The Christian heritage of England and its former colonies will be on living display next month with the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross inviting their fellow Catholics to a showcase of its liturgy and traditions.
The Australian Ordinariate is one of three self-governing entities of former Anglicans around the world who in 2009 accepted Pope Benedict XVI’s invitation to enter communion with Rome while retaining much of their own English patrimony.
St Patrick’s, Bondi, will host the first showcase on 29 August when Ordinariate priest Fr Stephen Hill, who recently transferred to Maitland-Newcastle diocese from Perth, will celebrate the Ordinariate Mass, followed by a talk on its character and purpose, and then Evensong and Benediction.
St Columban’s Church in Mayfield, Newcastle, where Fr Stephen is assistant priest, will host the second showcase on 6 September, beginning with an 8am Ordinariate Mass, followed by a talk on the Ordinariate and its mission.
The Ordinariate has commissioned leading iconographer Michael Galovic to create an icon of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, expected to be completed in December.
The Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross has 11 communities throughout Australia – although none in Sydney – and a community in Tokyo, Japan.