Not a Pervert Priest, Deo gratias

Investigations having determined there is no substance to the allegations raised by Abp Hepworth of the T.A.C. against Monsignor Dempsey of the Archdiocese of Adelaide, I wish to make it plain that the latter has been cleared of all imputation of criminal acts.  I have corrected my earlier post about this sad story accordingly.

The only good to be drawn out of this mess is that, Deo gratias! no filthy crime was committed, according to the result of this investigation, and instead the memory of one man (troubled by other sufferings inflicted by perverts) proved inaccurate, the actions of another intemperate, and the trials of a third issued in a declaration of innocence.  I suppose that is something for which to be grateful.

Pervert Priest?

1999:

"The Vicar-General of the Adelaide Archdiocese, Monsignor Ian Dempsey, was also quoted in The Advertiser. He noted the concern expressed at the falling number of seminarians and commented that the Church's "restrictive understanding and interpretation of sex within the whole category of love and intimacy" followed a history of male supremacy and patriarchy." (AD2000 Vol 12 No 4 (May 1999), p. 4)

2011:

Monsignor Ian Dempsey, now parish priest of Brighton, is named by Senator Xenophon as the alleged rapist of Archbishop Hepworth of the T.A.C., when the latter was a young Catholic priest.  Senator Xenophon told the Senate : ''The people of the Brighton parish have the right to know that for four years allegations have been outstanding that the priest, Ian Dempsey, raped John Hepworth and that church leadership has failed to make appropriate inquiries into this matter and that church leadership had failed to stand this priest down as a matter of course while inquiries take place. Sexual abuse flourishes because people keep secrets. For the people of South Australia this was a secret that in good conscience I did not feel I could, or should, keep.''

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UPDATE: These allegations have now been investigated, and it has been determined that there is no substance to them.

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[I delete two sentences, that speculated about a possible link between the quoted remarks above and the allegations made, and also predicted the Monsignor wouldn't be a parish priest much longer – for clearly these thoughts were incorrect.]

Recall that Cardinal Pell "stood aside" as Archbishop of Sydney while allegations against him – allegations found to be false – were made; so, if that was done in his high-profile case, why not in this?

[I still wonder about this last point, but perhaps the allegations were even to begin with considered to have so little substance as not to warrant such a treatment.]

16th Sunday after Pentecost

It was very pleasant to attend Mass at Holy Name this fine morning.  The Missa cantata took 80 minutes from the processional hymn "All people that on earth do dwell" before the Asperges until the recessional hymn "Faith of our fathers" after the Last Gospel.  I was surprised at the very large number of servers: eleven, including the M.C.!  My unasked question was answered when, at the Sanctus, six of them reappeared as torchbearers.  The choir (about a dozen), together with a very skilled organist, provided fitting music for the Sacred Liturgy: Mass XI (Orbis factor) and Credo I, all the Propers, plus Bruckner's thrilling Locus iste as an Offertory motet, and a setting of the first verse of Jesu dulcis memoria as a Communion motet (some Marian chant, possibly a responsory, was sung during the ablutions).

Fr Define preached a suitably conscience-pricking sermon about pride, that most fatal vice, and its contrary, the most necessary virtue of humility.  Being all too much enthralled by the former, and all but bereft of the latter, all I can say is mea maxima culpa...

(As an aside, it amused me somewhat to hear what I thought I'd heard at Low Mass on Friday: in the Lord's Prayer, the curious word zicut.)

After the service, it was great to see Steve, Helen and their family, friends of mine from way back, plus several other friends old and new, such as Marguerite, Patrick, and others.  (Thanks, Marguerite, for the very valuable advice about where best to go for lunch at Port Eliot: the Flying Fish Café was excellent!)  The Adelaide Latin Mass community is admirable, not least for members of the congregation prominent in many fields of public endeavour, including a State M.P. and a well-known newspaper columnist.  I was impressed by the goodly numbers at Mass, and was sorry not to return for Vespers in the evening – I was rather tired after driving down around the Fleurieu Peninsula and to the mouth of the Murray River.

