Monday 26 December 2011

Fr. Karol's Christmas Message

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we behold his glory, the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1: 14)



When we are young, we dreamt about a new earth and heaven, without violence and evil. Responding to this, our basic desire, Our Lord is promising us that he will come to us with his entire kingdom. A kingdom of love, justice, harmony and peace and that he will transform our world.



He is doing this. He is making this world a new world, a better world through our service. He comes to us and transforms us from within our hearts and through this he changes this, our world.

So let us welcome him as he comes to us. Let us open our hearts for him, that he may come, touch our hearts, fill us with peace and joy and that we may share these, his great gifts with one another.


Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and God bless you all,

Fr. Karol Wielgosz O.P.









Monday 19 December 2011

Announcements – 4th Sunday of Advent (Year B)


     1.     There are still some 2012 Catholic Almanacs available, cost is $3.00
2.     As school is now closed for the Christmas holidays, there will be no Midday Mass. We will resume when schools re-open in January.
This is the last week of Advent. The opportunity for confession is available 15 minutes before every morning Mass this week. Let us use this opportunity to reconcile with God and neighour and prepare ourselves spiritually for Christ’s coming.
3.     A reminder of the Masses for the Christmas and New Year’s weekend
At Mt. D’or :        Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve - 6.00pm
At St. Joseph:      Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve – 11pm with Mass beginning at midnight
                             Christmas and New Year’s Mornings – 8.30am

Monday 12 December 2011

TVY's Creche

Tomorrow's Vibrant Youth constructed a beautiful creche from scratch on Buena Vista Street, St. Joseph, second building on the right. It is the first senior citizens home, JCARE. 
The members of TVY and their parents worked very hard on this project and they invite you to view this wonderful project.




Announcements for 3rd Sunday of Advent


1.   Eastern Youth Chorale Christmas Concert on Sunday 18th December. See for the first time our new choirs from St Joseph Boys and Girls RC Schools perform. Tickets cost $100.00 are available at the Parish Office
2.     Camsel, publishers of our Catholic News has a Parang CD on Sale. This is one of the fund raising projects that will assist with the Restoration of our Cathedral.
3.     There are still some 2012 Catholic Almanacs available, cost is $3.00
4.     Advent is about preparing and waiting. As we prepare our homes and ensure we have adequate vital supplies, let us also take some time-out to prepare our hearts. Friday 16th December @ 6pm is our Advent Penitential Service and there would also be the opportunity for individual confession.
5.     A reminder of the Masses for the Christmas and New Year’s weekend
Mt. D’or :             Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve - 6.00pm
St. Joseph:            Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve – 11pm with Mass
beginning at midnight
                             Christmas and New Year’s Mornings – 8.30am

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Sinsinawa Dominicans: Proclaiming the Gospel for a Better Tomorrow


Announcements – Second Sunday of Advent (Year B)


  • Eastern Youth Chorale Christmas Concert on Sunday 18th December. See for the first time our new choirs from St Joseph Boys and Girls RC Schools perform. Tickets cost $100.00. See Advert on the front church door
  • Today is the last day for the sale of tickets for our Christmas Dinner and Dance. Tickets cost $200.00, and includes a complimentary glass of wine and a chance to win one of our many door prizes.
  • Camsel, publishers of our Catholic News has a Parang CD on Sale. This is one of the fund raising projects that will assist with the Restoration of our Cathedral.

  • Advent is about preparing and waiting. As we prepare our homes and ensure we have adequate vital supplies, let us also take some time-out to prepare our hearts. Friday 16th December @ 6pm is our Advent Penitential Service and there would also be the opportunity for individual confession.
  • Thursday December 8th is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, patron of the Cathedral. On this day His Grace Joseph Harris will be installed as the 10th Archbishop of Port of Spain. There will be limited seating as restoration work has already begun at the Cathedral. Priests and deacons should attend, as a result there will be no evening Mass at Mt. D’or.


