UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!
That, is but one of the few words to describe what happened last weekend in the Archdiocese of Toronto, and the history of the modern Roman Catholic Church.
As even promoted on major Latin Mass sites, a Solemn Latin Mass was done last Sunday, October 30, 2016 at 2pm EST, in the presence of His Eminence, Thomas Cardinal Collins "in choir", who is our Archdiocesan Cardinal Bishop! This Mass took place at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Michael's, the flagship parish of our Archdiocese of Toronto, not to mention that parish which is where he is formally seated!
Furthermore, Cardinal Collins gave the homily for this Latin Mass .... and it was splendid. While I will be posting more details in future, I will say that if anything, the take away message, on this Feast of Christ the King, was this:
"HEROISM, IS THE NORMAL WAY FOR CATHOLICS"
You heard me correctly, Cardinal Collins said that in his homily. There was much more where that came from.
This Mass was made possible with the Cardinal's blessing and permission, to be organized by the esteemed St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir, based out of the Redemptorist Parish in downtown Toronto, and led by Surinder S. Mundra, professional choirmaster and assistant director of the prestigious Toronto Concert Orchestra.
The Mass, while organized by the St. Patrick's Gregorian Choir, was also the work of many hands, from the priests and seminarians that took part in major clergy (subdeacon) and all serving roles except Master of Ceremonies, to the presence of the Brothers of the Knights of Columbus from the Cardinal McGuigan Assembly, to the laymen such as myself and my brothers who were present in choir.
As usual in my reporting of the Masses, here are my before Mass photos of the prepared altar for the Mass, and the credence table:
However, and this is a big, however, before I do so, I would like to ask of your assistance in a necessary manner, an attempt before I publish.
Due to tight security at the Cathedral, it was challenging for us servers and for the Choir to allow for our own photography. While we have received a couple of photos of before and after, and the procession, the security at the cathedral during the Mass was going up to random parishioners and stopping them from taking photos at certain points. My wife, her friend's boyfriend and mother, who were present at the Mass, witnessed this and observed them stopping people near her from taking photos.
Further to my knowledge, the Archdiocese of Toronto did not make any arrangements to have their official media staff take any sort of video or photo recordings of the event.
However, we know that many people DID take photos at many different points during the Mass. I, even personally remember, as an example, an Asian man with a higher quality camera and lens, took photos of us at the entrance to the narthex of the Cathedral in the entrance procession.
My request: If there are any readers of this blog, or who can pass word along, would you please send any photos taken during the Christ the King Mass to my blog email, torontotlmservers@gmail.com? Thank you and this is highly appreciated.
Again, Deo Gratias for this Solemn occasion! For all of us, the Choir, the priests, the seminarians, the lay acolytes (as in, generally altar servers,) it was a memorable experience for our soul, one in the annals of Church history.
Pax Tibi Christi, Julian Barkin
