Earlier this month I did something that I will probably never do again. Since we have no bishop here, I put on the bishops hat for a day and consecrated and blessed the new church of Santa Rita Linha 09 (Line / Road number nine). At home this is normally the job of a bishop! A lot of the funds came from our friends in Ireland. Many thanks. This community now has a new church and the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament. Which means they can have communion at their prayer services on the Sundays when there is no priest available.
The rice is on the boil in the parish hall.
The meat is made ready for the BBQ
The entrance and the blessing of the door of the new church.
Enthroning The Word of God.
Blessing of The Altar.
Presentation of The Sacred Vessals and their blessing.
Placing The Blessed Sacrament into the Tabernacle for the first time at the end of Mass. Now the community may receive Holy Communion each time they come together, and not just on the priest's monthly visit.
After Mass the procession around the church with singing and the blessing of the Walls of the new church. Afterwards the procession continued towards the parish hall for the festa.
The final blessing of the people.
The meat is on the barbie!
They serve large portions here!
The Festa was for the old!
The Youth.
The children. Here is the Eucharistic minister and his new grandson.
The altar after mass: with the collection gifts on the ground, which included a hank of bananas, a root plant called mandioca, a bag of dried beans, a box of oranges, and a bag of mamãos (papaya).
The gifts suggest that the community have little by the way of money, which is true, but they contributed to the building of their new church in labour. Our friends in Ireland bought the material.
