Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Melbourne
St. Francis Church is the oldest Catholic church in Melbourne. It offers 9-11 Masses a day every week. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament is held in-between Masses. Rite 1 of the Sacrament of Penance is also offered throughout the day. These are based on the constitutions of St. Peter Julian Eymard, the apostle of the Eucharist.
A view of the Sanctuary from the south wing. Take note of the Ambo. It was designed also as a throne; signifying the importance of Sacred Scripture. Just a thought: The monstrance ought to be enthroned as well; in fact it used to be enthroned in royalty in St. Francis Church until the changes of the Second Vatican Council. Catholic tradition and teaching have always held that first place should go to the Eucharistic Lord because even though Jesus can be present in other ways (scriptures, congregation, celebrant, etc...), he is transubstantially present- body, blood, soul and divinity- in the Eucharistic species.
Another view of the church from the south wing.
The Ladye Chapel, situated in St. Francis, is a beautiful space for prayer and reflection. I cannot describe how inspiring it was to be in the Chapel; I was lost for words when I entered this magnificent space. I do not think that any other Church in Melbourne could compare to the Ladye Chapel.
The ceiling lists all the attributes of Our Lady while the stain glass depicts the key moments of her life.
The Monastery where I put up during my stay.
The refectory. Anti-Clockwise: Deacon John, Br. Gerard, Br. Eymard.
The contemporary chapel situated in the Monastery's Chapter Room.
Community Fellowship every Monday after Vespers and before dinner. From Left to Right: Br. Stephen, Fr. Jack, Fr. Joe.
Community Fellowship every Monday after Vespers and before dinner. From Left to Right: Fr. Joachim, Br. Alphonsus, Fr. Alf, Br. Vincent.
Community Fellowship every Monday after Vespers and before dinner. From Left to Right: Fr. Tom (Superior), Fr. Laurie.
Community Fellowship every Monday after Vespers and before dinner. From Left to Right: Br. Joseph, Br. Eymard, Br. Damien, Br. Gerard.- St. Patrick's Cathedral (Roman Catholic)
- St. Peter's Church (Anglo-Catholic)
- St. Paul's Cathedral (Roman Catholic)
- All Saint's Church (Roman Catholic)
- Blessed Mary McKillop Museum- had a private tour!
- St. Mary's House of Welcome- a soup kitchen for the poor.
- Hawthrorn Shopping Belt- Where I visited Southern Cross Church Supplies and Pauline Media Centre.
- St. Kilda's Beach- a very 'diverse' area.
- Yarra Theological College- Where Blessed Sacrament and Passionist Seminarians study.
- RMIT University- Chaplains brunch
- Catholic Archdiocesan Center and College- Where the Diocesan Seminarians study.
Labels: Personal, Photos, Travels
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Ad Orientem
Are traditional priests really facing "the wall"?
Consider this: When a general leads his troops into battle does he face them? When a representative of the people approaches the Ruler on their behalf does he face them? When a priest is going to the Lord on behalf of his people should he face them?
When the priest is acting as the intermediary between the people and God he faces the Altar. When he is dispensing the gifts of God, or speaking to the people, he faces the people.
A true account:-
Nun: "Father why are you celebrating Mass with your back to us?"
Priest: "Would you rather me show my back to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords"
Need I say more? Even the Holy Father is facing the East. Look...
13 January 2007, Baptism of the Lord at the Sistine Chapel
Facing East in important because "...The priest is above all a servant of others, and he must continually work at being a sign pointing to Christ, a docile instrument in the Lord's hands. This is seen particularly in his humility in leading the liturgical assembly, in obedience to the rite, uniting himself to it in mind and heart, and avoiding anything that might give the impression of an inordinate emphasis on his own personality. I encourage the clergy always to see their Eucharistic ministry as a humble service offered to Christ and his Church. The priesthood, as Saint Augustine said, is amoris officium, it is the office of the good shepherd, who offers his life for his sheep." Sacramentum Caritatis #23.
Labels: Photos, Traditionalism
Low Mass Photos
Here are the- long overdued- photos of the first Low Mass that was offered on the side altar of our Lady of Lourdes in the 4th quarter of last year at St. Joseph's Church. The celebrant was Rev. Fr. John Mary Chin, OCD. Enjoy!
The insertion of the Sacred Relics of Ss. Felicity and Perpetua.
