THE P RTAL
April 2015
Australia Pages - page 10
The Ordinariate Mass
Gregory Kingman offers a personal opinion
For many
years, I have witnessed priests turn the Mass into a celebration about the community,
and emphasise maximum involvement and entertainment in order to ‘maintain interest’. The sacred
sanctuary is treated like a stage to which all are admitted and, come Communion time, it is littered with
umpteen extraordinary ministers. At these masses, the priest is seen as one amongst equals, who presides
over the gathering, facing and dialoguing with the people.
Unlike these masses, where priests seem to think it’s
It impresses upon me the truth that communion
all about them and their ‘performance’, the Ordinariate with the God of all holiness involves sacrifice and
priest standing in the person of Christ faces the Altar of presupposes regular sacramental confession. It
the Cross and dialogues with God, the Father of mercy. highlights how intimately the sacrifice of the Mass is
connected to our commitment to continual conversion
This liturgical action manifests and proclaims and necessary purification, since forgiveness of
the traditional doctrine of the Mass as essentially a our sins comes to us through the merits of Christ’s
sacrifice offered by the priest alone to the Father and sacrifice.
that, as members of Christ’s Mystical Body, we offer
This prayer drives home the point that the Mass
our prayers and ourselves in union with him.
can never be a ‘come as you are’ occasion where, by
It makes me realise that I am partaking of a divine virtue of being present, one can casually receive Holy
mystery, immersed in prayer to which Christ, the Communion as a matter of course.
eternal high priest of the Church’s faith, calls me to
My final like, is that after participating in the Mystery
become a living sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving,
which begins with the words, “We do not presume to of Christ, I leave feeling united to my fellow Catholics,
come to this thy Table, O merciful Father, trusting in grateful and joyful to the Father of Mercy for making
our own righteousness...” confronts me with my own it possible to start the first day of my week afresh from
Christ, cleansed, nourished and sustained.
unworthiness before approaching the altar.
Australia News roundup
Maffra Motel: A Place Of Worship
Ordination
The Gippsland Ordinariate parish based at the town
of Maffra, Vi