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AN INTERESTING WORLD RESEARCH STUDY OF EVERY CHURCH IN ONE SAMPLE CITY, FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SEE INFORMATION ABOUT CHURCH.
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** - Means it's quite important.
* - Means it's interesting.
1. # of people: 179.
2. Available chairs: 350.
3. Type of person: Many teachers.
4. Socio- Economic Status: -.
5. Kids: Many.
6. Ages: 40+
7. Men: 50%
8. Offering: $1608
9. Late arrivals: n/a
*10. Interesting info: This church has a new job title called "Pastoral Associate."
11. Date & Time spent: 20/1/01
12. When service finished: -.
13. This & other service times: 6pm Sat. 7am. 9.30am.
14. Preacher: UPDATED 2008. Jack Peard, Parish Priest in July 2008.
15. Feeling: Bit empty, bit cold.
*16. Their belief: This church is a "Parish" or "area" as well as a church. So it's the "area" church and it's the only church in the area. 17: Dress code so as not to stand out: Casual to smart.
18. How to get there: Travel toward Harristown State High, head toward Uni going south along West St turn right or west at South Sts turn right at Justin St.
8.30am CATHOLIC. ST ANTHONYS. Memory St.
1. 220minimum people. (Maximum people: At one time there was 320 people there due to large religious skit from the school. The school is on the church property grounds.)
2. 350 available chairs.
3. School focused types.
4. Socio- Economic Status: Normal.
5. Many kids. 45 children aged 0 - 17, mostly young primary age.
6. Mostly families.
7. Men 50%.
8. Offering $
9. 20 late.
10. **HOW 100 CATHOLICS LEFT THE CHURCH. About 100 Catholics left ST ANTHONYS church. A Priest was on long service leave and they found it really hard getting two priests from Brisbane regularly. So many of the parishioners left the church as a result. Many of the Parishioners permanently left, most for St Patricks Cathedral. There were 314 people in the two services measured in 2000. Today there were only 220 which is a drop of 94 people. This culminated into the dropping of one entire service. Now there is one mass at 8.30am. There were two services at 7am and 9.30am.
11. 2004. (5/11/00 10.20am-10.30am; Early 2000 9.30-9.50 am.)
12. Service finished in 1 hour.
13. Service time- 9.30am. Other times- , (No pm Sun), 6pm Sat.
14. Preacher: UPDATED 2008. Jack Peard, Parish Priest in July 2008.
*15. Feeling: Bit empty, bit cold. When it came to "handshake time" I was stunned to see no one moved from their seat but the priest by himself who went up the whole aisle way while others stopped shaking hands all together. This is another initiative the Catholic church copied from Charismatic churches. Very attractive to families if Catholic.
*16. CATHOLIC CHURCH ACCEPTS CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT. Almost every Catholic church has a Charismatic prayer group.
GROUP SUPPORT FOR MMM. They have an Informal Support group "for those members effected by the Magnificant Meal Movement."
HOW THE CHURCH HELPS PEOPLE IN NEED. The newsletter also has 2 good ideas. If someone sees a need in the Parish a form can be filled out.
HOW TO INTRODUCE NEW PEOPLE TO CHURCH. A great idea is this, there is a list of new members who give a brief description about themselves on the newsletter (Most were teachers).
MMM. Helidon Catholic Church had prayer meeting for members of the Magnificat Meal Movement to return to the Catholic Church (5/11/00.)
SINNER AND THE PRIEST. I talked to a non-church going man who was often in court for many mild offences and he assured me a Catholic priest was going to convince God he should be let in anyway.
17: Dress code so as not to stand out: Casual to smart.
18. How to get there: Travel toward Harristown State High, head toward Uni going south along West St turn right or west at South Sts turn right at Justin St.
1. # of people: 88.
2. Available chairs: 250.
3. Type of person: Quiet and subdued. Some singles.
4. Socio- Economic Status: Working class.
**5. Kids: Five 6-8yo's. (When this group of 5 children went up for communion, the younger ones folded their arms across to top of their shoulders to signify they are not of maturity to receive communion and the older one held out their arms with hands coming together to receive the "bread" of Jesus.)
6. Ages: Mostly 40-60yo.
7. Men: 50%
8. Offering: $1470 for the week.
9. Late arrivals: 6.05pm 3; 6.08pm 2; 6.16pm 1.
***10. Interesting info: As the communion has hands laid over it by the priest, an alter boy rattles 5 bells. There are many statues of saints and Mary in this church despite the Catholic push to remove almost all statues from churches as a result of "Vatican Two".
11. Date & Time spent: 10/2/01
12. When service finished. 55 mins.
13. This & other service times: 6pm Sat; 7.30am, 9.30am.
14. Preacher: Irish Priest Tom Keegan.
15. Feeling: Bit cold and old.
*16. Their belief: Like all local Catholic churches they publicly pray for the Magnificant Meal Movement members to return to the church.
17. Dress code: Simple.
***26. Famous business people: Member for Toowoomba North, for Labour, Kerry Shine reportedly goes here.
7.30am HOLY NAME CATHOLIC CHURCH West and Bridge Sts
1. # of people: 84.
2. Available chairs: 250.
3. Type of person: Quiet and subdued. Singles.
4. Socio- Economic Status: Working class.
5. Kids: Almost none.
6. Ages: Not all older but families.
7. Men: 50%
8. Offering: "Planned Giving" was $1202 in envelopes. $116 loose.
9. Late arrivals: few.
***10. Interesting info: Also, in their newsletter it said this about taking communion on the 14/5/00 "From the catechism of the Catholic Church: The Sunday Eucharist. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin."
