The Portal Magazine, "an independent review in the service of the Ordinariate"

The Portal is an online magazine for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, the Anglican Ordinariate of England and Wales (and Scotland).  It describes itself on its masthead as "an independent review in the service of the Ordinariate."  More fully, on its website they say:

Welcome to The Portal Magazine the free monthly on-line magazine
. . . for those in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
. . . those Anglicans who are interested in the Ordinariate
. . . and all Catholic friends of the Ordinariate

The Portal Magazine, is published on the first of every month.

It covers News, Events, Personalities, Catholic teaching, Letters, Features, Catholic and Anglican history, the Ordinary's Page and information about Ordinariate Parishes

You can either read it online or download a PDF of each issue.  They have been publishing since the Ordinariate was established in January of this year and are a good source of news about going-ons in the U.K. Go and read this month's issues, as well as past months'.  You can also sign up to receive an email when the new issues are published.


Some may be wondering why it is independent and not an "official" publication of the Ordinariate.  The short answer is that I don't know.  But more importantly, there is no need for it to be.  It being ofiicial would just complicate the work of the Ordinariate and the Ordinary at a time when they have much to do. Independent publications are just easier to administer and to raise funds for.  They also are more flexible and able to seize opportunities as they come up. And finally, independent publications have more credibility.  Indeed, many of the world's best religious publications–Catholic, Anglican and other denominations–are independent.

Decentralization and independence should be preferred unless there is a very good reason.  Catholic teaching talks of subsidiarity, which is defined by Wikipedia as "is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. Political decisions should be taken at a local level if possible, rather than by a central authority."  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd Edition) discusses subsidiarity here. The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace discusses the concept here in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.