News Catch-up

Two weekends ago, I went to Sydney for the wedding of Sidney and Tien – a beautiful occasion of course! I ended up attending three Solemn High Masses in succession: the first, in the evening of Friday 3rd October at St Benedict's, Broadway, followed by solemn Benediction (and then dinner with friends old and new);  the second, in the late morning of Saturday the 4th at Maternal Heart, Lewisham, the wedding of the happy couple followed by Mass of St Francis (using the Franciscan propers, as the celebrant was a friar minor), with the nuptial blessing and so forth, followed by a reception that lasted till late evening; and on Sunday the 5th, the usual Sunday Mass at Maternal Heart (followed by lunch with mates at the pub). It was pleasant though rather warm in Sydney – when I walked from Annandale to Circular Quay on Sunday afternoon, it hit 34 degrees, which made my subsequent return trip on the Manly ferry a great relief. Many thanks to a friend who put me up (or rather put up with me) at his place over the weekend.

Sister Mary Stephanie of Divine Providence, OCD,  died at the Launceston Carmel on Sunday morningthe 13th of October, in the 53rd year of her religious life and the 91st year of her age – to whose soul may the Lord grant eternal rest. I attended her first Requiem on Monday, and on Tuesday was privileged, after and during morning Mass at Carmel, to pay my last respects before her open casket, placed just on the other side of their choir screen, which the nuns left open for the occasion. On Friday, I attended her moving funeral Mass, which was followed by her burial in the monastic crypt, out of sight to layfolk, where her mortal remains lie alongside those of her sisters, awaiting the resurrection.

This weekend past, I went to Hobart on Saturday, since our mid-month Sunday Missa cantata was to be at the earlier than usual hour of 9:30 am. Unfortunately, Father was late starting Mass (at 9:45 am) owing to various factors, and he had to rush to get to his flight back to the mainland – which was why Mass was scheduled so early to begin with.

I forebear to comment on the recent synod debacle, or rather, utter shambles, pleasing to the Devil only and not to Christ, since I fear I would not edify my readers. Many layfolk, priests and even bishops have been through a severe trial this past week – I certainly have. I commend Rorate cæli for their fearless and honest reporting, and take the opportunity of publically retracting some of my previous criticisms of that blog, ever since the election of Papa Bergoglio – since they have been proven correct, time and again, much as I would have hoped otherwise.

Thank God for the good bishops and Cardinals who actually know what our holy Faith teaches, and have not given in to relativism. Thank God they were not called upon to do what Scripture suggests in extreme cases ("But when Cephas was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed." – Galatians ii, 11). And thanks to St John Paul II, who worked a miracle, doubtlessly obtained from Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace.

Gaude, Maria Virgo: cunctas hæreses sola interemisti in universo mundo.

Off to Sydney and Melbourne

It's been a while since I last posted, but various matters have taken up my time.

To-night, I'm off to Sydney for the weekend, then I'll fly down to Melbourne for the week, and be back here on Saturday, before driving to Hobart, where I'll stay the night, then MC morning Mass there, before driving myself and Fr Rowe (who'll be visiting Tasmania that week) back to Launceston, where I'll MC the special 6 pm Missa cantata at St Francis, Riverside, on Sunday 13th July. Please do come if you can!

Some matters are too serious to trust to the internet, but do keep me in your prayers.

A Break

I heard Mass this morning; to-morrow morning, however, after stopping off to pay my respects at my father's grave (it being the third anniversary of his death - do spare a prayer, gentle reader, for him), I will be driving south to the Tasman Peninsula for a few days' break. The weather forecast is not promising, unfortunately.

Return South

Looking at the thick clouds out of the airplane window, it looked like Antarctica... but I am happy to have returned to Tasmania, after "a little drive" – it turned out to be, not 2000 kilometres, but 2000 miles (a bit more than 3200 km according to the odometer) that I've motored around Queensland, from Daintree to Sunshine Coast; and to think the deepest inland I went was only Charters Towers (memo to self: not a town worth revisiting!). I think next July I'll do Adelaide to Darwin – on the train – and do Ayers Rock and all that (on a package tour).

It was jolly thoughtful of His Holiness to gift the Archdiocese of Hobart a new Archbishop at last: I have happy memories of a front-row seat at the Cathedral in Sydney for his episcopal consecration  some ten years ago (owing to a bizarre misunderstanding, as some friends and I had walked in in the company of an Eastern-rite Dominican priest, God rest him, we ended up directed to a spot just under the pulpit, in front of all the ecumenical representatives – the poor usher must've thought Fr was some sort of oriental potentate, and we his menials).