Low Mass in Adelaide

Friday the 11^th of September 2010, a bit after 6:30 pm at Holy Name, Stepney, in Adelaide, the City of Churches: Low Mass of St Nicholas of Tolentino, offered, not by the expected Fr McCaffery, F.S.S.P., but by another priest – an American, probably of the same Fraternity.  He prefaced Mass by explaining that the Sacrifice was to be offered up for the victims of Saturday’s earthquake in Christchurch, and by telling us that Fr Rizzo – well-known to me and the congregation, evidently – was safe but somewhat traumatized, sleeping in his car for fear of aftershocks, since he had been thrown against the wall while asleep in his bed by the force of the original tremor.  The Cathedral there is presently closed as a precaution, but Mass is being offered in the adjacent, undamaged hall.

In the manner I’ve observed of other Fraternity priests, past and present (certainly those in Melbourne do the same), Father began the prayers at the foot of the altar in a very low voice, which he maintained till he came to the Introit.  (I used the time profitably in saying the traditional psalms and so forth that comprise the accession office before Mass.)  Strangely, he used the same low voice for the Offertory antiphon and for the Agnus Dei, as also for the Last Gospel (although many priests do that).  The fact that the server brought a lit candle to the altar at the start of the Canon marks a rubrical observance maintained only by the Fraternity in my experience – Dominicans do so, but as part of their own proper Use.

The celebrant preached a short sermon in honour of St Nicholas of Tolentino, reminding us that he was known particularly for his penance, his humility, and his kindness.  What a high standard he sets for us all!  I prayed to gain somewhat of his kindness at the least.

Off to Adelaide

Time for a little holiday: off to Adelaide and the Barossa Valley for five days...

I hope to catch up with friends, not least by dropping by the Latin Mass attended by "Tradelaideans", seeing some Dominicans, and even visiting some Lutherans of my acquaintance (for South Australia is the centre of antipodean Lutherdom).

At the least I hope to drink good red wine in this heartland of the grape:

Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, 

There's always laughter and good red wine.

At least I've always found it so. 

Benedicamus Domino!

— Hilaire Belloc

All Records Broken

I had cause to go into town to-day to have lunch with a congenial mate, and then off and around the city, stopping off to note down the times of service at the local Greek Orthodox church (they have Divine Liturgy one Saturday each month; a friend of mine worships with them in Hobart, and Fr Timothy their priest is a friend of a Catholic bishop I know), buying some groceries, looking for the latest copy of an Astronomy magazine I take, etc.

It was hot out in the sun, certainly, but I had no idea that at 3.30pm the temperature broke the all-time record: it reached 38.7°C - the hottest recorded since records began in 1884! That's 101.7°F.  Golly.

(I just noticed - the candle in its candlestick on the sideboard has bent over in the broiling heat.)

Scamander on the coast and Ross in the midlands were both 41.5°C at 3pm (new records for the mainland of Tasmania), Cressy and Launceston Airport inland from Launceston, plus Fingal all broke 40°C, Bushy Park and Ouse (both in the south, up the Derwent Valley) 38°C... extraordinary weather.

(Oh, and in Victoria Melbourne registered 45.1, while in South Australia, Adelaide was 43.1.  Perhaps the whole world is just going to drop into the Sun.)

Hot Weather

Yesterday afternoon found me in Melbourne, walking the length (2 km) of the shopping strip that is Chapel Street, South Yarra, in hot weather - moving up from the high twenties to the low thirties (but I was back in my airconditioned hire car by the time it reached the day's maximum of 35.6°C at 6 pm).  But I congratulated myself at being about to decamp to Tasmania, so escaping the predicted scorching heat...

Well, to-day has found us afflicted with 33°C in Launceston - unheard of!  And worse is to come... 34°C on Thursday, then 33°C for Friday and Saturday, which for Tasmanians is almost inconceivably warm.  (In the last forty-odd years, it's only ever been as hot as 35°C in January.)

At least we have airconditioning in the dining and lounge rooms.

As for the Mainland, apparently it has been hideously hot in Melbourne (topping out at 42.9°C, again, weirdly enough, at 6 pm), and even hotter in Adelaide: minimum 31°C, maximum 45°C!  Adelaide will have much the same to-morrow, and then only slightly cooler all week; Melbourne, two more days of 43°C, and only then a bit cooler.  

