Pentecost Edition 2017
St Marys
Hall Mural
by Paul Kathner
2017
From the Vicar
In the
Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, it is common to speak of the beauty of
holiness, echoing the great hymn of John Henry Newman. There is a related
concept, perhaps more theologically difficult for some, which is the holiness
of beauty. The idea that that which is beautiful can show us something of the
mystery of God at work is appealing – certainly to an aesthete like me.
This is not to deny that God is also present in the less-than-beautiful. The
stories of Holy Week bring that home all too starkly. And there is no doubt that
God is present even in the darkest places and aspects of life. Yet that divine
presence is always to bring light and life – to bring beauty, awe, and
wonder, even in the midst of tragedy, disaster or unspeakable ugliness.
With
this is mind, one of the most enjoyable and rewarding aspects of ministry in a
place like St Marys is having the opportunity to engage in liturgies and
related activities where beauty is valued and present. On Pentecost Sunday this
year we unveil a new thing of beauty, not in the church but in the hall. Paul Kathners wonderful mural above the stage, pictured on the
front of this edition of Parish News,
reflects aspects of the history of the church and the hall itself, and will act
as a beautiful focal point in an otherwise austere room. The Churchwardens,
Parish Council and I all thank Paul for his generosity in painting this work
for St Marys. It is a wonderful thing to have a major art installation by a
parishioner.
- Fr Craig.
The new Art Work in
the Church Hall:
About the Artist
Paul Kathner
– creator of the Hall Mural
Article taken from The
Heidelberg Historian August 2016
Paul Kathner was born in Sydney on July 17, 1935 and went on to
study art at East Sydney Tech. He worked as a
assistant to William constable and Elaine Haxton on
ballet decors for the new Borovansky Ballet Company.
Paul designed and painted sets for the Independent Theatre, the John Alden
Company and the Elizabethan Opera Company in Sydney.
He moved
to Melbourne in 1963 to become resident designer and scenic artist for St
Martins Theatre in South Yarra. During this ten year
period he worked on approximately 100 shows. Paul then joined J.C. Williamsons
Theatres painting scenery and in 1976 formed Scenic Studios with Ross Turner
until his retirement from the Studio in 1998.
Paul has
designed for the Australian Ballet, J.C. Williamson, Melbourne Theatre Company,
Melbourne City Opera and Port Fairy Spring Music Festival. He has designed and
painted 12 large velvet hangings for St Leonards College, East Brighton.
Pauls
exhibitions have been held at the Macquarie Gallery Sydney, the David Jones
Gallery Sydney, the Contemporary Arts Society Sydney, the
Roar Gallery Melbourne and has been artist of the month for the Victorian Arts
Centre.
Recent
Exhibitions include: Drawings, Stage
designs, Paintings at Zab Gallery, Carlton,
February 2004; A Double Life: Paintings,
Stage designs at Gallery 69, Carlton, March 2011; Design for the Theatre at Victorian Arts Centre, August 2016 and Paintings at Tacit Art, Johnson Street,
Abbotsford 2016
Paul
received an OAM in 2014 for Service to
the performing arts through scenic art and design.
Occasional Series:
Churches dedicated to our Lady
Two St Marys
Robert Gribben
The English university city of Cambridge has two parish churches
dedicated to Our Lady, both in the heart of the town. The smaller is St Mary
The Less, usually known as Little St Marys. It was built ca
1340 and served until 1632 as the chapel of its neighbouring college Peterhouse. It provides a fine open space without aisles,
not unlike Merton College Chapel in Oxford, with large windows with Decorated
tracery, and there are remains of several chantry
chapels; under one is a tiny rib-vaulted crypt or ossuary,
where exhumed bones were stored to make room in the cemetery in the peaceful
garden outside. It is a quiet and prayerful church, despite being by a main
road. It has a tradition of Anglo-catholic piety and
ritual practice, for which it is somewhat notorious. The Regius
Professor of Divinity in my time, Dennis Nineham,
worshipped there; he was a radical critic of the New Testament after the German
manner, who was accused of maintaining his faith by a
very high doctrine of the Church. His Pelican commentary on St Mark is still
well worth reading.
