ST MARY’S STAR OF THE SEA, WHITEHOUSE SESQUICENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
ST MARY’S STAR OF THE SEA, WHITEHOUSE
SESQUICENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
12 MAY 2017
'The stone sculpture and composition, with its seven symbolic motifs – the Cross, the spiral, the labyrinth, the 150 stones at the base, the Petrine and diocesan keys and the perforation, or hole, linking past to future. These symbols resonate with both universal and local significance. For parishioners and locals they speak silently of the continuity of faith through the centuries and through the morphing and transformations of the life of the Church and of this Christian community.
Through the eye of the perforation at the top of the stone, symbolic of the present, the field of vision is necessarily narrow. It is impossible for us to predict the future, and particularly the future forms of ministry in our parishes and diocese. Like the symbols on the sculpture, the Christian faith, the Christian community, ministries and offices, as known to us, will endure. The precise forms they take from one epoch to another may morph. And such change will test received and inherited religious sensibilities. Like the Samaritan lady, we have to keep our ears, minds and emotional intelligence tuned to that prophetic wavelength in the words of Christ : “believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem”' (Jn 4.21).
Comments
Post a Comment