Those of you who know Father Peter Abas from his sojourn as a student at the U of R, and his work in parishes of the Rochester diocese, may be aware that he celebrated his 25th anniversary of priestly ordination on February 2 of this year. That was the reason why Pat and I and some others travelled to Borneo at that time. Rather than place the emphasis on his anniversary, however, Father Peter proposed to celebrate the traditional feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary with a ritual crowning of Mary as the “Mother of Hope.” It was appropriate as Father Peter has a personal devotion to “Mother Mary” –as he never fails to refer to her. There was a party with a cake and entertainment in the gym after Mass, but it celebrated Mother Mary’s crowning as Mother of Hope.
Father searched high and low around the world (by way of the internet, of course) for a crown of the right size and style for the event but it turned out there was one right in Rochester! And so, there is a little bit of Rochester now crowning the statue of Mary in a church in Borneo. The statue was robed at the crowning with one made by some of the women of the parish and reflected traditional local styles.
The Mass and crowning were held at the Church of the Nativity, the home base from which Father pastors three or four churches. Representatives of the other churches that Father serves were present and formed, along with other groups, the procession of the statue of Maria, Tina Do Kahansanan from its shrine outside the front of the church to its position of honor in the sanctuary.
You will recognize some elements of the Crowning Mass are similar to the Sunday celebrations shown in the previous video I posted of our visit.
Here is the video montage of the Mass, and crowning of Mary, Mother of Hope.
Tags: Liturgical art, Liturgy, Marian Images, Orthodoxy at Work
|
Thanks, Bernie, that was beautiful. The children’s choir was awesome and the Mass and coronation ceremony seemed very reverent. Plenty of smells and bells.
I noted there were only boy servers. Would you happen to know if that is peculiar to Fr. Peter’s parish or would it be the norm for his diocese?
Mike: I think we saw only male servers and there were usually several of them. One was a Mass at the Cathedral.
The Masses in Cambodia we attended did not have servers. One was a Sunday Mass in English in Phnom Penh for people who work in NGOs or at UN facilities, and the other was an early morning (6:30) daily Mass at a local parish in Siem Reap. I’ll post some video or stills from those Masses later.