I recall the Cardinal's sermon, mocking the secular news reportage's horror at revealing that one of the two men to be consecrated bishop (Antony Fisher, O.P.) was staunchly anti-abortion – "I have news for them," he boomed, "they both are!" Please read Bishop Porteous' blog site to discover what a strong and true pastor he is and will be, being unafraid to speak out against the current nostrums and madnesses afflicting our miserable and naughty world. Now that Porteous is an Arch., I suppose Parramatta won't have Fisher too long; he'll be Archbishop of Melbourne or Sydney in due course, good man that he is.

Having been in Queensland, I am relieved to report that I survived Sunday Mass there; clearly the horror stories are somewhat exaggerated. Mass at Townsville Cathedral was quite devout, with servers in cassock and surplice, incense and everything (a pity the M.C. and thurifer stood talking together in a corner throughout the Eucharistic Prayer!); Mass at Noosa too was fairly reasonable, albeit with dreadful modern songs, but I'm sure the singers meant well.

Having been in Rudd's home state, I also must admit, most reluctantly, that he has worked a (morally dubious) triple miracle, having gotten rid of (1) Gillard, (2) the carbon tax and (3) the boats – what a supremely cynical move, given his odiously-repeated claims to saintliness, to send all the asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea, whether they be economic migrants or actual refugees; that'll win him the election, just as Tampa worked for Howard; he can unblushingly claim that, as they come from Third World countries, they'll fit in better in one!  How upset Abbott must be, to see the golden prize slip from his eager fingers... will Rudd call the election tomorrow? The longer he dithers, the greater the risk he'll lose after all, once the allure of his return to the prime ministership wears off and he slides in the polls again.

Now that I'm back, I can now settle into a new book (which arrived while I was up north) about the history of the Liturgy of the Presanctified in the Byzantine Rite, once I finish off my holiday reading about cosmology, dark matter and dark energy (those main constituents of our universe about which modern science admits it knows little to nothing); it was nice to see reference to the very international collaboration (PLANET) that I had had a minor role in during my time at university studying astronomy, thanks to my thesis supervisor – I haven't thought about gravitational microlensing for years.

Chasing the Sun

It's July, and the coldest time of year; so I'm taking my latest holidays in Queensland. As I don't like lazing about on beaches, nor mucking about in boats, I'll be flying up to Cairns, then driving by easy stages all the way to Noosa... about 2,000 km (including detours). I head off on Monday morning.

Since it has been snowing this weekend in central Tasmania, and given that I'm about to travel, I decided not to go to Hobart for the monthly Missa cantata, and instead attended Mass in my own parish last night.

Pray for me, as I travel in partibus...

Sunday of the Blind Man: Vespers and Divine Liturgy

Being in marvellous Melbourne, I betook myself to the Russian Catholic Church of Holy Trinity–St Nicholas, for Vespers on Saturday and Divine Liturgy on Sunday. I'd not been to Byzantine Rite Vespers before; luckily for me (since I can't understand Church Slavonic), Vespers was almost wholly sung in English, to settings drawn from the ancient znamenny chants: including None (which is customarily chanted before Vespers), the service took a little over an hour – apparently the only element that in a parish might otherwise be included was a litia or procession, since in parishes the chanting of the first kathisma of the psalter (Psalms 1 to 8) is much abbreviated, and only fully carried out in monasteries. It was an atmospheric setting: only the many icon lamps shone out to begin, with the chandeliers lit midway through the Hour. A particularly touching aspect of the service was the sight of the deacon's young son happily playing with a children's book - which he took and propped on the singer's bookstand, alongside the horologion and all the other books needed for the service (I counted eight or ten!)...

Driving over from Essendon to East St Kilda (and avoiding toll roads) meant that I only arrived on Sunday morning five minutes before the notional service time of half ten; Terce was being chanted, then Sext; then the Divine Liturgy began. I would say that the majority of the service was in English (the deacon alternated - one litany in English, one not), as was the excellent sermon, but the choir chanted a good deal in Church Slavonic, as several of the older members of the parish joined in the singing. The Liturgy took two hours, concluding with the Prayers of Thanksgiving after Holy Communion read aloud by the subdeacon. (I should mention that, according to the Julian Calendar, Russian Easter fell very late this year, and this Sunday was the Sunday of the Man Born Blind, the last Sunday before the Ascension.)