11. Date & Time spent: 14/5/00
***12. When service finished. The service or mass had finished in 25 mins!
13. This & other service times: Now masses are 7.30am, 9.30am, 6pm Vigil (Sat).
14. Preacher: Irish Priest Tom Keegan.
15. Feeling: Bit cold and old.
*16. Their belief: In the 80's having a reputation of being Charismatic but there is no apparent evidence.
17. Dress code: Simple.
18. Is at corner of Bridge and West St.
9.30am HOLY NAME CATHOLIC CHURCH West and Bridge Sts.
1. Number of people: 80.
2. Number of chairs: 250.
3. Type of person: Perhaps single, uncomplicated people. Quiet and subdued. Singles.
*4. Socio-Economic Status: A university graduate told me once "The Catholics have a strong heritage of possessing a working class background here in Toowoomba which stretches back quite away." I agree.
5. Amount of kids: Few.
6. Ages of people: Not all older.
7. 50% of men.
8. Weekly offering published: "Planned Giving" for 14/5/00 was $1202 in envelopes $116 loose. $1153 & $120 5 Aug 2001. "Planned Giving" was $1254 in envelopes. $211 loose.
9. Lateness of people getting to church:-.
**10. Any other interesting information: Protestants often give me a disbelieving and incredulous look when I say that it is quite common for a Catholic mass or service to be over in 25 minutes and also that the priest who preaches almost always goes for 10 minutes. At Holy Name this was no exception.
***It's the oldest Catholic church in Toowoomba other than St Pats.
11. Time there AND date of visit: 80 people on 14/5/00 5min, 92 people on 14/1/01 9.30-40am. 80 people 5min 5/8/01.
12. Length of service: 25 minutes.
13. This and other service times: 9.30am, 7.30am, 11.30am Latin Mass 2nd Sunday of month.
*14. Preacher: So rare do you hear such a nice accent from this Irish priest. Fr Tom Keegan.
15. Feeling of building: Holy Name is your older styled building within a school.
16. Estimate style of belief: I found a leading minority to be very conservative.
17. Dress code so as not to stand out: Casual to smart.
18. Is at corner of Bridge and West St.
1. Number of people: 24.
2. Number of chairs: 250.
*3. Type of person: Ultra-traditionalists.
4. Socio-Economic Status: -.
5. Amount of kids: Five.
6. Ages of people: 9 at 60+.
7. Nine of the 24 were men.
8. Weekly offering published: -.
9. Lateness of people getting to church: -.
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***10. Any other interesting information: This would have to be one of the top five most interesting and unusual services I have ever came across. It's hard to believe the Catholic church was like this all around the world until Vatican 2. Allow me to describe the background. The Bishop of Toowoomba does not want this service to exist. A parishioner told me that Vatican 2 did not discourage the Latin mass and in fact the Pope very much endorsed it. When I asked why others had not endorsed such a mass they said "Well the whole Catholic church is up the creek as far as we are concerned, no one believes, priests included, that Jesus is coming back a second time or that there is a literal devil. Why we like this mass so much is that it's far more fundamentally correct for example when the priest offers the sacrifice he is facing toward God, not the people. This is in line with strict Catholic teaching." As I sat through the mass I noticed a great percentage of the time seemingly was spent on one or 2 knees. The most unusual thing was when the priest did communion. It seemed like for fifteen incredible minutes he did various forms of posturing at the alter. He lifted up the cup up and down, raising his hands, kneeling up and down, the alter boy lifted up the back of his outer tunic intermitted by ringing this triple bell. The red Latin book at the entrance which each person needs to pick up is entirely followed through, all 68 pages. The Latin is on the left column, English on the right. I was told by this parishioner that I should not have had communion since I was not a Catholic. I said "But I do not get the feeling from priests that I should not take communion." They said "Well, the whole Catholic church is going down hill." I said "But if I asked the priest 'I am not Catholic, would it be better if I am to follow all the rules that I should not take communion' - to that he would agree that I should not take communion, correct?" To that the parishioners agreed, that this is indeed what the priest would say. Later I discovered in the Latin red book, that it formally said non-Catholics should not take communion.
They stared in disbelief when I re-told them this story. I personally said to these ultra conservative Catholics "It was 3 years ago and I was in a normal Catholic mass. The Catholic leaders didn't realise I was NOT Catholic. As part of the communion in the church the parishioners bring the bread and wine to the priest from the middle of the congregation. They asked me to perform this ritual. I didn't know what I was doing. Had no idea where to go. So here I was bringing the wine to the priest as part of the Holy Eucharist." After I finished saying this to these Catholics I looked up and their jaws were wide open and were most indignant. They said "But non-Catholics are not even supposed to HAVE the Lords Supper!" The young mother parishioner who interestingly had an annulled marriage also told me of amazing stories of how in the past witches have asked parishioners for the "host" which is the bread to use in their own witches ceremonies. During walking home from church blood seeped greatly from the parishioners own garments.
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11. Time there AND date of visit: 9/9/01 11.38am till about 1pm.
12. Length of service: Approx 1 hr 15m minutes.
13. This and other service times: 11am Latin Mass 3rd Sunday of month. 7.30am; 6pm Vigil.
14. Preacher: Fr Tom Keegan.
15. Feeling of building: ok.
16. Estimate style of belief: Conservative.
17. Dress code so as not to stand out: Casual to smart.
18. Is at corner of Bridge and West St.
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