What a surprise was St Patrick's Cathedral, Toowoomba — an elegant Gothic edifice, which even retains its altar rails! and statues! not to mention a handsome pulpit! Evidently the table of the high altar has been moved forward, but the old reredos remains, with the tabernacle still in the centre! Evidently not much architectural harm was done during the tenure of the recently-dismissed Ordinary.
It was also good to see a church largely devoid of useless clutter: no parish bulletins, no piles of pamphlets, and only a few items on display beside the side entrance to the north transept. If I didn't know otherwise I would have given the administrators high praise for neatness and lack of foolish modernizing zeal.
The only evidence of strange goings-on was a large copy of a "covenant" between the "Roman Catholic" diocese of Toowoomba, the "R.C." archdiocese of Brisbane, and the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane, prominently displayed in front of the Sacred Heart altar. I forget what this document involves, something ecumenical I suppose.
Coming in to the cathedral, I looked with gratitude on the portrait of our Pope; there was none to be seen of Morris. As I read in None a little later in the day, episcopatum ejus accipiat alter, "Let another have his bishopric".
No comments:
Post a Comment