By Josh McDermid
With Sacred Heart Church full to the point of overflowing, Archbishop Peter Comensoli presided over a Solemn Mass for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, more commonly known as the Feast of Corpus Christi. Music for the celebration was provided by the College Schola under the direction of Cameron Ryan with Fr Nicholas Dillon playing the organ.
The Corpus Christi College Schola, which provided the music for the Mass.
Our guest homilist for the occasion was Fr Joseph Vnuk OP, who very fittingly, is a sacramental theologian who lectures on the Eucharist at Catholic Theological College. His homily was largely inspired by the texts that St Thomas Aquinas wrote for the feast, and he focussed particularly on how we understand Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, what it therefore means to process with the Blessed Sacrament, and how we are to be transformed by receiving Holy Communion and by this experience of Eucharistic procession.
Fr Joseph Vnuk OP preaching to the large assembly which gathered in Sacred Heart Church.
As the Mass concluded we began our procession, which included priests, deacons, seminarians, Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, and a vast array of other lay people from many different parishes and multicultural communities. We processed down Rathdowne Street and into the Carlton Gardens approaching the intersection between Victoria Parade and Nicholson Street. Due to a traffic problem, we remained in the Carlton Gardens and prayed together before concluding with Benediction. It was quite the sight and got a lot of passers-by asking questions and expressing interest in what we were doing.
The faithful adoring Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in Carlton Gardens.
Later in the evening, we had the annual dinner for priests from the Province of Victoria and Tasmania. This was both a chance for interactions between the seminarians and the priests, and for priests to catch up with other priests, who they may not be able to see regularly. Our chef, Jeff Blew, prepared his customary buffet dinner, for which we were all very grateful. I think everyone in attendance would have agreed that it was a wonderful night of fraternity and a fantastic way to celebrate this feast.
Former rectors Fr Brendan Lane and Monsignor Peter Jeffrey, and current rector, Fr Cameron Forbes, at the Priests’ Dinner.