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| 2012: St Peter's,
Eastern Hill, Melbourne, Australia |
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Photo: Louisa Billeter |
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Mystery Worshipper:
Dame Edna.
The church:
St Peter's,
Eastern Hill, Melbourne, Australia.
Denomination:
Anglican
Church of Australia, Diocese
of Melbourne.
The building:
Dating from the mid 1840s, St Peter's is one of the handful
of buildings in Melbourne pre-dating the gold rush of the 1850s.
The interior has an atmosphere of prayer, with several shrines,
stations of the cross, etc. The sanctuary still has an eastward-facing
altar on which sit six enormous candlesticks.
The church:
St Peter's is a historic church with a long Anglo-Catholic tradition.
The congregation are gathered from all over Melbourne, but basically
WASP. In recent years the vicar has talked about being more
welcoming, but it is not a diverse congregation.
The neighbourhood:
Melbourne was proclaimed a city in 1847 from the steps of St
Peter's. The church sits on a hill on the top of the city centre
and has a commanding position right opposite the very grand
St Patrick's Roman Catholic cathedral. Parliament House is immediately
behind it.
The cast:
The Rt Revd Garry John Weatherill, Bishop of Willochra, was
the preacher. The celebrant was the Revd John Davis, vicar.
The date & time:
St Peter's Day, 29 June 2010, 6.15pm.
What was the name of the service?
High Mass.
How full was the building?
Fifty per cent full – about 120 people. It was a terrible night
with rain, so that may have kept people away.
Did anyone welcome you personally?
A sidesman greeted me politely and gave me the service book.
Was your pew comfortable?
Quite OK for an old wooden pew.
How would you describe the pre-service
atmosphere?
Reverent and prayerful. However, some people chatted to others.
What were the exact opening words of the
service?
"Let us proceed in peace."
What books did the congregation use during the
service?
A service book contained all the people's parts, the hymns,
and some other music.
What musical instruments
were played?
Organ. The choir were in the western gallery. The cantor came
down from the choir to sing the psalm and alleluia verse and
then returned.
Did anything distract
you?
About 15 people from the Anglican Karen community, a refugee
group from Burma, sat near me. They looked marvellous in their
tribal dress – but they sat all through the service. This surprised
me, as the vicar said they shared the tradition of St Peter's.
Was the worship stiff-upper-lip,
happy clappy, or what?
Stiff-upper-lip with the usual Anglo-Catholic trimmings. We
started with a solemn procession, complete with four beautiful
old banners and the bishop in cope and mitre. A station was
made at the shrine of St Peter, which was in a chapel at the
back and hidden from our view. There was the usual complement
of servers, all well drilled, but the clergy seemed disconnected,
robotic even. The deacon kept gazing at the ceiling all through
the service, and even the vicar glanced about in an absent-minded
way. (He had just recently announced his resignation.)
Exactly how long was the
sermon?
18 minutes.
On a scale of 1-10, how good was the preacher?
1 – The bishop's voice was hesitant and he seemed ill-at-ease
in the pulpit. Consequently his sermon lacked conviction. He
began with greetings from his diocese and then tried his hand
at some humourous remarks that failed to get a laugh.
In a nutshell, what was the sermon
about?
The bishop's text was the gospel lesson in which St Peter confesses
that Jesus is the Messiah. He took Jesus' question "Who
do you say that I am?" and turned it around to "Who
does Jesus say that we are?" but I'm afraid I could not
understand what he was getting at. He used the word "inclusive"
several times. But he lost me early on, and after that he just
kept going!
Which part of the service was like being in
heaven?
The cantor sang beautifully.
And which part was like
being in... er... the other place?
But the mass setting was Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Mass
for Four Choirs, which seemed beyond St Peter's choristers
– they didn't sound good. They also sang two settings of
Tu Es Petrus, which seemed a bit excessive. The intercessions
were long and seemed to be another sermon – with the word
"inclusive" getting a reprise.
What happened when you
hung around after the service looking lost?
I did not stay, as I had a dinner engagement.
How would you describe the after-service
coffee?
It was a formal dinner that you had to buy a ticket for. This
surprised me, as other Anglo-Catholic churches in Melbourne
put on good suppers that are free.
How would you feel about making this church your regular (where 10 = ecstatic, 0 = terminal)?
4 – There are friendlier Anglo-Catholic churches in Melbourne
that I prefer attending, and in my opinion the music is better
at two of them.
Did the service make you feel glad to be a
Christian?
I always love going to a high mass – you know you've been worshipping
God.
What one thing will you
remember about all this in seven days' time?
The cantor's singing of the psalm. She had an angelic voice
that I can still remember.
Opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily shared by the photographer. |
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