Yuck.

Torrens in Austro

The Wills are currently entertaining some guests, including myself, and kindly gave me a chance to update my blog, now that I've been fortified with a vol-au-vent and some cups of tea!

In reverse order:

• This morning I had the privilege of serving two private Masses: Fr Rowe's, and Fr Mannes' - the latter being assisted at this his first Roman Rite Low Mass by Fr Rowe as chaplain. A select group ('stable' group?) attended. I was doubly privileged in that Fr Mannes offered Mass for my intentions, as I'd handed him a stipend for his first Latin Mass, a repetition on this feria of the Mass of the 4th Sunday of Advent. The Epistle (I Cor. iv, 1-5), proclaiming that "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and the dispensers of the mysteries of God. Here now it is required among the dispensers that a man be found faithful...", was most appropriate for the first Low Mass of a priest; and the Gospel (St Luke iii, 1-6), read to-day as yesterday and as the day before, detailing as it does the preaching ministry of St John Baptist, very apposite for a Friar Preacher! And it struck me that the Postcommunion Sumptis muneribus - about the greater and greater increase of the effect of our salvation being accomplished by frequentation of the sacred mysteries - was certainly being fulfilled.
  

• Yesterday was marked (after I first served Fr Rowe's private Mass, and received a post-Mass blessing with a relic of St Monica) by Fr Mannes' first Ordinary Form Mass, which was quite a splendid affair, held at Holy Rosary Church before a large congregation. While an altar crucifix was overruled, in most ways otherwise it was a reform of the reform affair, with a choir of friends chanting the Introit Rorate cæli, the Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei and Communion, together with many other pleasant items - such as "O come, O come, Emmanuel" at Offertory, and at Communion, Pange lingua in alternating chant and polyphony, followed by polyphonic Alma Redemptoris Mater and the ineffable Sicut cervus of Palestrina: having made my communion, I was almost in ecstasy hearing this! Curiously, there were an awful lot of kneeling communions, including those of several priests and deacons in choir - let bishops and friars take note. (The auxiliary of Adelaide was at a prie-dieu in the sanctuary, and Dominicans, Franciscans and secular priests concelebrated.) Before I forget, Rev Br Vincent preached a very fine and intellectual homily, which I cannot now recall in extenso, and the other deacon assisting Fr Mannes sang the Gospel. I noticed Fr Mannes kept his fingers conjoined from Consecration to the ablutions, and observed a number of traditional and Dominican usages... About the only drawback was the lack of ad orientem celebration (which is still too brave a statement for Australia), together with the embarrassment of lady readers - one of whom suddenly appeared at the lectern to ask us all to "read the communion antiphon", a gauche intervention that she noticeably regretted when the choir struck up soon after.

• In preparation for the ordination to come, I served Fr Rowe's Ember Saturday Low Mass earlier in the afternoon on Saturday, he agreeing in consideration of the occasion to read all six lessons. The actual grand joint ordination took place at the Cathedral here in Adelaide, His Grace Philip Wilson officiating. Again, the liturgy was very high church by general Australian standards (though His Grace unfortunately - unlike Fr Mannes - doesn't sing at all), but reminded me of how much the Novus Ordo can resemble learning to drive in a manual car: too much bumping and grinding of the gears! For instance, a fine hymn to a very Anglican tune opened the liturgy (and a versified Magnificat to the tune of "Jerusalem" closed it), and Missa Orbis factor provided the Kyrie - but alas la(d)y readers, none too skilled in reading, irrupted into the sanctuary, providing a strange contrast to the Gospel chanted by a deacon; and a friend of mine sang the Responsorial Psalm very well, a piece which is usually annoying after all, but then very wierdly sang the Alleluia verse to a modern tune but in Latin - why? Wilson more or less got the ordination alright, though he misnamed Br Vincent as "James" shortly after diaconizing him, and almost stuffed up the laying on of hands for Rev Br Mannes prior to the prayer of consecration - we twitted him at the afterparty, was he really ordained? The music, provided by the same choir of friends mentioned above, was very pleasant, and I was very glad to hear Ronan's setting of Tu es sacerdos being sung! After the one-and-a-half hours of the liturgy passed by, we all received Fr Mannes' first blessing, Deo gratias.
  

