Wild Weather not enough to drown out the choir at Holy Cross Parish in the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi.
Hundreds staved-off the wild weather to celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ at Holy Cross Parish, Hamilton Hill last Sunday, swapping streets for the interior of the church for the Portuguese-led annual Corpus Christi procession.
Men and women of the Portuguese association, the Community of Santissimo Sacramento, adorned themselves with red vests and necklaces featuring a sacred image of Christ, respectively.
They followed the Blessed Sacrament for two turns around the church, held aloft by Parish Priest, Fr Nicholas Nweke, as a brass band played on, easily drowning out the wild winds outside.
The principal celebrant of the preceding Mass, Fr Nweke was joined by Fr Julian Carrasaco, Chaplain to Portuguese and Timorese Communities, and Fr Joe Cardoso OCD, who also gave the homily.
Fr Cardoso said he wanted to address the concerns of those doubting the reality of Christ’s true presence in the Blessed Sacrament.
Christ, he said, had always explained the metaphors in his parables immediately after telling them.
Christ did not explain his claim that his body and blood were the true food and drink of salvation which suggested Christ meant his words to be taken literally.
Fr Cardoso also reminded the congregation of the miracle at Bolsena-Orvieto, Italy, when a Host began to seep blood, immediately after being consecrated at Mass.
The miracle was affirmed by Pope Urban IV and shortly afterwards, in 1264, the same pope proclaimed a feast in the Blessed Sacrament’s honour – the Feast of Corpus Christi.
Girls from throughout the parish’s multicultural community dressed up as angels for the occasion.
Fr Nweke announced he was starting an association for young people from their early to late teens, centred-around altar serving.
The group would meet regularly, he said, with many likely activities in the pipeline, including dancing lessons, formation talks and the viewing of Christian-themed films.
The group already has around 20 members, aging from 12-20 years old, with more welcome.
It is being spearheaded by a lay parishioner with support from the Voice of the Voiceless ministry.
The ministry run a Bible Study at the parish’s hall every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6.30pm as well as a prayer service every Friday at 7.30pm at St Brigid’s, Northbridge.