Afterwards, I enjoyed breakfast with the Russian Catholic community; I am envious of Chris, who flew to Moscow for Holy Week this year, and attended some very grand liturgies there. God willing – I suggested to several friends there, including Subdeacon Justin and his wife – a party of us ought go do the Trans-Siberian in a few years' time, and visit the far-flung sanctuaries of Holy Russia. After an even later lunch, I travelled to Philip Island at the invitation of David Schütz, he of blogging fame; I stayed with his family on Sunday night, and motored back to Melbourne, before flying home to Tasmania, on Monday.

Sydney Long Weekend

Time to enjoy an extra day off, and to visit Sydney, and a friend... I will catch up with a former flatmate of mine from when I lived in Perth, Western Australia. Rather than brave the horrors of Mass in the diocese of Broken Bay, I plan to hear Low Mass at noon on Sunday at St Mary's Cathedral, it being a little difficult to make it to Lewisham for High Mass.

Please pray for a safe journey for all travellers; for in this life, we all of us are but pilgrims, and shall not pass this way again.

Off to Melbourne

This weekend finds me in Melbourne, where I will attend a diaconal ordination in the Russian Catholic church there; I will stay with some good friends of mine, and partake of their hospitality.  Please pray for Anton, who will be ordained deacon on Sunday.

Busy, Busy, Busy

A busy day at work (the photocopier in particular caused me no end of grief), a rush home to pack, then off to the airport... the flight was delayed... finally, off to Melbourne, then another wait there before the Sydney plane departed... no lift available, so I took the (very expensive) airport train to Central Station... a confused wander around finally led me to the taxi stand, and (more than twenty dollars later) I soon was deposited at my accommodation, where good converse was had till past midnight.

The fold-out bed my hosts provided proved rather uncomfortable, alas, its surface lying at several different levels (all of which were scarce wider than my shoulders), and the whole affair prone to suddenly tilting upwards if one lay too close to the edge... at least it didn't close upon me like a Venus fly-trap, as it has for other unfortunate visitors in the past!

I slept in, arose, and walked into the CBD, stopping at St Benedict's for a brief visit before going to Confession at St Peter Julian's.  I broke my fast with coffee and a portuguese tart, before stopping at the Pauline Books for to buy Aidan Nichols' latest offering and an ESV "with Apocrypha" - since the latter will be used to produce the new OF Lectionary in due course (my friend Fr Paul tells me he already prepares his sermons using this translation, as his own comparison of it with the Greek suggests it to be more accurate than the Jerusalem Bible used in the present Lectionary).

Then it was time to lunch on oysters kilpatrick; and soon enough spent an hour at another venue reading The Australian (love that paper! down with Julia!), further buoyed up with coffee, macarons and chocolates.  I spare readers any more minute recounting of my day in Sydney, other than to say I walked back to my homestay and waited there for an old friend who happened to also be coming to town, so that we could go have dinner and catch up: eventually, we did (he had driven up from Melbourne the same day, and en route visited a mutual clerical acquaintance in Bathurst, so I could hardly criticise him for being late).

Yester-day, Sunday, dawned bright and early: my generous host, John (Laura unfortunately absent) cooked us breakfast, then there was just time for a walk by the Harbour before High Mass.  Lewisham was liturgical bliss as usual: Omnes gentes, the 7th Sunday after Pentecost, with Mass XI, Credo II (a pleasant minor-sounding one, that), and an all-Gregorian programme, tricked out with excellent use of ison, and a very impressive chanting of the Communion with most of the rest of Psalm 30.  After Mass, it was good to catch up with many old friends.

How good and pleasant it is to be of one mind and heart!  We lunched in Chinatown on yum cha, then had some afternoon tea at the Caffe Sicilia in Surry Hills, finishing just in time to reach the Cathedral for OF Vespers and Benediction.  It was excellently done, though it seems to me that exposing the Blessed Sacrament during the Office Hymn was a false step - especially as it meant the choir was standing coram Sanctissimo, whereas the singing of O salutaris Hostia after the end of Vespers was surely the time to bring forward the Monstance.  Still, one cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

The Hour was chanted strongly and well, all in the proper Gregorian chant, save the short reading (chanted in English), the intercessions (said in English) and the Lord's Prayer and Collect (sung in English).  The Magnificat was sung in chant alternating with polyphony by Suriano - strangely, the celebrant himself censed not only the altar but the choir and congregation, before he was censed by the server!  (Surely when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, only It is censed, and nothing else?)  Vespers ended, the choir sang Tallis' motet Salvator mundi, before O salutaris, the Prayer for Christian Unity always said at Benediction in Australia (in English of course), Tantum ergo &c., Benediction itself, the Divine Praises (sung in English), Adoremus with Ps 116 (all chanted in Latin) while the Prisoner was returned to His Tabernacle (!) and then the simple Salve to conclude.  Wonderful.

