George Palmer

And as I discovered, so I incorporated familiar phrases, sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Kyrie eleison, phrases that would be familiar to a lot of people, but I didn't say whole prayers in Latin.

But then I was told, go out to the parishes and do a roadshow and sell this Mass because we want the parish version to be sung in the parish churches.

So I went out and I had a few conversations and the first one with the parish priest in the northern suburbs of Sydney did not go well.

He said, this Mass will be sung in my church over my dead body.

I said, oh, why?

He said, Latin.

They want to rope us back into Rome.

They want to fasten the iron collar around our neck.

No way.

And he was not alone in saying that.

I spoke to two or three others and had the same result.

And then I went back to the diocese and I said to the archbishop, I'm sorry, they're not buying it.

There was a huge choir made up from all the parish choirs and so on.

It all went very well.

A lot of people came along.

They did sing along to it.

Because most of it is in English, so they sang along to it.

But it was just very interesting to see how the introduction of Latin into the liturgy, even just the thinnest wedge in the door, was seen as a threat to the independence of the clergy.

Well, you see, after the papal mass, I thought, well, where am I going to go from here?

What could be bigger than that?