Its
counterpart stands on the edge of the citys Market Hill, officially called St
Mary The Great (perhaps after Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome). It is the
University Church and principal parish of Cambridge, like the University Church
of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford. There was a church on the site before the
university arrived (1209-ish), but the present building dates from 1478-1519,
much of the cost being borne by Kings Richard III and Henry VII. It is in the Perpendicular
style, lofty and airy like others out in East Anglia; much of its original
decoration was destroyed at the Reformation. The Reformer Martin Bucer, who became Lady Margarets Professor of Divinity
under Cranmer was buried there, but under Queen Mary was dug up and burned in
the market square; what remained of his dust, Queen Elizabeth I had
re-interred. Many of the Universitys public occasions, graduations and
disputations, were held there until a Senate House was built in 1722.
In my day, the big event every Sunday night at 8.30 was the
University Service, presided over by the redoubtable Canon Hugh Montefiore (we
shall sing Hymn No. X, omitting the third verse, because we do not believe
it). The place was packed, nave
and balconies. More than a thousand undergraduates and others sat to hear
Michael Ramsey preach one night. He spoke for 45 minutes on Faith and Science,
and held us spellbound. The custom was that the preacher returned to the pulpit
after the recessional and took questions. A neat young man, begowned
and holding on to his furled umbrella, stood up. Sir, he began, How can you,
as Head of the Church of Jesus of Nazareth in this Nation, justify all this
Pomp and Ceremony? The Archbishop
of Canterbury had worn his episcopal robes and Cambridge doctoral hood (he had
been a Regius Professor) – but nothing else
notable. Young man, he replied, beetling at him through his generous
eyebrows, I dont think I am as pompous as some of you.
From
Hugh Montefiore, later Bishop of Birmingham, I learned much for my later roles
in college chapels in Melbourne, of how to present the Christian faith in
contemporary terms,
losing no orthodoxy in telling. And Cambridge has so many
beautiful places to sit and contemplate, to learn and be challenged.
2013, February 18,
Cathedral of Notre Dame
Michael Noble.
Paris, 2 degrees. The
cold is an unrelenting foe but we are well-wrapped and
happy to be here. We are
heading to Notre Dame, thankful for a safe arrival and the promise of the
holiday ahead. This part of
Paris is stone-on-stone and in the cold morning you
feel the full weight of it.
But Notre Dame seems less heavy somehow – grounded in earth but
directed upward.
The
square is dressed for a celebration.
For 850 years Notre Dame has stood and withstood, at the centre of Paris
and therefore also of France.
And the response from the nation is apt. New bells to replace those melted
down by the revolutionaries.
Good bells to replace the inferior 19th century
replacements.
Inside, we are gifted a purple Lenten scarf and then see the bells,
lined up down the centre aisle.
Each has been given a name and like newly minted saints they wait to be
blessed and set in place and swung into action. At the head is the one remaining
pre-revolution bell. This is the
big bell Emmanuel, the tenor, the base of the
peal. Brought down from the heights
and set among the others to be blessed, or re-blessed, or perhaps pass on a
blessing.
We take
our places for the service.
The church is busy but fortuitously we are right on the aisle, right
next to the big bell and we wonder at the size and weight of it. Its not often that you get close
to a cathedral bell like that.
It usually takes effort, hundreds of stairs, and some entrance money
too, dollars or pounds or euros.
The
service starts, a Gregorian mass.
The two cantors have fine voices and they echo and combine and re-echo .
. . a
beautiful sound in this space.
A man appears next to our bell, takes in hand a suspended clapper and
lets it fall . . .
an awesome sound in this space. Any word I can think of is too
small to describe the effect of that sound at one metres distance. It is around you and part of you
and a response is unavoidable.
When we
leave the day is warmer and we feel a little lighter.
Stories and News from around the
Parish
The Ascension of
our Lord
Fr Philip
The incarnation reminds us of a central
truth of our faith - that in Jesus, God is physically present among us. But the Feast of the Ascension takes us
one step further, reminding us that the incarnation began with Jesus, and it
has never stopped. Jesus ascension
did not end, nor fundamentally change, the Incarnation. The incarnation was not some 33 year experiment by God in history, a one-off, physical
incursion into our human realm.
Fr Ronald Rolheiser,
a Roman Catholic priest, and spiritual writer, wrote this:
Gods physical body is still among
us. God is still present, as
physical and as real today, as God was in the historical Jesus. God still has human skin, and physically
walks on this earth just as Jesus did.
