The Heart of the Bear

Yesterday (Feb 4 2025) was the feast day of the English Abbot St Gilbert of Sempringhham and founder of the Gilbertine Order in the Middle Ages. We held our third Ordinariate Mass in Dover celebrated by Father John Joseph  of the Little Eucharistic Brothers of the Divine Will. The Ordinariate Mass was celebrated at 5:15 pm at St Mary of Hope Catholic Church in Dover which is part of the parish of the Sacred Heart Parish of the Huon Valley in the far south of Tasmania.

This date is special to Brother Gilbert Joseph who took his consecrated name in honour of St Gilbert of Sempringham whose middle name was also Gilbert, before he was a consecrated brother, after his father whose first name was Gilbert.

We (Father John-Joseph and Brother Gilbert Joseph) went up to Launceston in the north of Tasmania on Saturday, where Father John-Joseph said the evening mass at one Church on Saturday evening. Then back to see the parish priest Fr Leonard who is Sri Lankan to eat dinner and have a good chat. Fr JJ stayed with him.

Then on Sunday morning Fr JJ came to pick me Br G in order to go and celebrate the Mass for the Carmelite nuns at 7.30 for Candlemass, where they renewed their vows.

King Herod in his Palace with his Nordic Princess slave girls

On Christmas Eve our parish of the Huon Valley at the Cygnet Church staged a nativity event I am calling  the Bethlehem Extravaganza where I starred as King Herod. It was a brilliant afternoon with the recreation of the village of Bethlehem and the production was bigger than Ben Hur.

This week an article about Br Stephen Joseph was in the "Catholic Standard" newspaper in Tasmania.

Just over 10 years ago Br Stephen Joseph of the Immaculate Heart came to inquire about joining us the Little Eucharistic Brothers of Divine Will as a consecrated brother -he was called Joe then. When we were doing Adoration together at St Canice's at Lower Sandy Bay during his visit I had a word of knowledge and an image of him riding shotgun over Br John Joseph and I.

For those who can't make it to Brother Stephen's funeral you can watch it on Graham Family Funerals live feed under his name of Joseph John Varga (his name before becoming a consecrated Brother). It is at 11.30 am on Friday November 6th Tasmanian Time and 8.30 am Perth time.  That is 7.30 pm Thursday evening New York time and 2.30 am Israel early Friday.

RIP Brother Stephen Joseph of the Immaculate Heart 1954-2024. Sadly Br Stephen Joseph suddenly died on November 25 at St Joseph's Hidden Place in Dover. We are thankful for God for being able to share our lives with him over the last 10 years. Such a great man and a great friend and brother. 

We are devastated but amazed at the impact he has had on so many people here in the Huon Valley and throughout Tasmania and even Western Australia among the Divine Will people.

by Brother Gilbert Joseph of the Divine Presence LEB

I entered the Catholic Church some 34 years ago in 1987, the Marian Year, when I was almost 24 years old. I entered as a practicing Jew, dressed in black trousers and a white shirt with a black waistcoat, wearing kippa and tallis katan with my tztitzits showing. I also wore a tallis gadol during the Mass in which I covered my head with it during the consecration and other solemn moments of prayer or adoration of the Divine Presence.

Photo at the RSL Club late in the event after half the people had already left

The synod on Synodality has been occurring in the month of October and the Pope surprised many by deciding to approve the final statement with his own authority rather than waiting and putting out a document months from now. I have managed to read through some of it and glance through the rest and contrary to the anti-Francis rhetoric there were no shocking or surprising aspects to the document.

We had our second St Gilbert of Sempringham Prayer Group Ordinariate Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham (September 24) here in Tasmania. This time the Mass was held at our lovely little Church in our nearby fishing village of Dover. It is called St Mary Our Hope and overlooks the Esperance Bay with its three little islands of Faith, Hope and Charity.