OCTOBER MUSIC - ST THOMAS MORE CHURCH, Carlton at Sherbourne, Toronto

1:45 pm - SUNDAY SUNG MASS

Oct. 5
Mass setting: Sumsion, Communion Service in F
Motet: Palestrina, Ego Sum Panis Vivus

Oct. 12
Mass setting: Mozart, Spatzen Messe
Motet: Britten, Jubilate Deo

Oct 19
Mass setting: Ager, Missa Brevis No. 4
Motet: Hassler, Cantate Domino

Oct. 26 
Palestrina, Missa Brevis in F
Mass setting: Wood, Oculi Omnium

STM – BALDWIN ACADEMY October 2014 Proposed Schedule

Riverdale Farm (Park) 15 minute walk

Art Gallery of Ontario, west on Dundas

This proposed schedule will be revised according to the needs of students and availability of teachers participating in the programme, all of whom are volunteers. Please let us know your needs for tutoring and any corrections for individual teachers’ schedules. We have had offers also for instruction in Art, Art History and Latin if there is an interest. There are some blanks in the schedule, which we need to fill according to interests and availability. 

We also plan to have downtown field trips to nearby Allen Gardens, Riverdale Farm, AGO, etc.

Allen Gardens - Across the street
from STM-Baldwin AC

THURSDAY, Oct 2  
HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS

11 AM – Mattins: White  Ps 105:1‑22  Hosea 5:8‑6:6  TD  Acts 21:27‑36
Fr. Hodgins

11:15 – Geography/ History – Mrs Rezna Ellis/ Fr. John Hodgins

12:00 – Angelus, Grace and Lunch

12:30 – Recreation

1:00 – Independent Work or Tutoring – Mr Royden Lamwatt/ Mrs Rezna Ellis

2:15 – French – Mrs Jane Hodgins

3:15 – Break

3:30 – Snack/ Auditions for Choir

4:00 – Choral Music Programme – Mrs Katharine Mahon



THURSDAY, Oct 9
BLESSED JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

11 AM – Mattins: White  Ps 131,132  Micah 3:1 8. Acts 24:1 23
Fr. Hodgins

11:15 – English Grammar – Mrs Judy Anderson

12:00 – Angelus, Grace and Lunch

12:30 – Recreation

1:00 – English Grammar/ Literature – Mrs Judy Anderson

2:00 - Break

2:15 – French – Mrs Jane Hodgins

3:15 – Break

3:30 – Snack/ Auditions for Choir

4:00 – Choral Music Programme – Mrs Katharine Mahon



THURSDAY, Oct 16 
ST MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE

11 AM – Mattins: White  Ps 18:1 20  Jonah 3:1 4:11  Acts 27:27 44 
Fr. Hodgins

11:15 – Literature

12:00 – Angelus, Grace and Lunch

12:30 – Recreation

1:00 – Math/ Science

2:00 - Break

2:15 – French – Mr Royden Lamwatt

3:15 – Break

3:30 – Snack/ Auditions for Choir

4:00 – Choral Music Programme – Mrs Katharine Mahon



THURSDAY, Oct 23
 ST JOHN OF CAPISTRANO 

11 AM – Mattins:  Ps 37:1 18  Ecclus 10:1 18  TD Rev 9:1 12
Fr. Hodgins

Fr. Hodgins

11:15 – English Grammar – Mrs Judy Anderson

12:00 – Angelus, Grace and Lunch

12:30 – Recreation

1:00 – English Grammar/ Literature - Mrs Judy Anderson

2:00 - Break

2:15 – French

3:15 – Break

3:30 – Snack/ Auditions for Choir

4:00 – Choral Music Programme – Mrs Katharine Mahon



THURSDAY, Oct 30 – FERIA

11 AM – Mattins: Green  Ps 50  Ecclus 31:12 18, 25 32:2  Ben  Rev 12:7 17
Mr Royden Lamwatt

11:15 – English Grammar – Mrs Judy Anderson

12:00 – Angelus, Grace and Lunch

12:30 – Recreation

1:00 – English Grammar/ Literature – Mrs Judy Anderson

2:00 - Break

2:15 – French – Mr Royden Lamwatt

3:15 – Break

3:30 – Snack/ Auditions for Choir

4:00 – Choral Music Programme – Mrs Katharine Mahon

OUR 'HOOD'

G = STM-BALDWIN ACADEMY     

I = ALLEN GARDENS

A = RIVERDALE PARK

H = OUR LADY OF LOURDES SCHOOL

St. Thomas More, Toronto launches Choral Music Bursary Program for Kids

STM -Baldwin Academy, Toronto was launched in September and is happy to report that we have eight choristers in the choral programme who have auditioned successfully so far. Our goal is to have at least 15 by Christmas. 

