Sunday July 6, 2008

This first Sunday in Australia brought us a wonderful experience of what it means to be Catholic. At noon today, in a church on the other side of Sydney, we had the chance to participate in a Mass for the feast of Blessed Peter To Rot, another of the WYD patrons. Blessed Peter came from Papua New Guinea and died a martyr in 1945 at the age of 33, defending the sanctity of marriage (see http://xrl.in/8p0). His feast day is July 7, but the feast day Mass at St. Margaret’s Parish is celebrated on the Sunday closest to the feast.

The frontal on the altar had images of Peter To Rot on it, and the flag of Papua New Guinea decorated the front of the ambo. Wooden images in New Guinean style art also decorated the sanctuary, as well as large bouquets of tropical flowers. At the beginning of Mass two large candles with To Rot’s image on them sat on the altar.

New Guineans led the entrance procession, dressed in traditional costumes with headdresses and faces painted, playing and dancing to traditional instruments. The entire Mass was in Pidgin English, with the exception of the 2^nd Reading and part of the homily, which were in English. Peter To Rot’s own daughter, Rufina, was with another woman at the head of the procession. We had the opportunity to greet her when we entered the church; what a special privilege. Two Australian and two Papua New Guinean priests celebrated the Mass. The New Guinean priests each had a feather in their hair.

After the opening prayer, the music started once again, and another procession brought the Word to the main celebrant. In his homily, Father talked about the value of lay catechists in the Church, telling a story from just after the time of Peter To Rot’s life. At the end of the Second World War a Catholic chaplain came with the American troops to the end of the island. He knew that there had been a Catholic church there before, so he informed the natives that he would be celebrating Mass for the troops, not sure what the response would be. To his surprise, the large number of New Guineans who turned out for the Mass sang all the responses in a beautiful Gregorian chant, that had been taught to them by a fellow student of Peter To Rot. Catechists had carried the faith all through the war, and have always carried it in New Guinea. This Mass celebrated the life of Peter To Rot, but also all that catechists have done and continue to do in the Church.

Another procession in native dress accompanied the presentation of gifts. Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, who have served in New Guinea, brought up the gifts, led in by the dancers. The gestures made by the dancers related the action of offering. One of the communion hymns, although in Pidgin, was to a familiar tune, and the closing hymn, the Peter To Rot Song was easy to join in and sing.

Though we could only catch a few words of English throughout the Mass, this celebration left us all with a great sense of happiness and pride in our Catholic faith, for we felt right at home and could easily follow the Mass because of the common ritual.

Saturday July 5, 2008

First of all, a brief postscript to yesterday’s 4^th of July entry. In our different encounters with the Residents of the home, we were struck by the number of them who commented how grateful Australia was to the United States for the protection US troops offered them from the Japanese forces during World War II. A reminder once again of how much we owe to those who have gone before us.

Last night’s Mass at St. Benedict’s Church was truly inspiring. St. Benedict’s is not a large church, but it was filled to capacity for this celebration of the feast of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. Cardinal George Pell presided, accompanied by Bishop Anthony Fisher, OP (coordinator of WYD) and 14 concelebrating priests. The parish choir assured the music and a young Dominican deacon and a few university students served the Mass.

The texts and Scripture readings of the Mass were from the proper of the Blessed. After the Gospel the parish pastor read a message from the nephew of Pier Giorgio, assuring all present of the family’s happiness to be a part of WYD in this way, and of their presence in a manner that has “no earthly boundaries or limit in time—union in prayer.”

Bishop Fisher’s homily reflected on the cult of relics within the faith of the Church, tying it in with the creed: “’We believe in the holy Catholic Church’—the body of Christ stretching throughout the world and throughout time.” In a recent radio interview someone had asked him, “What’s this thing with Catholics and bones?” He responded that the bones of the saints are sacramentals, connecting us to God, and that even whose without religion seek a way to remain connected with the dead through memorials, the keeping of ashes, etc. Turning to contemporary thought, he added that in our culture we need to retrieve a proper sense of the human body. Against the dualism of our times “this thing with bones proclaims the importance of the flesh, the unity of body and soul in every human life, now and in the world to come.” The earthly death of Pier Giorgio at 24 may seem a waste to those without this faith, but in our celebration today he lives, at 107 years old. The bishop then summarized the life of Pier Giorgio (see http://xrl.in/8ld) and concluded by invoking his intercession on all those present and all who will participate in WYD this month.