I met another friend after that for some beer, charcuterie and seafood, before I headed back to my base for an early night after, be it said, much liturgy, conversation, food, drink and laughter.  A good day of rest.

This morning, I farewelled my friends, and dragged my bag to the next parish, where I met up with a Dominican friend: he kindly took me to the airport, but first I served his private Mass (OF, new translation, ad orientem, Roman Canon, kneeling communion - just the way it should be done) at St Benedict's, at Our Lady's altar, to-day being the feast of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel.

Now, I am at Tullamarine en route back home; but have just heard of the death from cancer of the mother of another old friend, Fr Christopher.  I visited him, then still a deacon, and his parents when last in New Zealand: of your charity, please pray for her and for her husband and family in their grief.  Media vita in morte sumus.

Sydney Long Weekend

July just wouldn't feel right without a trip up north to Sydney, for to escape the Tasmanian winter and enjoy warmer climes, a visit to old friends and a bit of good liturgy...

I fly there this evening, and return Monday afternoon.

At Tullamarine

I'm whiling away time till my flight to Rome via Kuala Lumpur and Dubai departs in the early hours.  (Later on, I think to do a Cardinal Richelieu and read Friday and Saturday's Offices back-to-back.) Then, finally, I'll land at Rome's airport on Saturday evening, Italian time.  Sunday should bring High Mass at Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini...

I like travelling, but do wish that Concorde had indeed heralded the age of supersonic mass transit rather than being a technological dead-end: twenty-plus hours is a long time to spend flying.

Of your charity, pray for all who fly, that they (and I) travel safe.

Work and Holidays

Work has been busy of late – including late nights and Saturdays – and I am also finalizing details of my upcoming European holiday; hence the lack of recent posts.  When I next have something worthwhile to say, I may then write something...

Back from the Far North-West

Green Point Beach, Marrawah, on the west coast of Tasmania 
(280 km from Launceston).

When at full scale, the windfarms to the north are just visible.

Two days ago, I was at Marrawah and Arthur River – the westernmost settlements in mainland Tasmania, locales I'd never previously visited – and yester-day, at Cape Grim and Woolnorth Point (northernmost tip of Tasmania), as part of a tour of Woolnorth itself.

Woolnorth – the property encompassing the extreme north-west of Tasmania – is a huge and prosperous dairy- and beef-cattle and sheep farm of 55,000 acres (!), the remaining one-seventh of the land-grant made to the Van Diemen's Land Company, the oldest company in Australia and the last still governed according to the terms of its Royal Charter (issued by George IV in 1825).  I rather liked the idea of that; its Governor and Court of Directors still administer the agribusiness – though now they answer, not to the founding investors, rich London merchants, but to a New Zealand district council that holds a majority of the shares; and there is no longer a Chief Agent sent out from the old country...

The view across Suicide Bay 

(site, 'tis said, of the murder of tribesmen by shepherds in 1828) 

to Cape Grim, northwestern tip of Tasmania.

Woolnorth Point, northernmost tip of the island of Tasmania 
(40° 38′ 33″), 

with Bass Strait on the right and the Southern Ocean on the left.

This morning, departing Smithton, which has been my base, after visiting a pleasant property at Edith Creek, it was good to motor back the scenic way through Nubeena and Forest, before turning to the highway again and striking out for home, via Boat Harbour Beach (a delightful nook) and a late lunch at Burnie, where my coffee came emblazoned with the name of the restaurant:

Travel Advice, Please

Having resolved to attend next year's Paris to Chartres Pilgrimage, I am now casting about for ideas for places to visit in la belle France and environs.  (I do have cause to cross the border into southern Germany for a start.)

I think at least a few days in a good monastery will be high on my agenda.

Any and all suggestions may be left in the comments box.

Reporting from Toowoomba

Just arrived in Toowoomba, scene of l'affair Morris!  I will be here till Sunday morning...

So far, the sum total of my encounter with Toowoomba Catholicism has consisted of a visit to a delightful country church, Our Lady Help of Christians in Bell, which has been muralled throughout by a gifted local artist, with scenes retelling the history of salvation: such a change from drab aniconic Australian churches, with but a plaster statue or two.