The Altar as it ought to be- clothed in 3 piece of fine linen.
View of the Altar from the Gospel Side
The Offering of the Host
The Offering of the Chalice
For This IS My Body- The Elevation
Benedicat Vos- The Final BlessingLabels: Liturgy, Photos, Traditionalism
Tenebrae 2008
I was blessed to attend the first Tenebrae Service in 40 years. The offices of Matins and Lauds were beautifully chanted by the talented members of the St. Gregory the Great Schola.For those who do not know what the Tenebrae is, here's some information I extracrted from Extraordinary From Singapore's blog: The Tenebrae is "the office which the clergy and the faithful say on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week, accompanied by the lamentations of the Prophet Jeremias, and other ceremonies. The word Tenebrae means darkness, and represents the prayers formerly said in the dark hours of the morning. In the Tenebrae the Church mourns the passion and death of, Jesus, and urges her children to return to God; she therefore makes use of those mournful words of Jeremias: 'Jerusalem! Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord, thy God!' " More information here.
Below are some of the photos I took with my new 7.2 megapixels Sony Cybershot DSC-H5. Enjoy!
The Chapel 5 minutes before the Service.
The Entrance Procession.
The 15 candles; as you can see first has already been extinguished.
The chanting of the lamentations of Jeremias.
The female faithful veiled.
The female faithful veiled.Labels: Divine Office/Liturgy of the Hours, Liturgy, Photos, Tenebrae, Traditionalism
Monday, January 14, 2008
New Side Altars
Enjoy!
They are beautifull illuminated at night by incandesent and halogen lights. I will upload the night shots soon. In the meantime, I hope all is well with all my readers. God bless!Labels: Altar, Carmelite, Churches, Photos
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Teddy Bear Picnic Mass
An introductory extract from The Instruction Concerning Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery (Inaestimabile Donum)
Prepared by the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship Approved and Confirmed by His Holiness Pope John Paul II April 17, 1980.
This Sacred Congregation notes with great joy the many positive results of the liturgical reform: a more active and conscious participation by the faithful in the liturgical mysteries, doctrinal and catechetical enrichment through the use of the vernacular, and the wealth of readings from the Bible, a growth in the community sense of liturgical life, and successful efforts to close the gap between life and worship, between Liturgical piety and personal piety, and between Liturgy and popular piety.
But these encouraging and positive aspects cannot suppress concern at the varied and frequent abuses being reported from different parts of the Catholic world: the confusion of roles, especially regarding the priestly ministry and the role of the laity (indiscriminate shared recitation of the Eucharistic Prayer, homilies given by lay people, lay people distributing Communion while the priests refrain from doing so); an increasing loss of the sense of the sacred (abandonment of liturgical vestments, the Eucharist celebrated outside church without real need, lack of reverence and respect for the Blessed Sacrament, etc.); misunderstanding of the ecclesial character of the Liturgy (the use of private texts, the proliferation of unapproved Eucharistic Prayers, the manipulation of the liturgical texts for social and political ends) . In these cases we are face to face with a real falsification of the Catholic Liturgy: "One who offers worship to God on the Church's behalf in a way contrary to that which is laid down by the Church with God-given authority and which is customary in the Church is guilty of falsification."[7]
None of these things can bring good results. The consequences are--and cannot fail to be--the impairing of the unity of Faith and worship in the Church, doctrinal uncertainty, scandal and bewilderment among the People of God, and the near inevitability of violent reactions.
It appears that the waves of heresy has hit the shores of our Diocese. Why are we allowing such grave abuses that have destroyed thousands of years of Catholic tradition and doctrine into our parishes? This apparently shows a lack of understanding and ignorance as to what the Mass is about and what truly take place during the celebration of the HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.
Reverence and dignity must be restored to the Roman rite of Mass. Out with Clown Masses, Halloween Masses, Barney Masses, and Teddy Bear Picnic Masses. The enthusiasm of the clergy and laity to take part is such a grave sacriledge demontrates an appalling ignorance as to what really and truly takes place in the HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS: Jesus is made present- The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
We are reminded by the great Saint of the Eucharist, St. Peter Julian Eymard of the sacredness of the Holy Mass and the degree of adoration, dignity and reverence it truly deserves:
"... He would rise again to be our perpetual Host of propitiation, the Host of our Communion, the Host of our Adoration. Heaven was enraptured at the sight of this mystery. The Most Holy Trinity contemplated it with love. The angels, struck with awe, adored it. And with what rage were not the demons seized in hell!"
