St Joseph’s Cathedral’s Lights of Christmas

St Joseph’s Cathedral’s Lights of Christmas returned in 2019 for the third year.  The previous two years have seen over 20,000 thousand people each year and it was previously recognized by a national award for Best Small Event at the Australian Event Awards in 2018.

Nationally recognized company Illuminart were once again engaged to design a new animated art show for 2019 using the façade of St Joseph’s Cathedral.  The first section of the show was based on Charles Dickens’ short story of The Christmas Tree with the second part being Christmas-themed slides featuring images from the Cathedral’s own stained glass windows and this year Bishop Michael meeting with Pope Francis.  Also as a first this year the video featured the voices of The Cathedral College’s own Vocal Ensemble.

Many people worked to provide the logistics for the event with the team from Illuminart doing set-up and testing in the days before the show started and many staff from The Cathedral College helping out with local arrangements such as power, technical requirements, closure of one block of William Street to allow people to gather, seating, security, volunteers collecting donations for the bushfire appeal and all the small parts that helped make it such a successful event again.

 The show has been embraced by the locals and has become an iconic part of Christmas celebrations in the region. The 2019 show was made possible by many local supporters including Rockhampton Regional Council, Catholic Education Office, The Cathedral College, Emmaus College, Swanwick Murray & Roche Lawyers, GEM Energy, Australia Catholic Super and Catholic Church Insurances.

Shaun Pettett

ABC Capricornia Facebook coverage with video

Commemoration of Santo Nino 19 January 2020

On 19 January at the 9.30am Mass at which Bishop Michael presided - a Feast that is most revered wherever there are Filipinos throughout the world was commemorated viz Santo Nino. 

 Sinulog (water movement) is the Filipino term given to the celebration of the Feast of the Child Jesus or Santo Niño, commemorating the introduction of Christianity to the Philippines by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator commissioned by then King Phillip of Spain.  Magellan landed in the shores of Cebu in Central Visayas of the Philippine Archipelago on the 16th March 1521. Cebu was then under the rule of Rajah Humabon, who along with his wife Hara Amihan and their subjects, agreed to be baptized and converted to the Christian Faith.

As a gift for the occasion, Ferdinand Magellan gave the image of Santo Niño to the couple. The same image of Santo Niño, together with the Cross that was erected as a symbol of Christianity in the Island, are still held and venerated at the Basilica Menore in Cebu City, Philippines.

 Following the collection, a procession of the statue of the Child Jesus was accompanied by drum music and a dance from members of the Filipino community. The statue was placed on a small table to the right of the altar.  Other members of the Filipino community carried forward their own statues and these were placed around the larger statue on the table and on the ground.

After communion a group from the Filipino community sang Bato Balani sa Gugma "Magnet of Love".

Marg Hallinan