 

STM Baptismal Font and Reliquary

Katharine Mahon, our music director, is very pleased with the good voices. The children meet for choir practice after lessons at Sacré-Coeur Church in Cabbagetown, downtown Toronto. Already we have an invitation to sing at our neighbouring Holy Rosary Parish for their Christmas concert. So we are very hopeful.

We serve in an economically challenged part of the city and have one family with 14 children and so need some bursary assistance for 5 of these children. All are excellent singers.

So we are asking for donors to fund choral bursaries to help us include all children who successfully audition.

STM - Baldwin Academy is naming bursaries after people in whose memory or honour a bursary of $400 or more is made. A Mass will be offered for the intentions of the donor as well. So far, we have the commitment for one bursary:

+ The Dr. W.J. Wallace Hodgins Memorial Choral Bursary

We are very thankful for the prayers and support of many Ordinariate members and friends. Please keep praying for this very worthy music education project that will be of lifelong benefit to the children and a great spiritual joy for all of us!

Cardinal Collins visits STM

Mrs. Jane Hodgins (wife of Fr. John) holds  a little new  parishioner . . . and a future chorister posing with his Mom.

laus deo semper

Fr. John Hodgins

The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has asked for Prayer for the III Extraordinary Synod of Bishops

Extraordinary Synod of Bishops, Oct 5-21, to treat the topic: 

The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization.  

  The Church joins in the Prayer to the Holy Family composed by Pope Francis for his special intentions. 

The recitation of the Rosary is also recommended for the duration of the Synod.

Prayer to the Holy Family 

for the Synod of Bishops

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

In you we contemplate

The splendour of true love,

To you we turn with trust.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

Grant that our families too

May be places of communion and prayer,

Authentic schools of the Gospel

And small domestic Churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

May families never again

Experience violence, rejection and division;

May all who have been hurt or scandalized

Find ready comfort and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

May the approaching Synod of Bishops

Make us once more mindful

Of the sacredness and inviolability of the family

And its beauty in God’s plan.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

Graciously hear our prayer.  Amen

O God, you never forsake the work of your hands, hear our prayer; send the Spirit of your Son to enlighten the Church as the synodical journey begins, so that contemplating the splendor of our true love which shines forth in the Holy Family of Nazareth, she might learn the freedom and obedience to respond with boldness and mercy to the challenges of today’s world.  Through Christ Our Lord.  Amen.

More St. Mary Major

Built in the fifth century in honour of her title “Mother of God”, conferred upon Mary  in AD 431, the Basilica of St. Mary Major. illustrates the essential role of Mary in God’s plan of salvation.

The affirmation of Mary as Theotokos (bearer of God) was made by the third ecumenical Council of Ephesus. The mosaics of the triumphal arch and the nave in Santa Maria Maggiore were the model for future representations of the Virgin Mary. The influences of these mosaics may be seen in frescoes, manuscript paintings and pavement mosaics in villas throughout Africa, Syria and Sicily during the fifth century.

The Basilica of Saint Mary Major is not merely  an early architectural wonder though. It is a theological lesson in stone and mosaic. The artwork can readily be understood in conjunction with the Gospel according to St. Luke. 

St. Luke’s theology of Mary in his Gospel is highly developed. She is principally cast as a model of discipleship.

The first church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary was built on the Esquiline hill by Pope Liberius (AD 352-366) on the site of an ancient market place.

For over 1000 years Romans have maintained that the relics of the Manger of Bethlehem were transferred to the Basilica of St. Mary Major. For some of these relics the Oratory of the Crib, the Oratorium ad Presepe, was built. 

For centuries the Basilica has hosted on Christmas morning a procession of the Santa Culla, the Holy Crib.

The church is massive and magnificent. The Confessio holds relics of Jesus' Manger, believed to have been brought from Bethlehem at the same time as the body of St. Jerome. 

The walls of the central nave and the triumphal arch at the end of this nave are decorated with mosaics from the time of Sixtus III (AD 432-440), the oldest mosaic cycle in Rome .

One of the mosaic images in the basilica is of six sheep gathered at the gate of Bethlehem, These symbolize Gentile Christians. Together with another six lambs standing at the gate of Jerusalem, they represent the whole Church.  

This mosaic cycle of salvation history is completed by the scenes of the Incarnation and the infancy of Christ on the triumphal arch.

