St Marys Cathedral

The re -arrangements to the sanctuary of St Marys Cathedral in Sydney pose a number of questions and challenges concerning both the modern and ancient form of the Roman Rite.

Overall I think that the renovations gave a good result. Gone is the temporary wooden table which was planted in the sanctuary in Cardnial Gilroy's time about 1970, which you can see on the Picture Australia website.

The Altar first rainsed some controversy back in in November 2006, when the plans were first announced. The New Liturgical Movement reported that the new Altar was not going to be able to be used for ad-orientem celebration because of the raising of it on steps at the back of it. This would have gone against good practice as Abp Elliot in his excellent Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite recommends that the Altar be arranged suitable for celebration in either direction. Unfortunately the pictures of what was proposed were deleted.

It seems that the design was revised, and the Altar is able to be used for celebration in either versus-populum or ad-orientem forms. If there is a future Pontifical Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary Form, either this Altar can be used or the old High Altar. Personally I prefer that the new Altar be used for Extraordinary Form celebrations as the High Altar, in my opinion is too far away from the congregation. The old High Altar is also surprisingly small, which helps to make it disappear into the reredos. This does not preclude the old High Altar being once more used for celebration, but it may be more approapriate for small celebrations where the congregation and schola could fit into the choir stalls. (Alternatively one of the side Altars such as the magnificent St Patricks's Altar could be used).

Here is a very old photo which I found in an architectural website of the High Altar in its origianl form.

Btw gone also is the cardinal's comfy armchair whihc has been superseded by an elegant gothic throne.

Intresting day

Today, was a very poor day, for myself. It's one redeeming feature, or should i say, it's figure of salvation was to meet and see, one of the men who I look up to and see as a constant inspiration. Br Richard John Green, OSPE, now monk and seminarian, studying in the eternal city herself. Br Richard , was once the Master of Ceremonies to the Shrine of the Black Madonna, Penrose Park.
He Would come down, every major occasion, such as the 13th and would MC the Mass. Penrose Park, being a major shrine, that was frequently visited by Major prelates and prelates in general.

Br Richard was an inspiration to me, being only at the age of 16, Richard was already an accomplished MC. I served under him, and I am proud of it. Today I am doing, much the same of what he was doing. Br Richard was an inspiration to me as a teenager, a liturgist and as an MC, now he is an inspiration to me as a seminarian.

I find it amazing, that today, I am, much in the same situation as he is, truly it is amazing. God let me meet him now, after so many years, when I've grown so much. Next time we meet surely will be interesting. He's also taught me a few tricks, tricks that now i can fully appreciate, plus I got dibs on being the Master of Ceremonies of his ordination.

Truly God is wonderful.

Update

It is a busy time. I've had to take a week of school for world youth day, one day to recover from the Randwick flu and three days to act as an interpreter and guide for a Polish Capchucin who is currently staying with me. The blog is going a bit slow for a while, due to my hectic schedule, plus I have my studies and local commitments as well. I ask for your prayers.

In the mean time, here are a few photos from WYD.

Liturgical Errors still being propogated

With Cooees from the Cloister being so diligent on the liturgical radar, we were able to leave the the sledging of Elizabeth Harrington's Catholic Leader columns to them. Now with Cooees' forthcoming closure, it looks as if this important ministry will fall to to Roman and myself in the future. Acceptio in crucem!

The latest serving of EH concerns liturgical literacy, which we know in our local Archdiocese is non-existent. However, she increases the illiteracy by showing up her own illiteracy. Most of the article is correct but get this. My comments are included.

One newspaper had a story about a group of young people who like to celebrate Mass in Latin “which was banned by the Second Vatican Council held in the early 1960s”. (Ah that must be the Juventutem Group)
Vatican II did not ‘ban’ Latin at all (correct) but did encourage the use of vernacular languages rather than Latin so that, as Pope John Paul II put it, “every individual can understand and proclaim in his or her mother tongue the wonders of God”. Well it didnt actually. It said that a suitable place may be allotted to the use of vernacular and then said that "care must be taken to ensure that the faithful may also be able to say or sing together in Latin the parts of the Ordinary of the Mass that pertains to them (SC n54). Next comes the real lie.
What Vatican II did ‘abolish’ was the Tridentine Mass, the Order of Mass from the Council of Trent in the mid-1570s, which was celebrated in Latin. What??! Vatican II abolished nothing - and Benedict XVI clearly said so It was replaced by the new Order of Mass with the publication of the Missal of Paul VI in 1970. Again Benedict has clearly stated that with the promulgation of the Missal of Paul VI the older form was not "juridicially abrogated and consequently, in principle, was always permitted." Where and when appropriate, this order of Mass may be celebrated in Latin, or in any of more than 300 languages spoken by Catholics around the world - a wonderful sign of unity in diversity. Note how the emphasis is on the vernacular.

