The Rev. Father Anthony Robbie, Parish Priest of Saint Dominic's Parish (in Homebush West, a suburb of Sydney, Australia), sends us this heartwarming report from his post-Summorum experience.
My parish instituted an extraordinary form Mass on the day Summorum Pontificum came into effect. At first we kept the Mass for the First Friday of each month. After three months, the people having supported the development, I moved the EF celebration to every Saturday morning. I should stress that it was my intention that this not be a token extra Mass for the parish, but be the regular scheduled parish Mass. I picked that Mass because it had the lowest attendance of all the week’s Masses.The result? The attendance trebled. I should point out that we did not get an influx of outside people seeking the EF. The trebling of Mass attendance was of my own parishioners. The effect has been to bring the traditions of our faith into the ordinary spiritual life blood of the parish. There were no complaints, no one stopped coming to Mass and the servers took delight in learning the EF and never miss their Saturday morning. All round, a great success.My parish is where the Fraternity of St Peter established their seminary (Ezechiel House) in the parish convent, and although they have now moved on to more spacious accommodation, we remember them with fondness and support their work in any way we can.