I did note, however, in the parish bulletin, that the good people of the area were asked to leave a message if they liked to be forwarded to their outgoing bishop, with the significant words "leave only positive or encouraging messages" – wise advise from their priest.

To Holiday in Partibus

Off to Queensland to-morrow: where the episcopal sees are in partibus infidelium, at least insofar as their occupants are concerned!

I'll have three days in Brisbane, then a day in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, before driving further inland, visiting Toowoomba for two days (though I daren't go to Mass there, for fear of what I might find), and then gratefully returning to Christian lands by crossing the border into New South Wales, first visiting Armidale (where I plan to catch Mass at the Cathedral on Sunday evening, so as to fulfil my obligation licitly and validly), next Coffs Harbour, and then Lismore, before a final night on the Gold Coast.

At least, as Cardinal Pell observed some years ago, given the current holders of the sees of Armidale and Lismore, "The northern frontier is secure".

Goodbye for Now New Zealand

Please of your charity pray for me as I fly back to Australia this morning from my New Zealand holiday.

I certainly give thanks for a very pleasant holiday, and hope to return here soon.

Having got up at 2:45 am (!!!), I am somewhat feeling the effects of bizarre travel arrangements that seemed such examples of prudent money-saving at the time...

In any case, arising with the Cistercians in the wee small hours at least gave me a chance for Matins en route to the airport on the shuttle bus.

St Antony, pray for us.

P.S.  I arrived home twelve hours after I got up this morning.  It's good to be back, and to have a rest.  Holidaying can be wearying.

Searching for a Mass in Auckland

Trust not in Diocesan websites.  Having caught a bus out to Holy Family, Te Atatu Peninsula – which took half an hour to get there – I found out from the friendly priest there that the time for the Latin Mass was changed over a month ago, and he has told the Diocese repeatedly, but to no avail: they still list the old time, hence my feeling deflated.  At least I could read Lauds to Sext on the bus back, after whiling away the long wait with lunch at a coffeeshop nearby.

I really should have known better than to trust in a Diocesan website – I should have called Father up and checked with him, I know.  It wasn't his fault; indeed, he kindly told me that Fr Meuli has a 7pm Latin Mass at Titirangi.  (Unfortunately, to get there it's a long way to go by bus on a Sunday evening, especially as I have an early flight to catch to-morrow, and I've found that taxis in N.Z. are quite expensive.)  I think I'll go to the 4.30pm Ordinary Mass at Auckland Cathedral, which is very close to where I'm staying.

As to the Diocesan website: why is it that Catholic bureaucracy tends to be so mediocre and inefficient?  I wonder if they could survive in the real world.  One of my colleagues at work refers to such little people as "nunny bunny types", since they manifest, as laity, some of the worst caricatures of dilly silly post-Vatican II religious women, right down to poor dress sense, inefficiency and passive aggression when challenged.  ("I'm a victim," they wail when rightly criticised, "You're oppressing me!"  Boo hoo, get a life.)

Coromandel

Two hours each way on the ferry across the Hauraki Gulf, to and from Coromandel, and then about three hours being driven around 100 km across every twisty road leading across that verdant, hilly peninsula... a very enjoyable if tiring Saturday!  (I still feel as if I'm aboard ship.)

My trip was a long-overdue visit to Rev Christopher, whom I knew as a Dominican student in Melbourne, and has since transferred to Auckland Diocese: praise God, he was deaconed in late December, and will be priested on the 7th of May, God willing.  I plan to make this my excuse to revisit New Zealand...

It was good to see him and his parents, all in excellent spirits.  I benefitted from a tasty light lunch, a good bushwalk and a quick tour of some of the sights of the Coromandel.  Many thanks, old friend.

Taxi to Auckland

After a most comfortable stay at the Chateau Tongariro, what with tramping over hill and dale in the volcanic landscape roundabout, enjoying excellent service and meals when back at that establishment, the only let-down was being told that the train was late... and then finding out, too late, that the wrong train was late, and mine had been on time, and I'd missed it.

Full credit to the Chateau, however, since it was instead arranged, seeing as this mixup had occurred, that one of the staff travelling to Auckland give me a lift in her car: and four hours later, I'm here.  The trip was faster and more enjoyable than the rattly old train, seeing as we had a pleasant conversation en route.

I plan to tell all about my tour of New Zealand "by taxi".