In a certain manner of speaking, it is true to say that, at the
ascension, the physical body of Jesus left this earth, but the body of Christ
did not. Gods incarnational
presence among us continues as before.
I love those words of Fr
Ronald: The physical body of Jesus left this earth, but the body of Christ did
not!
This is obvious from Jesus parable about
the sheep and goats in Matthews gospel: Whatsoever you did to the least of my
brothers and sisters, that you did to me.
And again, when Paul (then still known as Saul) had set out for Damascus
to arrest any followers of the Way, he encountered the risen Lord. Jesus then asked, Saul, Saul, why are
you persecuting me? Saul then
asked, Who are you, Lord? And the
answer he received was: I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now as far as we know Saul had never
seen or even met Jesus, so how could he have persecuted him? Jesus makes it quite clear. He is persecuted when his disciples are
persecuted. In other words, we are
the body of Christ. The incarnation
continues into the present, in and through us. We are none other than the human skin of
God.
St Teresa of Avila has left us some
beautiful words which illustrate this point:
Christ has no body now, but yours. No hands, no
feet on earth, but yours. Yours are
the eyes through which Christ looks compassion into the world. Yours are the feet with which Christ
walk to do good. Yours are the
hands with which Christ blesses all the world.
In her memoir, Out of Africa, the
Danish author Karen Blixen tells the story of a young man from the Kikuyu tribe
in Kenya whom she had employed as a farm worker. After only three months he surprised
Karen by announcing that he intended leaving her to go and work for a Muslim
man nearby. She asked if he had
been unhappy working for her. He
assured her that all was well, but that he had decided to work for a devout
Christian for three months to study the Christian way of life, and then work
for a faithful Muslim for three months to study the ways of a Muslim.
I dont know about you, but I find this
story a little daunting. Why? Because I have wondered what decision a
person might come to if they were to spend some time working with me.
When I was training for the priesthood, I
had a supervisor who reminded me that when I became a priest, I was to be a living walking sacrament of God. That was a tall order, but
it is what I am called to be - a living walking sacrament of God. But I dont think it is just the domain
of the so-called clerical elite.
God forbid if it was. Arent
we all called to be living walking sacraments of God?
The Feast of the Ascension reminds us
that the physical body of Jesus is no longer with us, but the body of Christ
is. We are the human skin of God - living,
walking sacraments. We are the
hands with which Christ blesses the world.
Theological
Student / Country bumpkin
by Sam Miller
Most of
you will know by now that I am by no stretch of the imagination a city person.
In fact, I have never lived in a major city before. Needless to say, being
catapulted into the heart of Melbourne has been a massive change from the slow
quiet lifestyle of Casino. To give everyone a bit of perspective, I thought Id
throw out a few facts about my hometown, and the church that I am from.
Casino is located on the far north coast of New South
Wales, approximately 200kms south of Brisbane. The council area that Casino is in is
approximately one third the size of the Melbourne Metro area, and has 22000
residents, half of which live in Casino. Casino has Australias highest
producing beef abattoir, which is why we call it the beef capital of Australia
(ask me about Rockhamptons claim on that title). Probably the most well known
person ever to come from Casino is Jeff Fatt, the
purple Wiggle.
The
Anglican Parish of Casino has five centres, the main one, St Marks, is in the
heart of Casino, and the other four in surrounding villages. For the past 18
months the parish has been without a Rector, but after a long search, it has
been announced that a new rector will be coming in September! The parish has a
thriving op shop and catering ministry as well as historical significance
within the town, being the first church to be built in Casino.
The huge differences between Casino and Melbourne have
certainly presented me with some challenges (I mean, I havent even seen a
tractor in weeks!), but I am getting there, and the welcoming and supportive
environment at St Marys has played a huge part in helping me to settle in to
the city life, and for that, I am truly grateful.
Stewardship
Elizabeth Donoghue
In three
more days my big old house will have been auctioned, and, hopefully, sold. I
wont miss rattling around, a single person in four bedrooms,
two living areas and two bathrooms, all of which mysteriously fail to stay
clean by themselves.
But I
will miss my garden. Ill
miss my front garden with its roses and its lavenders and its thryptomene and its jonquils and hellebores and violets and
salvias. Ill miss my back
yard with its pomegranate and fig tree and the feijoas and raspberries and the
huge liquidambar tree that grows at the very back, the tallest tree in the
street. Ill miss the flowers, the
fruit, the textures, the colors and the scent.
