Christmas Eve Mass at Regina Mundi

Christmas is BIG with my people and celebrating Mass on Christmas Eve is a BIG part of it. As our holiday plans started to take shape, we began to think about where we should celebrate this, our first Christmas Eve Mass in South Africa.

the creche in St. Patrick's Cathedral

When Vince and I were first married, my family celebrated Christmas Eve Midnight Mass in the church where Vince and I were wed, St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. We would go to an early dinner in the city, see a Broadway musical, and then walk over to Fifth Avenue and get in the queue for Midnight Mass. Cue the light atmospheric snowfall.




  
 
After our sons were born - and baptized at St. Patrick's Cathedral - we moved to Westfield, NJ and joined our first local parish there. St. Helen's became our Christmas Eve home for many years. Vince sang and played guitar in the Music Ministry. I was a Eucharistic Minister. 

We both taught Sunday School. Vince and Ed Ruhno taught our son Alex's and Ed's son Mike's class. Joy Urbanski and I taught our son Nick's and Joy's son Mike's class and we did it next door to each other at St. Helen's Parish Center. The boys took part in the Nativity play every year and the 3:45 Children's Christmas Eve Mass became our annual routine.

  

Once our boys grew up and the Children's Mass at St. Helen's was no longer age-appropriate, we started a new tradition. We would go down the shore to our beach house and cook a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner of seven fishes there by the sea. But first we would celebrate Christmas Eve Mass in the home of our friends, the D'Alessandro's on the beach in Mantoloking, NJ. Mass was said in their generously sized living room in front of a wall of picture windows overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Vince was Music Minister again and I served Communion along with my friend, Carolyn and her brother Chris D'Alessandro and whoever else was a Eucharistic Minister in the house that year. Father Kevin, a retired priest friend of the D'Alessandro's, said Mass. The D'Alessandro grandchildren did the readings and brought up the gifts of bread and wine for consecration. The house was usually filled with dozens and dozens of neighbors and friends. Maybe 100 people or so. It was magical!
 

with Carolyn in front of the huge center hall tree

It felt a lot like what I imagine the first Masses must have felt like for the early Christians. Simple, spiritual and said in someone's home. Our sons would usually wait go to Midnight Mass back at St. Helen's which is a tradition they always enjoyed. Most of the time Vince would go with them for a second Christmas Eve Mass and I would stay at home and finish my last minute gift wrapping!



 
Last year - our last Christmas Eve in the USA - we could not celebrate Mass with the D'Alessandro's in their Mantoloking beach house. The Jersey Shore had been hit hard by Hurricane Sandy just months before and Mantoloking in particular was devastated by the super storm. The town was pretty much shut down for Christmas. There were not even essential services like electricity and water in much of the town. We were very sad. 

Cast adrift, we opted to celebrate Christmas Eve Mass instead back in old New York at St. Patrick's Cathedral. In a way, it was like coming full circle on our Christmas Eve Mass celebrations. (Mantoloking by the way is well on its way to a total recovery and will be even better than ever!)

Here in Johannesburg, we usually attend Sunday Mass at either one of two local Roman Catholic Churches. Our Lady of Lourdes in Rivonia or The Church of the Immaculate Conception in Rosebank. But on a recent tour of Soweto, we saw the church that would be the site of our first Christmas Eve Mass in South Africa, Regina Mundi.

Regina Mundi is the largest Roman Catholic Church in South Africa. Located in Moroka in Soweto, the Church first wrote its name in South Africa's history books during Apartheid, when it opened its doors to anti-apartheid groups and provided shelter to activists.

During the June 16, 1976 student uprisings, protesting students fled to Regina Mundi from Orlando Stadium to escape the police's bullets and teargas canisters.

bullet hole disguised as a flower

The police followed the students into the church, firing live ammunition and damaging the marble altar and crucifix. Bullet holes are still visible in the church ceiling. And broken marble on the entry floors and the damaged statue of Jesus Christ in the foyer provide tangible evidence of the violence of these police raids and the ensuring rush to evacuate the building.

the damaged statue

Due to the role it played as a place of gathering for the people of Soweto in the years before, during, and after the anti-apartheid struggle, it is often referred to as "the people's church" or "the people's cathedral". From 1995 to 1998, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu presided over the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings at Regina Mundi.

a tribute to Nelson Mandela

Later, in 1997, Nelson Mandela established 30 November as "Regina Mundi Day" to honour the church.

We simply could not think of a better place to celebrate our first Christmas Mass in a South Africa. Full stop. The Mass was long. Three hours long in fact. And it was mostly in Zulu. We had been to a Zulu Mass in Rosebank before so we sort of knew what to expect. Lots of  music, lots of dancing, lots of spirit. But the choir music sung in this acoustically superior cathedral was unbelievably beautiful and the spirituality in the room was palpable.




At one point as the choir and congregants were parading and dancing up the long center aisle to bring up the gifts, we saw the most amazing scene unfold in the Sanctuary. A little boy - a toddler really - broke away from his parents and slowly climbed the 15 steps up to the Altar where Father Sebastian was standing up top before descending to accept the gifts. The little toddler handed the priest his security blanket.

Father Sebastian accepted it graciously, blessed the little boy, and put the blanket on the stool next to him. He was like the Little Drummer Boy giving his prized possession to the baby Jesus, the newborn King. Adorable!

our Christmas card from Regina Mundi

After Mass all the visitors were asked to stand up and introduce themselves to the congregation! Good thing we didn't skip out on the Recessional. Everyone turned, looked at us and waited for us to stand. Clearly everyone had noticed us. I believe we may have been the only white people in the place! We were not the only visitors though. People were there from all over Africa. Zimbabwe. Nigeria. Ghana. This was "Africa's church" too.

We were rewarded with a Christmas Card from Father Sebastian and Regina Mundi. I will cherish it and the memory always.