Thursday, September 14, 2006

First report...

The folks just got home from the ordination so this is an exclusive. The old man said it was "good". There was good music except for one hymn. The commentators were extremely annoying and the cross above the altar was tacky. As usual George Cardinal Pell appeared like he didn't want to be there - Adelaide is generally a liturgical hole after all! But Dad said it was much better than the installation of Archbishop Wilson which occured in the Entertainment Centre where everyone sits on the sides, two choir lofts higher than the "sanctuary".

The old man took one pic before hand as they were told not to take any photos during the Mass. I've zoomed in and cropped it (click for larger image). You can just make out the chalices on the left-hand-side. Why on such an occasion like this they insist on Communion of both species for everyone is beyond me.

And the tacky cross above the altar. I suppose unlike in Brisbane, Our Lord looks like a male... we must be thankful for small mercys.
I forgot to ask, old man, was there an Aboriginal smoking ceremony this time?

5 comments:

Archeopterix said...

those chalices were probably for concelebrants- there would have been heaps i assume.

aaron said...

Lots of Jesuits... damn we missed our chance to get rid of them all in one hit!!!

aaron said...

Yes, dear readers, the great heretic hunter (above) has gone soft in his old days.. he he he

Acolytus said...

In my miss guided youth I attended an ACDC concert at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Then in my adolescence I saw Metalica perform in the same venue. I my very miss guided young adulthood I was again at same venue, this time for a double whammy of Cypress Hill and Ice Cube. Not only profane, these events, all, practiced and promoted immoralities, including outright blasphemy.
I guess I can thus be forgiven for firmly believing that any such SACRALIDGE as an Episcopal ordination or installation there, in the Adelaide Entertainment Centre is an ABSOLUTE DISCRACE!

Acolytus said...

A big screen in Vic Square would be nice. But hay, if you want to turn the sacred liturgy into a show then you might find it as uplifting as a display of boats.
In the Jubilee year I attended to mega-Masses, in Melbourne, one at the tennis centre the other at the Colonial Stadium. The liturgies where beautifully organised with impressive processions and lovely music. But, the vast majority of people, with an entertainment mentality, at the slightest opportunity turned away from the ‘stage’ beneath them and conversed loudly amongst themselves. There was not a prayerful moment in either of the events and the ceremonies where concluded with Mexican waves. While such things as Mexican waves and frivolous conversation are not evil in themselves, they are, in the context of the Mass, a define lake of a good that should be there.
I do not know what the atmosphere was like for the Masses in the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, but surely the venue has associations of its own which can not but be anything other than an obstacle to true spiritual participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or even a prayer reflection on the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Thus, my original point that the use of that venue is not only as ordinarily un-religious as, say, a boat show but is also as sacrileges as mixing Heavy Metal Music with the Mass.