But
above all Im going to miss the life in the garden.
Im
going to miss the bees. Bees
playing in the single roses, in the marigolds, around any veggies Ive grown
from one year to the next.
Ill miss the brown butterflies that I sometimes see, and the preying
mantis (or are they praying?) that feed on the aphids that feed on the
roses. Likewise, the
ladybirds during spring when the roses are covered in sappy growth and hence
sap sucking insects. Ill
miss the wattle bird thats been around lately eating
the late aphids on the late rose buds. And the spiders that come out at night
and run around their big webs doing who knows what web repairs, or trapping
small insects.
Ill
miss the big urban birds who flock into my big tree,
dancing their dances, sitting up the top spying out the neighbourhood, calling
and singing and saying cluck.
And the possums. Lots
of little ringtails, and also big brushy tails who
leap around the liquidamber, and all of whom eat my
peach crop before I can get to it.
I worry
for the future for all these creatures. I worry because I know that they
are here, that they have a life in this patch in an urban neighbourhood because
in my gardening I have provided them with habitat. Ive given them shelter from predators,
Ive given them food, Ive given them a place where
they can meet others of their kind breed.
And I know that if the new owners of my house decide on pebbles and
spikes, or a big garden-obliterating renovation, many of them will no longer
have a home. And as this
neighbourhood is developed, with every second old house being demolished for
townhouses or apartments, the available living quarters for all these creatures
is diminishing.
Even
here, in the inner suburbs of a big city, there can be lots of life apart from
us humans and our dogs and cats.
There can be all sorts of little webs of life, all sorts of other
creatures feeding and procreating and probably being content and happy.
Does it
matter? I think it does. Its not just about our pleasure in seeing
nature at work around us, important though that can be. Its not just about having pollinators
for the cucumbers and tomatoes.
Its about a diversity of life-forms on this
earth. I think its about
caring for all creatures great and small, about honouring Gods creation, or
extending what the Buddhists call Metta (Loving-kindness) to all beings. And yes we did get the privilege,
as humans, of dominion over all creatures. But with that privilege I reckon
comes big responsibilities.
Those responsibilities can be on a massive, world-wide
scale. But they apply, I think,
everywhere, even in a big city.
So in my
new garden-making, Ill remember this, and I will make sure that I plant a
garden that will be life-giving for small creatures who find their way there,
trying to find peace and a good life even in the urban environment we have
created.
Singing the praises of a St
Marys Chorister
Christine Storey
Several Sundays ago some of you may have noted that Elsdon was absent from the choir, and may even have been
concerned that this was for health reasons, but it was actually because he was
interstate at a professional meeting, the Annual Scientific Meeting of the
Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists (ANZAN), to which he had
been invited, to receive the ANZAN medal (pictured left) in recognition of his
service to this organisation over a couple of decades, in his capacity of
Associate Editor of their societys scientific journal and as a Council Member,
who has also contributed on a number of specialist subcommittees within this
organisation. The occasion was an
affirming one for Elsdon, and gave me great pride in
my dedicated and hard working husband!
Doing Gods Work in Prisons
– a personal reflection on Prison Chaplain John Silversides address at
St Marys on Sunday 21st May
Christine Storey
Many of
us were very moved by John Silversides address during the 10am Service on
Sunday 21st May. His
address brought to mind my encounter with real people in the prison system
during my medical course in the 1970s.
One of my colleagues and fellow member of the University of Melbourne
Christian Union was a member of the Salvation Army. One of the Salvation Army Prison
Chaplains requested that my colleague ask his fellow medical students to assist
with a survey of the homeless who sought shelter at Ozanam
House in Melbournes CBD. The
survey asked about issues related to family background, educational attainment
and involvement with correctionals. I was one of the volunteers. The experience had a profound effect on
me. Having grown up in a very
caring, loving and protected family environment, attending a private girls
school, I had no idea about the abject misery of homelessness. The young men I was assigned to had tragic stories to tell. Many came from broken homes, exposed
to violence, alcohol, financial insecurity, with poor education, and were about
my age at the time. Some months
later the Salvation Army Chaplain asked if some of the same medical students
could join a group to give several concerts in various prison settings and I
remembered being quite shocked at recognizing faces of some of those Id
interviewed at Ozanam House, yet at the same time it
made me think how very unfair life had been on these young people.