At the conclusion of Mass, Cardinal Pell and the other ministers processed to the back of the church and venerated the relics of Pier Giorgio. To maintain a sense of reverence, the congregation was invited to go over to the student hall (the church is a university chapel) for “tea” and then return to do the same. The church has been arranged so that those who visit can make a mini-pilgrimage reflecting on the life of Pier Giorgio. Display panels line the sides of the church so that walking down the left side of the church, across the front and back down the right side you go through his life and death before arriving at the coffin containing his relics.

Outside of the church we had the opportunity to greet Bishop Fisherand wave off Cardinal Pell before heading home for the night, thanking God for this beautiful encounter.

This afternoon we traveled into Sydney, under the guidance of Maurice, AJJ, who drove us along the route of the bus that passes near the home. Happily for us, it goes right down to the areas where the main events of the WYD week will take place. We saw the famous Sydney Opera House from several different angles and also stopped at the Cathedral. Construction is underway at all the venues, and a souvenir shop has opened near the Cathedral. This “quick tour” gave us a much better idea of the distance between the different sites & how to plan our time to profit of the events. Tonight will be quiet, but tomorrow is another day! God bless.

Friday July 4, 2008

To any Americans reading this, Happy 4^th of July! We’ve had a lovely day here. The 4^th member of our American “team” arrived bright and early this morning. Well, early at least. We’ve had a good bit of rain today, with the sun peeking out from time to time. Coming home from the airport the rain had stopped, but clouds still covered the sky. As we got out of the car, a rainbow crossed the sky to welcome our latest arrival, another sign of God’s blessing on this trip.

With 6 “Americans” in the house, the community here decided to go all out for the 4^th of July. An American breakfast of pancakes and sausage, an offertory procession at Mass with three of us participating and a real American cookout for lunch. At lunch we were joined by the novitiate family and by the Sisters of Life and Nashville Dominicans. Sr. Mary Joseph du St. Rosaire, an Irish Little Sister who lived in the United States for 16 years, fully enjoyed this taste of America.

This evening we will return to St. Benedict’s Church for a Mass in honor of the feast day of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. We’ll fill you in on the details of this in tomorrow’s entry. God bless.

Thursday July 3, 2008

Today marked our first trip into Sydney proper, actually two trips! This morning we headed out to the WYD Office at the chancery. It was another beautiful day, more like a Spring day in the mid-Atlantic than a Winter one! As we traveled downtown on the city bus we caught a glimpse of the front of the sanctuary, which is topped by a red canopy with a white image of the Holy Spirit.

Sydney is a very multicultural city, and we saw many languages and country names on the different stores and restaurants we passed. We even saw some things that reminded us of the States, including a Starbucks coffee shop. Once arrived at the WYD Office we set about resolving our registration questions and finding out where we would need to go to pick up the media passes. It was easy to see that the “day” of WYD is drawing near, and that the last minute hurry-ups are well underway.

Next was to go to the Media Accreditation Centre, another bus trip and short walk away. We should mention that the cars drive on the left side of the street here, like in Britain, and the city crosswalks have convenient instructions written by the curbs—Look right or Look left—very helpful!

Back home just in time for dinner, we spent the afternoon clearing up some technical difficulties and creating our own calendar of WYD events, to help us plan how to spend our time in the coming weeks. The hours passed quickly and we were off again at 5:00pm, this time with Sr. Alba, and Mother Mary Lourdes and Sr. Regina from the novitiate, to an evening encounter hosted by the Sisters of Life. Four of the Sisters have been staying at the novitiate, but will leave tomorrow for the accommodations that will house them and 43 others from their Congregation for the remainder of their stay. The evening began with pizza and social time with young people from the young adult Catholic community of Sydney. It took place at Notre Dame University of Sydney, which is right next to St. Benedict’s Church. We met a young woman from Indianapolis, IN, who had come to Sydney for a semester abroad and ended up staying to do a year’s mission work with Catholic Youth Services (the Australian version of NET). She’s had a wonderful time, but if her Visa does not get extended she will have to return to the States in August. We also encountered a young woman whose husband is working closely with Bishop Anthony Fisher, OP, the coordinator for WYD. She said the devil has seemed to try to thwart the efforts of the coordinators at every turn. Australia is known to be a highly secular society, and WYD has met with a good deal of resistance.

After the social time, we moved to an auditorium for a presentation by the Sisters of Life, then to St. Benedict’s church for a Eucharistic holy hour, perfect for us as we would miss the Holy Hour for First Friday at home. The relics of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati are being housed at St. Benedict’s for the duration of World Youth Day, and we had the occasion to venerate them, a special opportunity to confide to him all the youth who will come for this great event and all who are working to make it happen.

So, here we are at the end of the day. Tomorrow will come quickly enough and bring new happenings, first of which is the arrival of the last member of our USA team at 6:20 in the morning. We’ll be back in touch. God bless.