Page 24 - The Portal magazine - March 2025
P. 24

THE P    RTAL                              March 2025                                     Page 24

        Fr Len Black




        Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane
        mark his retirement


              HEN THE Vatican announced the erection of the Ordinariates
        Win the USA, Australia and the UK, we set about planning for a
        magazine in the UK that would keep the laity of the Ordinariate informed,
        and be of interest to Catholics and
        Anglicans alike.

          During the autumn of 2010                                             He has not only put the magazine
        we counselled opinion among                                           together, but collected almost 1,200
        our  leaders,  sought  advice  from                                   email addresses from people who
        various sources and then travelled                                    have each, individually, requested
        to Scotland in order to consult                                       to receive an email alert each
        Fr Len Black about the format of                                      month. He has been a pioneer, not
        the magazine since he had been                                        only of the magazine, but of the
        previously involved in such projects.                                 Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady
                                                                              of Walsingham in Scotland and
          We decided that an on-line                                          further afield.
        magazine would be best, and we
        outlined our ideas to Fr Len during                                     We shall miss him. We hope he will
                                                 T
                                                  he c
                                                     o
                                                      v
                                                       er of the first issue of
        the evening. By the next morning         The cover of the first issue of   have a long and happy retirement.
                                                                 y 2011
                                                       or
                                                   he P
                                                        tal - Januar
        he had produced a mock-up of a             T The Portal - January 2011  Thank you Fr Len.
        magazine that looked exactly like our
        mental image of the magazine. We could not believe it.   Note from Fr Len
        It was exactly as we had imagined it.
                                                                   (Inserted without the knowledge
          In the final months of 2010 we produced two mock-                   of the Editors!)
        up magazines that never saw the light of day, but they   Dear Jackie and Ronald,
        did make sure we could produce the magazine on time
        and with articles and pictures. Fr Len took charge of    Thank you for these very kind words of
        the IT side of the magazine.                           appreciation, but please be assured that it has been
                                                               a pleasure working with you both (most of the
          Since then he has taken the articles that the team   time!) and seeing The PorTal go from strength to
        provided, putting them together on the website as the   reach the 184th issue this month.
        finished  article.  Sometimes  this  has  meant  working   But really, we should all be saying thank you to
        late, and right up to the publishing time. He has never   both of you for the vision you had in late 2010 of
        failed. He had coped with our ideas, reasonable and    producing an on-line magazine for the about to
        unreasonable, and been a staunch member of  The        start Ordinariate.  Fourteen years is a long time to
        PorTal Team. In the early years he served as a member   maintain such a magazine and you both must have
        of the Editorial Board.                                visited more Ordinariate groups throughout the
                                                               UK than anyone else to date ... including several
          Together with the Editors, Editorial Board members,   trips to Scotland, which were much appreciated by
        and so many contributors, Fr Len took his place in a   everyone here.
        team of some twenty people working for the magazine,     As you say, we have not missed the deadline of
        most of whom received no remuneration.                 midnight on the last day of the month in all 184

                                                               issues, even though at times it has been by the skin
          Sadly, he has decided to retire from this position,   of our teeth, especially when peculiar technical
        so this will be his final magazine. We want to put on   issues have suddenly appeared.
        record out heartfelt thanks to him for all his support,
        hard work, and skill. For the first fourteen years of The   So Thank You, Ronald and Jackie.  May God
        PorTal, Fr Len has been at the IT helm.                bless you both.
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