Subsequently,
as a paediatrician, I looked after children whose parent had been
incarcerated. On one hand they were
delightful children in my consulting rooms, yet on the other I was made acutely
aware of all they must have experienced that they didnt deserve.
Adolescence
is a challenging time for most, and many can be grateful that but for the
grace of God, the characteristic impulsive risk taking of youthful years did
not have serious long-term sequelae. I find it heart breaking to see
adolescents in my practice unsupported by family and community, battling drugs,
crime and incarceration.
Repentance
and forgiveness need to be at the heart of our criminal justice system. Just punishment needs to be
counterbalanced with caring rehabilitation, to give responsive offenders a
chance to turn around their lives, and to provide them with hope that they
might be able to experience a loving family, satisfying employment and
self-esteem. Australia, of all
countries, with our history of European settlement being founded on the
establishment of a penal colony, has demonstrated what is possible when people
are given a fair go. Thank God
that we have Prison Chaplains, such as John, to bring Gods love and care to
those excluded by society at large within the penal system.
St Mary's
Stitchers
Rhondda
Fahey
At last, after what seems like years of planning, work
has begun on the new hassocks!
The amazingly multi-talented Sophie Treloar
has transferred the first two designs - the Jerusalem Cross from the centre of the sanctuary decorations and the crowned M
representing Mary Queen of Heaven
- onto graph paper and we've all
practiced tent stitch. Now some stitchers have
started to translate the graph paper design to real live tapestry.
Meanwhile knitting squares for this year's rugs
continues - at home during June but back in the Small Hall on
Thursday mornings in July. Rugs already completed were blessed by Dorothy Lee in the Easter 7
Eucharist before being collected by the Asylum Seekers Centre.
Willing hands and hearts always welcome.
St Mary's
Gardening Group
James
Osborne & Rhondda Fahey
There is something very special about getting your
hands dirty in a garden. The St Mary's gardeners have been enjoying this
blessing since mid 2016, meeting at 9.30 on the second Saturday morning of each
month to maintain and improve the church grounds together.
A lot of the time we just weed. (It's very
therapeutic!) We didn't start gardening
together in time for last year's weeds so we're dealing with their
produce now. But it will get better and the weed crop will
become smaller and smaller each year. (So sayeth the optimist) . Our various other tasks include new plantings, the removal
of old stragglers, thinning, pruning.
If you look around you may notice the what
we've been doing.
The group has a constant core and many others who drop
in to help from time to time. We'd love you to be part of the group when you
can. Jim says 'We're
a bit short of those who bear the Y chromosome.'
We're a happy group who enjoy each other's company. As
well as this fellowship, we gain lots of fresh air, and vitamin D, a few aching
muscles and a huge sense of satisfaction. We meet next on the second Saturday
in July. Why not join us and enjoy
the special pleasure of getting your hands dirty too?
St Marys Book Club
Winsome Roberts
The next
monthly meeting of the St Marys Book club will be at Lulu 506 Queensberry
Street on Sunday 18th June at 12pm. The book for discussion is
Divine Beauty by John ODonohue and will be
convened by Susan Gribben. Please join us for a lively discussion.
Beauty: The Invisible Embrace We
are made Immortal, Emerson wrote, by
the contemplation of beauty. Immortality may be too elusive a promise, but
beauty does work us over with the piercing immediacy of concrete vitality: we
come alive in beholding beauty, intensely immersed in the here and now. Beauty
beckons us – from Bach to Blake to the dramatic limestone outcrop on a
Basque beach that unravels a billion years our planets story as a solitary
spaceship in a vast and mysterious universe. That is what the Irish poet and
philosopher John ODonohue (January 1, 1956 –
January 4, 2008) explores – an enchanting meditation on how beauty lays
its claim on the human spirit in such disparate realms as music, love,
imperfection, death and desire.
Please
join us for a lively discussion. Contact Winsome Roberts for more details.
St Marys Travels
A visit to France
Greg Reinhardt - May 2017
In
September 2016 I was fortunate enough to travel to France for a short time
principally to travel to the South West on private business. I did, however,
have the opportunity to be in Paris and to undertake two day
trips from Paris.
