[st uriel's] Holy Eucharist

[Rev Fr Tim Mansfield]

Sisters and Brothers,
As you'll recall, the parish meets this Sunday for our monthly service of
Holy Eucharist a service of prayer, thanksgiving and blessing.

On this particular Sunday, I have a couple of extra responsibilities to
carry out as well as celebrating the service. Roughly a year ago, Trish
Nowland offered her vows as a nun in the Order of St Esclaremonde - a lay
monastic order of the Apostolic Johannite Church. Every year on or near
Montsegur Day, on which we remember the sacrifice of Cathars during the
Albigensian Crusades, monks and nuns in the OSE are required to reaffirm
their vows.

The Cathars were a large community of christians in the Languedoc Region of
France who followed a strict moral rule and engaged in deep spiritual
practice. They were renowned throughout Europe as holy and compassionate
people, but were also rumoured to hold unorthodox beliefs. The movement was
violently repressed by military forces sponsored by the Pope of the time.
Their last stand was at a mountain fortress called Montsegur, hence
"Montsegur Day".

Esclaremonde of Foix was one of the most beloved and saintly leaders of the
Cathar people and she gives her name to the OSE. If you've attended a
Eucharist before, you'll have noticed her name among the list of saints and
adepti we give thanks for.

The other church who sponsors the OSE is the Gnostic Church of Mary
Magdalene. The GCMM and the AJC are sister churches in our approaches,
though we take slightly different twists on a few things. They have recently
opened a formal formation programme to admit new priests to their church and
this seems to have inspired Trish to begin the process of formally
investigating a vocation to the priesthood.

That journey begins ritually this Sunday. During the Eucharist service, I
will invest Trish as a "Lay Server", the first of several Orders in the
church and the beginning of her journey toward the priesthood.

So, it's a big night. Please come offer Trish your moral support in her
ongoing journey of dedication to service and join me in prayer and
thanksgiving.

We'll offer tea and snacks in the hall after the service. All welcome.

Service of Holy Eucharist for Montsegur Day
6pm, Sunday 15 March 2009
Unitarian Centre
15 Francis St, Darlinghurst.

Rev Father Tim Mansfield
Rector, Parish of St Uriel the Archangel
Apostolic Johannite Church
Sydney, Australia
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://laika.gnusto.com/pipermail/announce/attachments/20090312/0e4b6552/attachment.htm