THE P RTAL
June 2015
Page 20
Australia News roundup
Eliza Frank reports
Our Lady of May and the Sacred Heart of Jesus for June
T
he tradition of a month being devoted celebrate the life of the BVM during the month of May.
to the Blessed Virgin Mary was traditionally held in
May, the season of spring in the northern hemisphere.
Now we are in the month of June, and our first festival
This was a time to rejoice as the cold of winter was is Corpus Christi, now celebrated on the Sunday in the
replaced with the warmth of sunshine, fresh spring Catholic Ordo instead of the Thursday where some
blossoms and new green leaves on the trees.
Anglicans still keep to the old tradition. This year
it’s the 12th June that we turn to the Sacred Heart of
Unfortunately, in Australia the month of May is the Jesus to offer our special prayers of intercession and
time of mid-autumn with a mixture of cold winds and thanksgivings. Depending where Easter falls, we can
sunny days and frosty nights. Preparation of paddocks easily get our movable feasts out of line. The Sacred
for sowing the next year’s grain crops, the final picking Heart devotions will fill the rest of the month of June.
of grapes for wine, and of course the wonderful colours I’m sure that there are many people of the Ordinariate
of autumn leaves and the last of the autumn flowers. here in Australia who may still be catching up on their
So wherever you are in the world of seasons, spring new-found devotions, which we accept as part of the
and autumn provide wonderful times of the year to Catholic Patrimony we now take under our wing.
Checking the hem
I
t was a Saturday morning. Mass
covering on the altar. There was a
need to check the fall of the material
to see how much was needed to be
turned-up as a hem. Julie has a busyenough life with her husband and
their grandchildren (and another
grandchild on the way) so making
altar frontals, especially large frontals, takes up a lot
Our camera-man discovered something a little of her spare time. The Church already has similar altar
unusual taking place at the altar. Julie was on her knees frontals in the other liturgical colours. Green was the
taking up the hem of a new green altar frontal with only colour required to complete the set. It will be
Fr Neil looking on. Julie had just completed sewing mid-June before the Church changes into the liturgical
together the three parts that make up the total altar colour of green when this new frontal will be used for
covering, and Fr Neil had helped to place the new the first time.
and Confessions were over and the
church seemed empty apart from
those few people who do the various
jobs replacing flowers, sweeping
carpets and adding a little holy water
to the water stoups at the doors.
Prayer for Unity of Christians
A
s far back as the 1960s, the Christian Churches suburban parishes came and offered prayer: using the
in Australia used the days between the feast of
the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the feast of
Pentecost as a special time to pray for the unity of all
Christians. Under the banner of the Ordinariate’s Sodality
of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, a special Holy Hour
of prayer for Christian Unity was held at St Francis Xavier
Catholic Church, Frankston, at 3pm on Sunday 17th May.
prayers provided by the Melbourne Archdiocese.
The Holy Hour concluded with the Ordinariate
rite of Evensong and Benediction. Afternoon tea was
served in the Xavier Centre attached to the Church.
It was here that the people chattered about what they
remembered in years gone by when people prayed
for the Unity of Christians. They were so pleased that
We were not expecting a large crowd because there the Frankston parish had revived this time of prayer
are so many other secular activities that take place on for Christian Unity. The social chat and fellowship
Sundays. However a small group of about 30 people continued for another hour. Thank you to all who
with visitors from other denominations and former came along to join together in prayer and fellowship
Anglicans and local Catholics from neighbouring for the unity of the Christian Church.