The
first of the day trips was to Amiens and the battle fields
of the Somme, principally to visit where my great-uncle, Albert Harvey, was
killed in the First World War. He died 100 years ago, on 23 August 1916,
at Mouquet Farm, near Pozires which is close to the
town of Albert about half an hour from Amiens.
Mouquet Farm
Mouquet Farm is today a fully-functioning
farm. The Battle of Mouquet Farm was part of the
battle of the Somme and began on 23 July 1916, being captured by the allies and
finally re-captured by German counter-attack on 26 September. Mouquet Farm was renamed Moo Cow Farm by the Australian
troops in the best Australian larrikin tradition. The body of my great-uncle,
along with that of many others killed in the First World War, has no known
resting place. Australians are now encouraged to register their DNA with the
Australian War Memorial lest remains (which are continually recovered) can be
matched with living Australians. Interestingly, my great-uncle wrote to his
sister (my grandmother) on the eve of battle with a foreboding of his death. I
have gifted that letter and others to the Australian War Memorial and would
encourage those who have similar memorabilia to do the same so that it can be
permanently preserved.
Those
who visit the Somme will be impressed by the well-kept cemeteries (maintained
by the Imperial War Graves Commission) throughout the area and the peacefulness
of the region compared with the horrors of the First World War.
It was
fortunate that, whilst in Albert, I was able to see the museum devoted to the
First World War. This is housed in an underground passage, 250 metres long and
10 metres, below the centre of Albert and gives a wonderful impression of
conditions suffered by soldiers during the First World War. Special attention
has been given to it because of the commemoration of the centenary of the War.
Amiens itself is worth a visit if only to view the Cathedral, which
is one of the finest Gothic cathedrals in France. It is the tallest Cathedral
in France as is the surface area, the largest medieval interior in Western
Europe. The Cathedral housed the reputed head of John the Baptist installed in
December 1206 which was part of the loot of the Fourth
Crusade and the sacking of Constantinople. (I think I have had occasion in
these articles to refer to the fact that I have seen several reputed places of
repose of the head of John the Baptist!) The reliquary in which the relic was
housed was later lost and what is seen now is a 19th century
replica. It is still a place of devotion and found in the north aisle. The
famous 17th century statue of the Weeping Angel should also be seen.
The Chapel dedicated to Australian and other allied soldiers to whom the
preservation of Amiens is dedicated should also be the subject
of a visit. The main Australian War Memorial is at Villers-
Brettoneux, not far from Amiens where the names of
all Australians killed in the War is to be found.
Chantilly
I embarked on another excursion from
Paris, this time to Chantilly with its magnificent race course, home in 2016 to
the Prix de LArc de Triomphe
which is normally run at Longchamp. In the background
is the magnificent Chteau de Chantilly which consists of two parts, the the Petit Chteau built around 1560 for
Anne de Montmorency, a courtier under Franois I and Henri II, and the Grand Chteau,
which was destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 1870s. After the death of Henri
II, the Domaine de Chantilly came into the hands of
the Le Grand Cond, Louis II de Bourbon, originally Le Duc
DEnghien (a descendant on his mothers side of the
Montmorency family) and a cousin of Louis XIV who fought in the Fronde, a series of civil wars which occurred between
1648-1653 during the Franco-Spanish War and which took place immediately after
the Treaty of Wesphalia that ended the Thirty Years
War. Le Grand Cond fought for the King and was responsible for a number of
victories including the victory over forces commanded by the future William III
of England at Seneffe in the Lowland (now Belgium).
There is a wonderful painting by Jean-Lon Grme of
Le Grand Cond wreathed in laurels at the foot of the stairs at Versailles with
Louis XIV waiting to great him after the battle. He suffered badly from gout so
Im not sure how he mounted the stairs!
I was
fortunate to see a wonderful exhibition devoted to Le Grand Cond whilst at
Chantilly. Molires play, Les Prcieuses Ridicules
was performed at the Chteau in 1659 and there is the wonderful story found in
the memoirs of Madame de Svign of the visit of
Louis XIV in 1671 when Franois Vatel, the matre
d'htel to the Grand Cond, committed suicide through fear that the fish would
be delivered late! Such a French
story! A total pre-occupation with food.
