Fr Andrew Bass sees the beauty in the Divine. His ministry as Parish Priest of Holy Cross Parish, Granville, since 2015 is focused on the importance of the liturgy, something he feels his parishioners respond eagerly to.
“Liturgy, as the Second Vatican Council defined, is the ‘action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church’ and ‘is a sacred action surpassing all others’ (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n.7).
“The liturgy is filled with signs and symbols all of which portray something more than they are in themselves, because they reveal to us the reality of God.
“Often, people are not taught these things and so they perceive the Mass and other liturgies as meaningless and empty, but that is because they have not been shown what it all means. They have not been given the chance to engage with it, and so the wonders of it all remain hidden.”
The parishioners of Holy Cross agree. Many have commented that they feel that now they are not observers, but active participants at Mass.
“What drew me to his style of ministry was a willingness to answer questions. If I had a question such as ‘why does this happen in the Mass?’ or ‘what does this gesture represent?’, he would go out of his way to explain it,” Parish Business and Projects Manager John Portelli said.
“His first homilies explained the different gestures and symbolism of the Mass. It gave us a different appreciation and understanding of the Mass.”
Youth and Sacramental Coordinator Rosette Chidiac agrees.
“Fr Andrew’s arrival was a key moment when I felt like I had stopped watching and actually participated in Mass. I could see my role and that has been very nourishing.
“There are key people in my life that walked into a Church for the first time because of Fr Andrew. Seeing how he was offering Mass with such reverence was a pinnacle moment and since then, they’ve been attending Church every week,” she said.
Ordained in 2008, Fr Andrew served at St Patrick’s Cathedral Parish as an Assistant Priest and Administrator, before being appointed the Diocesan Master of Ceremonies under then-Bishop Anthony Fisher OP.
In 2014, he undertook studies in Sacred Liturgy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, before being appointed Parish Priest at Granville.
Pilgrims during the East Granville-Granville parish pilgrimage retreat day. Image: Holy Trinity Parish Granville/Flickr.
The parish, according to Fr Andrew, has a desire for beauty in the liturgy.
“The young, in particular those who serve, and those who serve musically, often express an enthusiasm for the richness and the beauty of the liturgy,” he said.
“They recognise it as a means of transcendence, of other worldliness, of something which lifts them above the profane to the divine, that gives them a sense of purpose and fulfilment.
“When someone begins to understand the liturgy – even things like the meaning of the colours of the vestments, why the priest holds his hands in a certain way, why there is incense – they are given the chance to open themselves up to the immensity of what the Church has given to us and they see that what is given is not given by man, but by God.”
The parishioners are active and engaged, particularly around Holy Week.
“The Good Friday ‘Cross Walk’ itself is a means of drawing what are often seen as two worlds together – our everyday world and the Church,” he said.
“We walk, carrying the Holy Cross from Holy Trinity Church to Holy Family Church, praying the Stations of the Cross. The stations are parishioners’ houses who have offered their homes as a place of prayer.
“The walk is bookended by the churches and in between, we have the homes of the parish. It draws the lives of the faithful into the life of faith.”
This article was originally published in the 2023 Lent and Easter | Autumn edition of the Catholic Outlook Magazine. You can pick up your copy of the magazine in parishes and offices across the Diocese of Parramatta now or you can read the digital version here.