Why then, is this being tolerated? How many warnings from the Holy See reprobating such actions need to be written, promulgated, and ignored, before more concrete action is taken? The abuses have to stop! Where is the unity in divine worship that had united all Catholic Masses for 2000 years?
The institution of this pernicious biritualism is intolerable to the faithful People of God! The unity of faith in the Catholic Church will be undermined by the existance of parallel rites. We must stand in defense of our liturgical unity, of its unitary ritual purity, of the active participation of the faithful against duplicitous attempts to introduce divisions within the faithful People of God! The faithful cannot be forced to cope with such unprecedented variety in worship. It is clear that a "liberalization" of the long-forgotten rites will shatter the united front of Catholicism as it faces its enemies!
Some sacrilegious Masses/Liturgies exposed on YouTube:
It may not be surprising to see our Masses turn into Protestant asssemblies if we don't act. It is apparently that many bishops and priests are not doing their job is safeguarding the deposit of faith. Therefore, we as the laity, faithful to Rome, must act! We need to save the Church! It is "not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops, and your religious act like religious." Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
St. Alphonsus Liguori CSsR, Doctor of the Church, warns us about Sacrilegious Masses in Chapter 7 of the Dignities and Duties of the Priest:
According to St. John Chrysostom, during the celebration of Mass the Altar is surrounded by Angels, who are present to pay homage to Jesus Christ, the Victim offered in Sacrifice. And St. Gregory asks, "who doubts that at the very hour of immolation, at that voice of the priest, the heavens are opened and the choirs of Angels are present at that mystery of Jesus Christ?" St. Augustine says that the Angels assist as servants to the priest who offers the Sacrifice.
Now the Council of Trent teaches that Jesus Christ Himself was the first that offered this great Sacrifice of His Body and Blood, and that He now offers Himself by the hands of a priest chosen to be His minister and representative on the Altar. St. Cyprian says that "the priest truly holds the place of Christ," and that, therefore, at the Consecration, he says This is My body: this is the chalice of My blood. To His disciples Jesus Himself said, He that heareth you, heareth Me . . . and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me.
The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy attempts to explain why such Masses continue to stain the Church and reduce the Mass to a mere show:
"Bad theology is supported by bad liturgy and together they spawn bad morality. As Catholic clergy and as baptized members of the Church, we ask that across the board, our shepherds enforce the universal laws of the church; to protect and serve the people of God by ensuring that every ordained deacon, priest or bishop will act morally, properly and pastorally; defend the deposit of faith as taught by the Magisterium; and insist that reverent and proper celebrations of the sacred liturgy be done everywhere, from seminaries to parishes to cathedrals."
The Holy Father, reminds us all that we "...ought to get back to the dimension of the sacred in the liturgy... the essential in the liturgy is the mystery, which is realized in the common ritual of the Church; all the rest diminishes it. Men experiment with it in lively fashion, and find themselves deceived, when the mystery is transformed into distraction, when the chief actor in the liturgy is not the Living God but the priest or the liturgical director." (Sermon to Chilean Bishops, 13 July '88).
A clip from the lecture "The Classical Roman Rite and the Renewal of the Liturgy," by Msgr. Michael Schmitz of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. The transcript may be found here. In this video Msgr. Schmitz quotes H.H. Pope Benedict and reminds us that the liturgy is not something we can expose to our own whimps and fancies. Do read the transcript of his entire lecture.
Here is a video (in French) produced by the Society of St. Pius X displaying the beauty and reverence that is rightly mandated in the celebration of the Holy Mass. Though I am not of the opinion that we should return to the things of the past, it is worthwhile to note that nothing less can be given to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who renews His one sacrifice each day at the Altar. The Novus Ordo can be as inspiring and eddifying as the Extraordinary Form IF celebrated with dignity, reverence, love and humilty.
Secular Carmelite writter, Paul Malik warns the Church that "the vocations crisis in the Church is an self-imposed one". He was refering to the abuses in the liturgy.
Let us turn to the great saints of the Eucharist who defended reverent celebrations of Holy Mass and were themselves living examples of zealous priests who celebrated the Holy Mass with reverence, humility, love and ardour.
St. Peter J. Eymard, pray for us!