As
noted, the original Grand Chteau was destroyed in the Revolution. It was
entirely re-built in 1875-1882 by Henri dOrlans, duc dAumale, a
son of Louis-Philippe, in the Renaissance style. The duc
was a member of the Orlans family
which maintains the title of Comte de Paris, pretenders to the French
throne. The library in the chteau is magnificent. The duc
was a prolific author and a member of the Acadmie Franaise.
Those
visiting Chantilly must also visit to Grandes Ecuries (the Great Stables) which
date from the 18th century- just amazing.
I hope
this gives some idea of the type of day excursions which
can be done from Paris. There are many more.
On Holiday with Pugin
Michael Golding
I have purchased a fine piece of
land about an acre facing the sea at Ramsgate close to the spot where blessed
Austin landed. I shall not erect a
Grecian villa but a most substantial catholic house not very large but
convenient and solid and there is every prospect of a small church in the same
ground, which will be delightful.
The
author of these words, written in September 1843, was the great English Gothic
revival architect and designer Augustus Welby Northmore
Pugin (1812-1852). Today the substantial catholic house
that he designed and built, The Grange
in Ramsgate, Kent in South East England, is available as a holiday let from the
UK architectural charity, the Landmark Trust, and Lindy, Eleanor and I enjoyed
a five-day stay at this amazing and inspiring property in the company of some
English friends.
Pugin
is one of those people who make you wonder what you have done with your own
life. By the age of 15 he had
already produced drawings for furniture to be installed at the royal residence,
Windsor Castle, and in the next 25 years before his death at the age of 40, he
designed 3 cathedrals and dozens of other churches and houses, often including
their interior furnishings: religious artefacts, furniture, ceramics, stained
glass, jewellery, carpets and wallpaper.
He worked with Charles Barry on the Gothic details of the UK Houses of
Parliament (the Palace of Westminster) and was chiefly responsible for their
lavish interiors and the design of the Big Ben tower. He was a tireless advocate for the Gothic
style in both the written and spoken word and claimed, with some justification,
that my writings, much more than what I have been able to do, have
revolutionized the taste of England.
Twice a widower, he married three times and fathered and nurtured eight
children.
Pugin
was convinced of the virtues and value of mediaeval Gothic style as against the
Classical ideals of the eighteenth century, regarding the former as Christian
and the latter as pagan. Thus,
when he came to build his family home, he wanted no Grecian (i.e. Classical,
pagan) villa but a catholic (Gothic) house. A convert to Roman Catholicism in 1845,
it was a Catholic church, which was built on an adjacent plot and a Catholic
monastery that was built across the road from it. The church was dedicated to St Augustine
of Canterbury (the blessed Austin as Pugin calls
him) who, at the request of Pope Gregory the Great, had landed at nearby Ebbsfleet in 597 CE on a mission to the Angles.
The house was a joy to stay in and explore. With three storeys (four if you count
the tower), four bedrooms, three bathrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room,
library and private chapel Pugin may have considered
it not very large but it seemed very spacious to the Goldings
and their friends. Perhaps it
seemed less so with so many children.
Pugin wrote of his horrid mistake in failing
to create nurseries cut off from the rest resulting in perpetual screams
that proceed in succession from every room in the house comparing it to living
in a pig market and protesting how hard he found it to design in such trying
conditions. He designed the
interiors for the Palace of Westminster and the Mediaeval Court of the Great
Exhibition at The Grange. Only think how much better they might
have been had he been able to get a moments peace.
I was
especially taken with the private chapel easily accessible from a small
corridor at the side of the house.
The original stone altar has been moved to the Church but there is an
elegant wooden substitute adorned with simple altar cloth, candles and crucifix
standing below a stained glass window depicting St Augustine and St Gregory
with Pugin, his wife and three of his daughters
kneeling in prayer. Minton tiles, a
stencilled ceiling and a Gothic electrolier complete
the effect. I made use of the
chapel during my stay but not as often as Pugin who
prayed there alone every morning at 6.00 and later in the day led the family
devotions. He kept these
short to match the attention spans of his children who soon began to fidget if
he overran.
