Perth attendees of the national liturgy conference held in Wollongong last week say the four-day event was filled with insightful talks that have given them new ideas on how to improve their parish liturgies.
The four-day event commenced on January 15 with Mass at St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Wollongong, celebrated by Bishop Peter Ingham, who was joined by Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Bishop Peter Elliott, Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett and the Apostolic Nuncio Paul Gallagher.
The ‘Lift Up Your Hearts’ conference was held to mark the 50th anniversary of Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, or Sacrosanctum Concilium.
Organisers had to close registrations for the conference one week early due to an unprecedented demand for tickets.
Jocelyn Versace and Linda D’Cruz, who are part of the liturgy team at Infant Jesus Parish in Morley, were among the attendants from Perth.
Ms Versace said she enjoyed the conference immensely.
“We haven’t had a liturgy conference in Australia for a long time, so it was good to meet up with other people with a common interest, it was wonderful,” she said.
“Listening to the old hymns and the new hymns was really interesting and hearing how some of the parishes still play the old [hymns].
“Hearing what other people do and how they do things was really good.”
Ms Versace said she plans to impart the knowledge she gained from attending the conference to her fellow parishioners, through organised meetings and written notes in the parish bulletin.
“We’re going to really improve and educate our parishioners on the liturgy and the different aspects of the liturgy,” she said.
This does not mean the parish will implement new additions to their liturgy, but will simply “do everything better”, Ms Versace said.
At the opening Mass of the conference, Bishop Ingham of Wollongong said that amid all the competing ideas and claims related to spirituality, “liturgy is the first school of spirituality” for Catholics.
It was a theme that Archbishop Coleridge of Brisbane also emphasised during his keynote address.
He affirmed that worship was not divorced from the world, but rather “the epicentre of God’s dialogue with us now… it is for the world. It must have an eye for mission”.
The main presentations of the conference focused on the connection between Scripture, liturgy and evangelisation; as well as examining liturgical music.
Other workshops during the conference discussed the liturgical space, liturgical books, children’s liturgies, and inculturation.
Guest speakers included American priest and composer Fr Jan Michael Joncas, Australian Catholic University lecturer Clare Johnson and director of New Zealand’s national liturgy office Louise Campbell.