She goes on to say :

Finally, and this will give the conservative bloggers something to get upset about, Cardinal Pell is not the ‘Head of the Australian Catholic Church’ as the media constantly claims. Well we already know that, not that I consider myself a conservative blogger. But why is she taking a swipe at conservative bloggers?? (Well he is a Cardinal, honorary primate and metropolitan of Australia's most important see.... All he needs is to be president of the episcopal conference and he's the main man. He's also big.... an Ex footballer.....Roman433)

Certinaly the aim is to provide disinformation out to the Catholic community in :

1. misreading and misinterpreting Council documents
2. suppressing information and providing lies to the Catholic Community

Will someone please put this woman straight and provide sound liturgical information!!

The French in Brisbane

Last Sunday, we had the French contingent that was present at Juventutem come up and spend a few days with us, up here in Brisbane.The presence of Fr Jean-Cyrille Sow, FSSP, based in St-Etienne near Lyon and Fr Eric Iborra, from the archdiocese of Paris, enabled us to have a Solemn Mass.
Our Choir was also augmented by a few French Pilgrims. Following the High Mass, Fr Iborra, said his private Mass, with one of our new up and coming servers serving. We held a warm reception in honor of these pilgrims, in the traditional Aussie way, with a BBQ!
Finally once all was said and done, we all parted ways. Juventutem and WYD 2008, for us now are officially over, we all have grown as a result of such a life changing experience. As the French have said to us, "See you in Madrid!"

World Youth Day 2008

I’m back. After two weeks in Melbourne and one week in Sydney I have finally returned to Brisbane. World Youth day, was Dynamic… It wasn’t stagnant, it was full of surprises. In this post I’ll just write up a few things just off the top of my head, I’ll something to a bit of contemplation before I decided to share them on the blog.

Truly it was an amazing time, being surrounded by so many young Catholics. Jeremy from Singapore, Emmanuel from Switzerland, Ewee, Greg and Jessica from the USA , just to name a few. The company of the Latin Mass community from Melbourne was much appreciated all those fun adventures with Omar, Tara, Jude, Dane, JP, Roman and Friska. Meeting fellow bloggers was also enjoyable, look forward to more blogs being added to the blog roles.
The saddest part of all was the farewells.

Liturgically it was just a wonderland, four pontifical masses at the faldstool, one at the throne, solemn vespers, solemn vespers at the throne, four solemn high masses and a multitude of low masses, I was privileged to serve. The highlights much have been the Low masses said simulations at three altars and serving for a mass with out a congregation for a newly ordained priest, ad orientam. Several pontifical blessings and even a few from the Pope I was the proud recipient and even the first blessing of a priest.

Needless to say, my Gothic surplice and Gothic alb were used quite frequently.

World Youth day was amazing. My many Thanks and prayers for all those that contributed financially to my trip, your help was much appreciated, especially after my luggage failed to arrive.

Christus Vincit!

Artic Winds

One week has past here, with my presence in this city. I find my time being spent presently. JP is still busily working away on the preparations for the grand ceremonies of Juventutem. I am quite looking forward to wearing a cope and a few other goodies for my roles in the ceremonies. The Latin Mass community here in Caulfield, has quite a different dynamic then what I am used to. Liturgically it is superb, but the community doesn’t seem to have the same zing that Burranda has, something I am starting to miss. Last Sunday, we had two African priests in choir, certainly a new experience for us, times like these show us truly how universal the church is.

The Dress standard of the people here is a big higher then Brisbane, most probably due to the climate. I have found my usual standard of casual with track pants coming under fire. I quite enjoy making the most of my scarf’s, gloves and jackets, which do not get used too often up in sunny old bris. I have borrowed a coat from the family I am staying with, much to my delight.

I have explored many more parts of Melbourne and now I am quite confident with using the public transport system by myself. Trams I find particularly enjoyable and convenient. It really is amazing to contemplate just how south I currently am. When I was relaxing over a coffee with a friend at Brighton, I just struck me, the horizon south from the city, is quite literally the edge of the world (Bar Tasmania and Antarctica).

The eyes of the world are turning their gaze upon Australia, the great southern land. Peter is coming……