Most of the later additions to the house have been removed and so its
built form is much as Pugin designed it but with a
few exceptions the original furniture has been dispersed. The replacements are comfortable and in
keeping but not outstanding. To
quote the Landmark Trusts guide, Pugins decorative
themes include a preoccupation with the family motto [en avant
meaning forward] and arms [featuring a small, black bird, in a heraldic terms
a martlet] use of text and colour [several quotations from Proverbs] and a
striking diagonality of joinery and internal
patterns. Statues of Mary are also
prominent.
The back
of the house faces the sea and there are impressive views across the rolling
lawns, especially from the top of the tower. The landscaping is quite simple. Pugin seems to
have had no great interest in gardening.
Eleanor turned a few handstands on these lawns but I did not, largely
for reasons of self-preservation.
We all enjoyed a variety of other, gentler pursuits: reading (an
excellent library with books on Pugin or of local
interest), board and card games, cooking, eating and talking with friends we do
not see too often and visits to the surrounding sights and countryside. We joined a guided tour of the house,
which is often open to the public, and visited the church next door. As a lifelong Anglican raised and
educated in England I was taught my countrys history from a particular angle
of perception. It was intriguing to
see at St Augustines a very different perspective on the momentous events of
the sixteenth century from the point of view of those to whom the English
Reformation was a catastrophe from which England needed to be saved.
I cannot
do full justice to all the wonders of the house but I hope that the editors can
find space for some of the photographs taken by my friend, Lucrezia
Herman. If not, doing a Google image
search on The Grange, Ramsgate should yield some good resources and visiting
landmarktrust.org.uk and selecting The Grange from the list of properties
will also be fruitful and tell you how you can hire it yourself if you feel so
inclined.
Main Sources:
Caroline Stanford, The Grange, Ramsgate
(Maidenhead: The Landmark Trust, 2006/8); Robin Fleet, Presenting Pugin: A Short Introduction to the
Life and Work of A.W.N. Pugin for Visitors to Thanet
(Ramsgate: The Pugin Society, 2013).
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Sunday 11
June 6pm
Trinity Sunday Evensong
Friday 7
July Christmas
in July Dinner
Tuesday
15 August 6.30pm Patronal
Festival Eucharist
CONTACT ST MARYS
Post: 430
Queensberry Street, North Melbourne 3051
Phone: (03)
9328 2522 Fax: (03)
9328 2922
E-mail: office@stmarys.org.au
Web: www.stmarys.org.au
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Vicar: Archdeacon
Craig DAlton 0407 443 909
priest@stmarys.org.au
The vicars
day off is Monday
Clergy: The
Revd Luke Hopkins
lukehopkins@live.com.au
The Revd Canon Dorothy
Lee
dlee@trinity.edu.au
The
Revd Philip Bewley
0412
584 690
Lay Ministers: Josephine
Snowdon
Light
Up! Ministry
lightup@stmarys.org.au 0400
404 441
Harriet Jenkins
Children and Family Ministry
hjenkins@stmarys.org.au
John Silversides
Prison Chaplain
Theological Student: Sam
Miller
Director of Music: Beverley
Phillips 5286 1179
bevjp@westnet.com.au
Parish Administrator: Kerry
Dehring
Regular Office Hours: Monday
9.30am-3.30pm
Wednesday
9.30am-3.30pm
Thursday 9.30am-3.30pm
The church is open during the day.
Morning Prayer is at 8.30am Tuesday to Friday.
All are welcome, and for coffee afterwards.
Wednesday Eucharist is celebrated at
12.30pm in the Mary Chapel.
The clergy are happy to be contacted to discuss
matters of faith with anyone, and to prepare people for the churchs
sacraments.
Any views and opinions expressed in this edition of
the parish news are those of the individuals writing them and do not
necessarily reflect parish policy or the views of the parish clergy.
This Edition of the Parish News has been printed in
black & white to help save money. If you would like to view this edition of
the Parish News in colour, please go to our website www.stmarys.org.au
MISSION AND VISION STATEMENT
St Marys Anglican Church, North Melbourne is an inner-city
Christian community that strives to be faithful, inclusive and sacramental.
God inspires us to worship in daily celebration;
to be caring, thoughtful and inviting.
In response to Gods call, in the next three to five years we aim:
To grow substantially in faith and numbers
To create an inter-generational culture that values all age groups -
children and adults - equally
To express our faith in
active engagement within and beyond our own community
To deploy our property and
financial assets in strategic support of the ministry needs of the parish for
the long term
To become more open to
change as we learn to grow
