicsville NY (the same town as another of our members, Ryan Amman, as it happens) with their four children, aged 8 years to 3 months. Anthony has a degree in Systematic Theology and is currently Director of the Albany campus for St. Bernard’s School of Theology & Ministry. They visited our parish in 2019 and found the charism of the Ordinariate attractive and spiritually nourishing. They return to the area to visit Anthony’s family so we will be seeing them regularly.
Many of the family on both sides were able to attend the Baptism; those who were present know what a beautiful and joyous occasion it was. AnneMarie was kind enough to send along some photos with her thank you note to Father Bradford. In it she writes: Blessings on this feast of our patron, Saint Gregory! Thank you once again for such a beautiful celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism for our little Zoë Evangeline. I have been reveling in the joy of it all week. A short while ago, I finished reading the last of the Chronicles of Narnia with the children. At the end of The Last Battle, Lucy comes to understand that they are entering Narnia within Narnia, world within world, as Aslan sounds the call to move “further up and further in!” I told my husband, that is what coming to the Ordinariate feels like for me — Church within Church, further up and further in. And it is such a gift to be able to participate in it.
Here are the photos. Please pray for the Colemans, our newest members!