And lack of time precludes me more than alluding to the good time that was had by all at the various post-liturgy functions that were held over this weekend, or to the good folk who kindly put me up and/or put up with me (such as Roman and Terra), or to my enjoyment of this return visit to the beautiful city of Adelaide, or to my nearly missing my plane from Perth to Adelaide because I was sitting quietly in the departure lounge trying to finish Lauds, didn't know the flight was boarding since the P.A. system wasn't working!

As I'm in the capital of South Australia, on the river Torrens, the following Psalm 125 seems highly applicable:

In convertendo Dominus captivitatem Sion,
facti sumus sicut consolati.
Tunc repletum est gaudio os nostrum,
et lingua nostra exsultatione.
Tunc dicent inter gentes:
Magnificavit Dominus facere cum eis.
Magnificavit Dominus facere nobiscum;
facti sumus lætantes.
Converte, Domine, captivitatem nostram,
sicut torrens in austro.
Qui seminant in lacrimis,
in exsultatione metent.
Euntes ibant et flebant,
mittentes semina sua.
Venientes autem venient cum exsultatione,
portantes manipulos suos.

When the Lord brought back the captivity of Sion,
we became like men comforted.
Then was our mouth filled with gladness;
and our tongue with joy.
Then shall they say among the Gentiles:
The Lord hath done great things for them.
The Lord hath done great things for us:
we are become joyful.
Turn again our captivity, O Lord,
as a stream ["torrens"] in the south.
They that sow in tears
shall reap in joy.
Going they went and wept,
casting their seeds.
But coming they shall come with joyfulness,
carrying their sheaves ["maniples"?!].

Travel Plans

Since I'll be en route all too soon, I've scheduled posts about the O Antiphons to appear bright and early each morning from to-morrow until the 23rd inst.  

For those interested to know, since I won't have a chance to post much for the coming few days, Deo volente, I will arrive in Adelaide to-morrow afternoon at 4.55pm (please, no mobbing me at the airport), in plenty of time to attend the joint ordination of Rev Br Mannes to the priesthood and Br Vicent to the diaconate at St Francis Xavier Cathedral at 6pm on Saturday.  Come Sunday, I'll be at Holy Rosary Church for Fr Mannes' first Mass at 10am.  Ad multos annos!

Hopefully I will catch up with some of the nice (Tr)Adelaide people I know from WYD and previous visits to the City of Churches, through Br Mannes in fact - and it will be nice to meet his parents again, it's been years since I saw them last.  My short visit to Adelaide will also encompass - you guessed it - serving Mass for a certain priest who is also attending this Dominican extravaganza: having known Mannes for years, he's looking forward to seeing him made a priest.  Then on Monday afternoon and evening I'll fly on to Launceston via Melbourne, arriving back in Tasmania at 10.05pm; though based on past experience, I wouldn't be surprised if the flight be delayed...

Travel Plans - Adelaide Ordination

While I must still arrange to send my car back East on the train (having decided against driving it over), I have just, after some contretemps and mistakes, booked to fly to Adelaide on the 19th of December, thus leaving the West behind, and on to Launceston on the 22nd, where I shall be based for 2009 and who knows how long.

Breaking my trip with this long weekend in South Australia will permit me to attend the priestly ordination of Rev Br Mannes Tellis, O.P., at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral at 6pm on Saturday the 20th (the old Ember Saturday of Advent, the traditional date for ordinations), and then to come to his first Masses (one OF, the other EF) on Sunday the 21st, the 4th Sunday of Advent.

Mannes told me that while he was a child, his grandmother would look after him and his brother during their school holidays, and that, as she was very devout, she would take them every day to St Francis Xavier's Cathedral for three Masses (and Benediction); they would play around outside the Cathedral, and be ushered in as each service commenced - so it must be with special emotion that he contemplates his ordination there in just under two months' time.

Of your charity, please pray for him, that he may be a holy and zealous priest, a worthy son of St Dominic.