Building a garden in the ruins

Bishop Barnes dreams of a future for the Ordinariates:

The greatest surprise of all is a newly created indoor garden. There had been a courtyard behind the house, with kitchens and out-buildings. These had all fallen into decay, and instead of rebuilding them someone had the brilliant notion of making another garden from them. A glass roof covers the entire area at the back of the house, broken walls have been made safe and whitewashed, and a magical space has been created, full of tropical and sub-tropical plants. After the downpour which we braved on the way from Cardiff, this came as a surprise and a relief.

What a parallel with the state of the church in England and Wales. Once so grand and powerful, now fallen on hard times and in many places ruinous. Maybe it takes the vision of someone looking at us from outside to see the possibilities and recreate our ruins into something productive and beautiful. It will never be the same as once it was; but if the Ordinariate can build on the best of the past, and capture people's enthusiasm and imagination, it may be that there will again be a church in these lands which will be acclaimed as stupor mundi, something worth travelling miles to see.