St. Francis Fasani, pray for us!
St. Josemaria Escravia, pray for us!
St. Gregory the Great, pray for us!
St. Padre Pio, pray for us!
Labels: Eucharist, Holy Father, Official Documents, Photos, Sacrilege, Saints, Video
Friday, October 12, 2007
Ordinary time is...
Labels: Advent, Christmas, Miscellaneous, Photos
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Church Maintenance
For the safety of parishioners and visitors, the rector has commissioned the restoration and reenforcement of all the stain glasses in the Church.
Early this Monday, 5 levels of scaffolding was erected at nave's south entrance. Work was swiftly completed yesterday and the structure will be wheeled into the sanctuary on Thursday.
Braving the heights, this blogger scaled the sacfforlding to present you the following photos:
Rector Fr. Michael Teo spent $1000 to procure this second-hand scaffolding
It took approx. the entire morning to erect the scaffolding. On it is Andrew, the Chruch's verger. 
If you look closely, you see that the glass has been dislodged from the frame; The gap is wide enough to put your fingers through. 
The image on the glass; it depicts a sword with the blooming flower for the grip. 
This is exactly how large the glass is; it's approx. 12 feet long.
Please say the following prayer for us:
O my God, I offer Thee the work of restoration of Thy holy Church which have already begun for Thy love. Most holy Virgin, take all who are working on the restoration of the Church under Thy protection. St. Joseph, pray for us. Amen.
Labels: Miscellaneous, Photos, SJ's Restoration Program, Stain Glass
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Home Altars
To decorate the houses with religious pictures is a custom as old as Christianity itself, for the true Christian has always considered his home as nothing less than a Temple of God, and the religious pictures as means to extend and preserve the spirit of Christianity in the home. In the living room the place of honour should be the crucifix.
"The home must be in accord with the Church, that all harmful influences be withheld from the souls of the children. Where there is true piety in the home, purity of morals reigns supreme. There is a crying need for a renewal of the Christian spirit in the home." St. John Vianney
Making a Home Altar
One need not spend a bomb on the home altar. Try looking at second hand shops, garage sales & antique shops for old tables, dressers or trunks- making sure there is somewhere to store extra things like matches, candles, et cetera.
It may also be handy to buy inexpensive but, good quality linens for private Holy Masses.
Here are some items you may want to include on your altar: prayer books, candles & holders, snuffers, flower vases, beautiful containers for rosaries & one for intentions, censer & incense, Holy water fonts, kneelers, Holy Bible & stand, crucifixes, icons, images or statues of our Lord & Lady.
"Of course, religious pictures themselves will not make a family good. Only when they are contemplated upon, are they a practical help to true Christian sentiment, and to a true Christian way of living in the family." St. John Vianney.
With the help of the Lord’s grace and your own creative ideas, you'll be able to build a beautiful home altar. Your home will become a church in miniture. God will add the extra grace.
Above is the makeshift altar in my bedroom; my home altar- which some of you have seen- has been dismantled until I get a new place (soon!). The icon in the background is an authentic Byzantine Icon. If you look closely, you'll be able to see that I've adorned our lady with a crown of twelve jewels and the eyes of the eagle (at the top) with two pearls.Sunday, August 12, 2007
Penang Trip 9/8-12/8 '06
Below is a short cronological summary of each day.
Thursday (9/8)
2100: Departed Sg for Malaysia
Friday (10/8)
0000-0530: North-South Highway
1500-1630: Shopping and foot exploration of historic Georgetown.
1930-2300: Dinner at the Chinese Recreation Club
Saturday (11/8)
1130: Met Andrew of Unam Sanctam for a tour of Penang.
St. Xavier
Our Lady of Sorrows
Immaculate Conception
1230: Met Mark of Exsurge Domine and his brother Servers at the Chruch of the Immaculate Conception.
1400: Lunch at Fatty Loh Chicken Rice Restaurant
1500: Briefly introduced myself to Summer, Andrew's Golden Retriever
1530: Visited College General Catholic Seminary
The Seminary Chapel- Holy Hour
1830: Attended Holy Mass at the Chruch of the Assumption.
2000: Boarded the coach at Sg. Nibong Bus Terminal
2045-0000: North-South Highway
Sunday (12/8)
0000-0600: North South Highway
0715: Home
Labels: Churches, Photos, Travels
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
