Fr Chris del Rosario has always loved the way Catholic Mass was celebrated. But it wasn’t until he joined the seminary and started learning about the history and meaning behind the different parts of the Mass that he developed a real passion for liturgy.
“Fr Peter Williams was our liturgy lecturer [in the seminary] and the way he explained liturgy as the work of the people and how we’re worshipping God, but also how it developed over time, was something I found really fascinating,” he said.
The realisation that liturgy wasn’t “conjured up out of thin air” but is a continuation of tradition that reaches all the way back to the beginnings of the church was a “lightbulb moment” for him.
“I can say quite confidently that I’m celebrating the same Eucharist from the 1st Century, and the liturgy is actually quite similar to the early Church in many respects.
Fr Chris was Administrator of St Thomas Aquinas Parish, Springwood, before deciding to undertake further study. Image: Diocese of Parramatta
“Just seeing how we have context, we have this tradition and it has carried forward beautifully and is expressed in the beautiful way we celebrate our masses, for me that’s massive.”
Now, seven years after graduating from the seminary, Fr Chris is returning to study a master’s degree in liturgy, called a Licence in Liturgy, in Rome, at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm. He is one of only a handful of priests in the Diocese of Parramatta to do further study in this area.
He said having clergy with a deep understanding of liturgy was important because they could explain the importance of why the Church does things in a certain way and hence keep those important traditions alive.
For example, he said some of his parishioners at Springwood were unsure why incense was used in their services, thinking that perhaps he had adopted it because he used incense at St Patrick’s Cathedral. But he told them that incense was actually a symbol of their prayers rising to heaven.
“By really explaining to people ‘okay this is our tradition, this is our history’, then we can have a better appreciation of why we do things and why we shouldn’t just palm things off to the side,” he said.
Fr Chris distributes ashes during the 2023 Ash Wednesday Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta. Image: Diocese of Parramatta
There was some scope for liturgy to change and develop, but it should never stray too far from its essence, “which is the worship of God”, he said. “Once it starts becoming a show then we’re really moving away from the essence of liturgy.”
His degree is being taught entirely in Italian, and to prepare for this Fr Chris has been learning the language intensively for the past several months before he starts in July. He left for Rome on 18 June.
During his time there he will be living at the priests’ college attached to the university, which is about a 40-minute walk from the Vatican.
After seven years of parish life – first as an Assistant Priest at St Patrick’s Cathedral and then as Administrator at St Thomas Aquinas Parish in Springwood – Fr Chris said he was looking forward to studying again, immersing himself in European culture, which “I do enjoy a lot”, and being in Italy during the Jubilee Year “with our new Holy Father”.
“I’m blessed to be going at this time, to be experiencing all that and seeing where God leads me in the future,” he said.
When he returns after completing the degree he is unsure what he will be asked to do – “where ever Bishop Vincent sends me I’m always happy” – but would love to use his new-found knowledge to serve the Diocese’s Office of Worship in some capacity.