The apse mosaics are not as old as those in the central nave and of the triumphal arch. They were created during the pontificate of Pope Nicholas IV (AD 1288-1292). The apse is decorated with stories of Mary’s life below the central scene of the Coronation of the Virgin. 

This is the most important mosaic of this cycle. The Dormition or the Transitus is the representation of Mary, after her earthly life, now with her Son, a teaching common to both the Church both East and the West.

Mary's coronation depicts her sitting at the right hand of  Jesus. Though not divine like Christ, the Church venerates Mary as the first amongst humanity and the first Christian. 

The apse is the apex of the mosaic depictions of Church teaching commemorating the declaration at the Council of Ephesus that the Blessed Virgin is the Mother of God.The beauty of the basilica reflects the spiritual beauty of Blessed Mary. Mother Mary is all for us in prayer; she truly is the tabernacle of God.

There are, of course, no relics of Mary in the basilica. In fact, there are no relics of the Virgin Mary anywhere.  This is because her body was assumed into heaven as the Queen of Creation.

Pope Paul V built the chapel for the most venerated image of Virgin Mary, the Salus populi Romani. This icon of the Byzantine style is from the ninth century. 

Pious Medieval Romans believed it was painted by the evangelist St. Luke. Mary is represented holding Jesus who is dressed in a golden tunic and holds the Scriptures. The hands of Mary are crossed in front of her child. One hand exposes two fingers, a sign of the two natures, divine and human, of the one person, Jesus the Christ.

The “Madonna and Child with Crossed Hands” shows Mary with the baby Jesus. Above her head are three stars. These stars represent  Mary as a virgin before, during, and after Christ’s birth.

Mary is the archetype of the church. She carried the body of Christ during her pregnancy evoking the presence of God in the Church. God is present in the Church, our mother, especially in the Eucharist, the Body of Christ. 

Thanksgiving Prayer at St. Mary Major Basilica

  (Edited and translated by Fr. Tom Rosica)

 . . .  Pope Francis went to St. Mary Major Basilica to give thanks to the Blessed Mother for her protection and for the successful journey to Albania. As he has done in the past, the Pope prayed quietly in the chapel of the icon "Maria, Salus Populi Romani," and then presented a bouquet of flowers that he received last night in Albania during his final visit to the Bethany Centre for disabled children.  The faithful present in the basilica joined the Holy Father in singing the Salve Regina before the Pope returned back to the Vatican around 12:30 p.m.

In-flight Press Conference on plane to Rome:

Culture of "tolerance", "fraternity" in Albania

Although the plane-trip from Albania to Rome was only 90 minutes, it still left time for Pope Francis to give what has become a traditional post-trip in-flight interview with journalists.

While answering questions by the journalists, Pope Francis apologized and said he would only respond to those concerning the trip itself, not wanting to overshadow the day.
During the press encounter, Pope Francis stressed the fact Albania is on the peripheries of Europe, saying this is a “sign I wanted to give.”  He also pointed out that despite the fact that Albania has a Muslim majority, it is not a “Muslim country; it is a European country,” and noted the cooperation among the three major religions: Islam, Orthodox Christianity, and Catholicism.

He reiterated the importance of the culture of “living together”, “tolerance”, and “fraternity” in the Balkan country.

The Pope said he was impressed, "from the beginning" by the youth of the country.
"They told me that it is the youngest country in Europe,” he said. “You see a higher culture…capable of building brotherhood."

The Pope said he studied for two months the history of persecution in the country during the Communist era, trying to understand.

“It was a cruel period, the level of cruelty was terrible," he said.  “When I saw [the posters of those killed during the Communist period], not only Catholics, but also Orthodox and Muslims ... this happened because they said they believe in God. Each of the three communities have given a witness to God and now bear witness to their fraternity.”

Pope Francis admitted he was moved to tears after listening to the testimony of a priest jailed for 27 years, saying he was impressed by the man’s humility which seemed to tell the story of all the others who were persecuted.

Pope Francis also confirmed that his trip Strasbourg would be on November 25th, and his trip to Turkey was to be a few days later on November 30th, the feast of St. Andrew, which he will celebrate in Istanbul with Patriarch Bartholomew. When reminded that Turkey is on the border with Iraq, the Holy Father said “the geography cannot be changed.”

We need just a few more children to form the STM Choristers.  Girls and boys with unchanged voices from Grade 3 up (or younger is they are able to read) are welcome to audition through October.

Msgr Steenson to visit STM Toronto for Remembrance Mass - Nov. 9