Sunday 27 November 2011

Questions about the New Missal

Why is there a new translation of the Missal?
The missal we currently use was published in 1973 and has served the Church well for nearly 40 years. However over that time there has been much discussion of the need to revise this initial translation of the Latin into English in order to recapture more accurately the meaning and poetry of the original Latin texts and their allusions to Scripture. In 2001 the Vatican published guiding principles for translating the Latin Missal into other languages. This new translation follows these guidelines and will adhere more closely to the Latin text. It will be more formal at times but will provide a richer and more nuanced translation of our rich heritage of prayer that is contained in the Roman Missal.

Who is doing the work of translation?
The work of translation has been done by a group of Bishops specialising in translation and
linguistics. The International Commission for English in the Liturgy (ICEL) has translated the
Latin into English and then submitted the drafts to all the Bishops of the English speaking
world. Finally the translation has been approved by the Vatican Congregation for Divine
Worship and the Sacraments with the assistance of a committee called Vox Clara.

Is this Missal the Vatican II Missal?
It is most definitely the Vatican II Missal. It is the same missal which was produced in 1970
and revised on two later occasions. It is the translation into English that has changed not the
original prayers of the Mass.

Will it sound very different?
Yes, it will. Not only will the people’s responses change but the prayers said by the priest will
also change. The Eucharistic Prayers will sound different. Remember, it is not the original
Latin Missal that has changed only the translation. So it will be the same Mass that we have
had since Vatican II but it will sound different.

Will there be any changes in posture?
No, any changes in posture have already been introduced in recent years. Therefore you will
continue to sit, stand and kneel as you have always done.

How will we know the new responses?
There will be pew cards produced throughout Australia to assist the people with responses.
Some Churches have data projectors that may also assist with the people’s responses.

Will the readings change?
At this stage the readings will remain the same. In a few years time the Lectionary will be revised and the translation of the readings will change then.

When can I buy a new Missal for my personal use?
The new Missal for use by the priest during Mass will be printed in the latter half of 2011. The new version of the readings will not be available for a few years. Publishers will publish personal missals soon.

Will there be one book for the Missal or will it be several volumes?
The Missal will be in one volume. Eucharistic Prayers for Children will be published in a
separate supplement.

Will there be many changes?
For the people the changes are minor ones. For the priest, however, the changes involve all
the Prayers and the Eucharistic Prayers and are quite extensive.

Will there be a cost involved?
Yes, Parishes will need to budget for the cost of the new Missal and also for pew cards and
music for new Mass settings.
 
How will we sing the parts of the Mass when there are new words?
New Mass settings have been written by Trinidadian and international composers. There is also
a chant setting in the Missal.

Will Communion of the Sick change?
Yes, wherever parts of the Mass are used the words will change. Texts used at Weddings and
Funerals will also change.

Why do we say consubstantial in the Nicene Creed?
In the new translation of the Nicene Creed, “consubstantial with the Father” replaces the
expression “of one Being with the Father”, in speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ. The
nature of the relationship between God the Father and God the Son, and the truth of the Son’s
divinity, are most important aspects of the Christian faith, and Councils such as Nicaea
(325ad) and Calcedon (451ad) were held to address these questions and to discern and
express the orthodox belief of the Church.
The difficulty in expressing in an acceptable way the relationship between God the Father and
God the Son required the early bishops and theologians to give new subtleties of meaning to
existing Greek and Latin words. The expression “of one Being with the Father” in the current
translation of the Nicene Creed is not always thought to convey the meaning of the Latin
consubstantialis, nor indeed the original Greek homoousios which it referred to, in a
satisfactory way. Some Latin words have meanings which are simply not readily translatable
into ordinary English. The metaphysical concepts of “essence”, “being” and “substance”, of
which consubstantialis and homoousios speak are not straightforward and in fact they are
easily misunderstood because their theological meaning is not exactly the same as their
meaning in ordinary English. “Consubstantial”, which has been chosen in the revised
translation of the Creed’s Latin consubstantialis, has a genuine and distinct theological
meaning. It is not a common word in English, but is being used to identify and express a
unique relationship.

