Category: Updates from Brisbane Oratory in Formation

For our newsletter reflection this month, I would like to provide a brief outline of ways the Brisbane Oratory in Formation is living out some of the key traditional charisms of the Congregation of the Oratory. These are attributes of the mission given to the whole Church by Our Lord Himself before His ascension into heaven. They are given a distinctive form and expression through the service an Oratory community provides to Christ’s Faithful in the life of the Church. The Sacred Liturgy, especially holy Mass, is firstly the ‘work of God’ for our ongoing sanctification through Jesus Christ and also the worship, adoration and thanksgiving that we, as members of Christ’s Body the Church render to almighty God. This is quite simply the ‘right and just’ way to live our lives as human beings made in the image and likeness of God Himself.

St. Philip Neri usually spent many fruitful hours

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We are excited to announce that from the 24 March the Brisbane Oratory will now have weekly Vespers at 4:00pm on Sundays.

Vespers is the evening prayer of the Church and comes from the Divine Office, which is the official prayer book of the Church. From the very beginning of Christianity, Christians would sing or chant the psalms as the model of prayer to God, and from this practice grew the Divine Office which has different prayers for different times of the day. 

Solemn Vespers for special feast days at the Brisbane Oratory.

The Church has long encouraged the public recitation of Vespers and the participation of the laity. Pius XII wrote that “ it is greatly to be desired that the laity participate in reciting or chanting vespers sung in their own parish on feast days.” Likewise the Second Vatican Council encouraged Vespers especially on Sunday’s: “Pastors of souls should see to it

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Ash Wednesday begins the 40 day period of penance in the lead up Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection from the dead. Ashes are imposed on our heads as a sign of conversion, penance, fasting and human mortality, a practice which comes from ancient times. We are reminded that from dust we came, and to share in the resurrection of Christ, to dust we shall first return. The ashes serve as a humiliation in which we seek to, in union with Christ, appease God for our sins so that we may receive the promise of eternal life.

Missa Cantata Mass for Ash Wednesday with the Brisbane OratoryPosted by Maria Rose Anna Photography on Thursday, 7 March 2019

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The Brisbane Oratory in Formation has passed the necessary three years as an Oratory “in formation”, and at the present time we are in the phase when we can petition the Holy See for establishment as a Congregation of the Oratory. According to the norms which outline this process, the Procurator General of the Confederation of the Oratory indicates to a community-in-formation when he judges it ready to petition the Holy See.  A new Procurator General for the Confederation was elected last year, and we have been in contact with him since his election.  He has visited the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in Rome, and discussed there the situation of all the Oratories-in-formation.  At present we are furnishing the Procurator General with further information about our own case.

Some of the things that an Oratory-in-formation needs to demonstrate, in order to be established, are sufficient members;  financial independence;  stability in

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Buongiorno from Roma! Br Matthew’s and my time in the Eternal City has been moving along very quickly. It is just shy of the two month mark since we left Brisbane. As you can imagine it has involved a rather steep learning curve. However with each week I find myself becoming more and more acclimated with the goings on of the city and the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). Our studies are well under way and we are currently preparing for several midterms. Only in Rome can one take a study break by visiting one of nearly 900 churches or chapels to be found in the city. Already I have had the wonderful opportunity to visit two art galleries and several important historical basilicas. We learn a great deal in the lecture hall but these trips are just as formative I believe. To be able to spend time in the

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It has been a great blessing over the past months to have our whole community home in Brisbane.  We had the joy of welcoming Brother John Henry amongst us;  Brothers Tyson, Conor and Matthew were instituted as Acolytes;  we held another successful dinner celebrating the third anniversary since Archbishop Coleridge established us as an Oratorian community-in-formation;  we had several Solemn High Masses whilst we had available the necessary number of sacred ministers;  to name just a few of the things that have been happening.
At the end of August Brother John Henry made the journey to Toronto, to begin his canonical novitiate in the Oratory there, where he’ll continue on to do his philosophy studies. He reports that he is learning the ropes over there and settling into the rhythm of his classes.  This semester he will be studying the life of Saint Philip, the Excellences of the Oratory, the Constitutions of the Oratory, and also Latin.  He has also

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The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, 19th Annotation Retreat in Daily Life, are to be offered at the Oratory.
The dynamic of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is a process towards interior freedom: Freedom from whatever burdens and constrains the soul and prevents heroic identification with Jesus Christ in His Paschal Mystery. It is a movement from pragmatism to Divine Love.
St Ignatius developed the main lines of his Spiritual Exercises between 1522 and 1528, based on his deeply experienced sense of God and His individual call to each of us through Jesus Christ His Son. St. Ignatius finalised this small handbook and had it printed for the first time in 1548. Since then his Spiritual Exercises have helped countless people hear Christ’s call to them in a more personal and intimate way and live this out daily with increasing interior freedom, courage and dedication.
The Ignatian Spiritual Exercises are normally meant to

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We recently celebrated our major fundraising and social event of the year with a dinner and dance at Riverside Receptions, New Farm.  235 people created a very happy buzz at what seems to have been an enjoyable night for those present.  Our final tally indicates that we raised in the vicinity of $29,000 through the event.  Also, new pledges have come in following the dinner and through our fundraising push during the month of July, and other regular givers have been able to increase their contributions.  We can’t say often enough how grateful we are to all our benefactors and friends who are so generous in helping to ensure the future of the Brisbane Oratory.  May God bless you for your generosity.

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Wonderful evening at the annual Oratory Dinner & Dance! Thanks

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We would like to apologise to anyone who may have called the Oratory recently and had no response. It has come to our attention that our phone line was down, but we are happy to report it is now up and running again.

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Recently, Archbishop Mark Coleridge instituted Brothers Tyson, Conor, and Matthew into the Ministry of Acolyte, a necessary step on the path to ordination, along with the Ministry of Lector which the Brothers received last year. As Acolytes, the brothers are called to grasp the spiritual meaning of public worship so that they may better offer themselves to God and grow in love of the people of God especially the weak and the sick. We are very excited that the brothers have taken this next step on the way to ordination to the priesthood.
During the Institution, Archbishop Coleridge reminded the brothers that as Acolytes they are called to give a particular witness to the faith and seek to imitate the martyrs who witnessed to Christ to the point of shedding their blood for him. The brothers were encouraged to live their faith to the full, witness to Christ, and to engage in works of mercy, especially

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