Chrism Mass

The "Demo" at the Maundy Thursday Chrism Mass went rather well, I thought. Despite the last-minute panic over the placards, they didn't look too bad in the broad light of day! It would have been nicer to have them made properly, but that will teach me not to leave it so late next year.

The first photo (mantilla-twitch to Fr John Boyle for these) shows some of the younger helpers... some of the older ones proved to be a little camera-shy (I include myself in that!) but by the time the priests processed in, there was an enthusiastic bunch to cheer and clap (as shown in the second photo.)

I wasn't hiding that time (in fact, I didn't realise Fr. John had taken a photo while actually processing in!) but I am hidden by the priests going past, as I was handing out some of the "Thank You" prayer cards. I was very pleased with the cards... they had far more class than last year's home-made effort...

The Mass itself was a little grim. For some reason, St. George's Cathedral seem to have a real problem with hymns. The words of one hymn seemed to deny transubstantiation (which rather misses the point, given that it's on Maundy Thursday) and the "tunes" weren't very tuneful. I was in the Lady Chapel (no room anywhere else) and it was really striking that the one hymn everyone in the diverse, multicultural throng joined in with (with real gusto, I might add) was "Soul of my Saviour." There's a lesson in there somewhere.

The homily was mercifully short. There was much said on the priesthood of the faithful, and precious little on the ministerial priesthood. Another missed opportunity. And the Archbishop says we need to have a vision of a Church with fewer priests. Sorry, that sounds more like my idea of a nightmare... Also, if you plan for a church without priests, you're going to get one. We should look at the new movements and countries where vocations are up, and work out what they're doing right. The first part of the quote I'd swiped from Sacramentum Caritatis for the back of the prayer card was quite pertinent in this regard:

"...We must never lose confidence that Christ continues to inspire men to leave everything behind and to dedicate themselves totally to celebrating the sacred mysteries, preaching the Gospel and ministering to the flock."

I was delighted to note that there weren't any protesters calling for "wimmym-priests" this year. It was a nasty, underhand and mean-spirited thing to do on such an important day for the priesthood: I'm rather chuffed that they've been discouraged by our presence. Of course, given their average age, they might have died out...