Why is it that we say “through my fault...” three times in the Confession... isn’t that too
repetitive?
The simplest answer is, because that is what the Latin has but that does not really cast any
light on the matter. Simple versions of the Confiteor are found from the 700s. The phrase
"mea culpa" (through my fault) first appeared in about AD 1080, and it remained in this
single form in the liturgies of the Carmelites and Dominicans until modern times, and in the
Roman missal until the 1500s. The version "mea culpa, mea maxima culpa" is attributed to St
Thomas Becket (died 1170). The triple form only entered the Roman Missal in 1570. We can
only speculate about why it evolved into the triple form. It is sometimes said that we like to
tripled things in honour of the Trinity, but intensifying by triplication seems to be a common
human practice. In some contexts this results in the triple recitation of a whole prayer or an
action. Another example of triple intensification in our liturgy actually predates the liturgy
because it is a direct citation of Isaiah 6:3, "Holy, Holy, Holy." Some threefold elements
result from reducing a litany to its minimum form. The best example is "Lamb of God" which
we say three time, but when it was introduced in about AD 800 it was as a litany sung
continuously until the breaking of all the consecrated bread was finished. Other forms of
intensifying triplication are found in our Mass, but with some variation each time, such as in
the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer 1) "these gifts, these offerings, these unblemished
sacrifices". Similarly on Good Friday we find the ancient Trishagion (Thriceholy) in "Holy
is God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal." It appears that the role of such triplications is
to intensify our focus on some element. The repetition and expansion in "through my fault,
through my fault, through my most grievous" thus has the effect of making us pause, in a
sense, to really acknowledge what we are saying. It helps it "sink in", so to speak.

Why do we only say “It is right and just” in the dialogue before the Preface of the
Eucharistic Prayer?
Again this translation reflects the precise words of the Latin text. The Preface will then take
up this phrase and repeat it as its opening words: “It is truly right and just, our duty and
salvation…” To appreciate this connection between the words of the assembly and the
Preface, we need to understand the role of the faithful in the Eucharistic Prayer – they are not
silent spectators, but must be participants who make their thanksgiving to God. St. John
Chrysostom (died 407 ad) writes: “The offering of thanksgiving again is common, for the
priest does not give thanks alone but all the people join him in doing so. Once they respond
by assenting that it is ‘right and just’, he begins the thanksgiving”. Once the assembly has
assented that is right and just to give thanks, the priest can begin the Eucharistic Prayer
because the assembly provide living witness to his words of thanks. Because of the living
faith of the assembly, “it is truly right and just” to give thanks to God.

Why is our response now “And with your spirit” in the greetings?
This is an accurate translation of the Latin text and is reflected in other language translations.
To understand this translation it is helpful to look at the meaning of this phrase in our
tradition:
1. “In the most sacred mysteries themselves (the Mass), the priest prays for the people who
in turn pray for him since this is the meaning of the words, ‘And with your spirit’”, writes St.
John Chrysostom (died 407 ad).
2. Chrysostom also writes, “If there were no Holy Spirit, there would be neither shepherds
nor teachers in the Church ... You acclaimed, ‘And also with your spirit’. You would not have
done this unless the Holy Spirit were actually dwelling within him”.
3. “They reply ‘And with your spirit’. In this way they make known to the bishop and to all
that not only do others need a blessing and the bishop’s prayer but that the bishop himself also
needs the prayer of all… This is why the bishop blesses the people at the ‘peace’ and then
receives their blessing as they respond, ‘And with your spirit’”. These words come from
Theodore of Mopsuestia (died 428 ad).
Thus when the assembly respond to the words, “The Lord be with you”, they communicate
something of mutual importance between the ordained and themselves. They mutually
confirm the presence of the Lord who unites them and who is the Supreme Celebrant of the
holy mysteries. This is made possible by the gift of the Holy Spirit to the ordained and to the
faithful.

Apostles’ Creed - “He descended into hell”
This brief and matter-of-fact statement holds the promise of immense hope for believers. It asserts that Jesus Christ not only died our death but also entered the realm of the dead and set them free. This “hell” is not the hell of later popular imagination – the fiery hell of eternal
punishment – but the hell of the scriptures, Hades or Sheol, the shadowy domain where the dead are spiritless and lost, cut off from light and life. Dwelling with the dead Jesus brings his life-giving love to bear on all the powers of darkness and disarms them. Nothing in the cosmos is excluded from this victory, as Paul writes, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus
our Lord” (Roms 8:38-39).