8-4-19 - Finding faith, culture and lots of beautiful singing
/Day 49. Leanne here. Kyle spent the day working on future travel planning in our cozy yet austere flat so I'm hijacking todays' post. Since we have heard from several friends that Kyle's stories are funny, I will do my best to keep the entertainment coming.
I started the day feeling like we needed to infuse some faith in this trip. Its Sunday. The oldest, largest and arguably most beautiful Catholic cathedral in Australia - St Mary's Cathedral - is just two blocks from us so my Catholic guilt calls at me. The 10:30 a.m. mass was billed as its “Solemn Mass” of the week, which made me think to count all the non-solemn, party-like masses that I've attended over my lifetime.
Hmm, exactly zero.
I pluck the two kids who DIDN'T decide to sleep in this morning - Justin and Corey - and head out to inject a little God.
The mass was not just solemn, it was packed. Standing room only. Unless of course, you know the secret Catholic password how to get in. Apparently, there's a huge gaggle of folks clumped at the back of the church who I assume are stumped non-Catholics. Possibly they were intimidated by the guy with the satin labelled “Usher” standing in the aisle like a club bouncer. I wasn't going to let the authority of a satin sash that resembles a Miss America sash stop me from claiming an empty pew seat. I plow ahead with my secret password (put your finger in holy water, make a cross on your heads and proceed in quietly and solemnly). Apparently, this step stumped at least 30 less pious tourists but not this good American Catholic girl.
The mass was accompanied by the Cathedral Choir (the country's first musical institution). The choir consisted of gifted singing boys that attend their Choir School as young as 3rd grade to grown men in the Men's Choir. Their glorious collective sound fills the Gothic sandstone church making me feel like I died and went to heaven already. The antique stain glass windows piped in colored light streams that dance on the heads of the parish members. Boy, this was sort of disco-like after all. If you use your imagination. Wonder what the non-solemn mass brings.
I sat there pondering just how consistent Catholicism is all over the world. Here I am half a world away and I feel home here, in this building, right at that second. But that is halted by Justin.
The gospel was about how man cannot have two masters and the homily focused on the political ramifications of an upcoming bill in Parliament about near-term abortions. Its taking a bit of time here. I so welcomed the return of the boy voices singing something ethereal in Latin as either of those topics were just too deep to think about before my second cup of coffee.
Throughout the mass, Justin keeps asking if the mass is almost done - apparently, I need to inform him that Solemn mass in Australia is pretty much just your plain-old-ordinary Sunday mass in the U.S. After church, I met the priest after church and he jokes we left California for Sydney's fine chilly weather. He looked like he wanted to chat further with me but I was just going in for the shake-and-go thing as there's 300 people to file out behind me and my teens were halfway down the block already.
After church, I rally the four kids for the Australian Museum, which is Australia's largest and oldest museum and right next to the church (what's up with our block?). We enter the "200 Treasures Exhibit" which I could have spent a week in alone. The kids speed up to the dinosaurs while I deeply peruse these Treasures. They call me 5 times to get to the gift shop, but I'm immersed.
My favorite were the artifacts from the Aboriginal or Indigenous or otherwise called, perhaps more appropriate, First Australians. Between 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, the indigenous peoples of Australia originated on this land and they have maintained their culture continuously since then according to the locals. However, colonization starting in the late 1700s damaged their long-term longevity - disease, displacement, discrimination, and diminished rights/ownership impacted their populations and collective psyche. The history is long and complex and I couldn't dare give it the justice it deserves in a blog post, but worth researching.
One note is that given I'm a return tourist, I will note an obvious difference in the treatment of the indigenous people from every angle I came across. From tour guides to docents to even the first announcement at the Sydney Opera House all give respect and deference to the indigenous populations station, ownership and culture. It was refreshing to see that aboriginals recognized in a better light than I had remembered before from 20 years ago.
Tonight was John's Sydney Opera House performance of the Honor Performance Series. The Sydney Opera House is such an icon to the Sydney cityscape that its hard to find a postcard without the beautiful sails (or shells) contemporary building. The program equalled the stature of the building! Over 12,000 young musicians internationally auditioned for the coveted 300 slots, resulting in a 2.5% acceptance rate, for this program. Students hailed from 8 different countries and 43 different states.
He came back with us beaming after finishing his program. It is his 8th performance in the last 8 weeks and he's still smiling wide and beaming with joy. This is why we encourage music for him - it brings him such joy. But he's building up quite the performance list here. Last summer, he performed with the San Fran Opera Conservatory program, the New York Lyric Opera Company and even at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic. Already this summer he had his Carnegie Hall solo, 2 performances in Korea, 4 in Japan and now check off Australia! At 17, my son has a better resume than my own!
Has anyone read this far? Promise Kyle will be back tomorrow. And we have John back to guide our cultural intake now. As we get back to the airbnb, I overheard the boys relieved we have John's planning skills back. They stay up giggling and laughing and catching up from just 72 hours without John and realize how lucky I am to have a family that enjoys each other's company.
