Priest has rite stuff for parish with divine view

[rug]

Going with the floe ... the only Catholic priest in Antarctica, Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, who will be conducting midnight mass.

LEESHA MCKENNY
24 Dec, 2011 03:00 AM

MONSIGNOR Stephen Rossetti will conduct midnight Mass tonight with his sunglasses on.

The glasses come with the territory. Monsignor Rossetti is the lone Catholic priest in Antarctica - surely one of the world's largest parishes. ''Antarctica is unique. It's like going to the moon,'' he said. ''It has a stark, bleak beauty to it.''

Such is the lot of those tasked with ministering to the spiritual needs of about 1600 at the constantly sunlit bottom of the world this holiday season - a job he likened to being in a chaplain in a war zone, except it was the environment ''constantly trying to kill you''.

''Things are stripped down to the basics here, so we don't worry too much about 'trimmings','' the 60-year-old from Washington said. ''Our Christmas choir has been practising and if they lack anything, they make it up in heart and dedication.''

http://www.dungogchronicle.com.au/news/national/national/general/priest-has-rite-stuff-for-parish-with-divine-view/2403271.aspx

[laconicsax]

1. I never knew that Antarctica has a substantial Catholic population.

[rug]

2. I never knew it was a parish.

"The Only Priest in Antarctica"

That should be a title of something.

[laconicsax]

3. Apparently there's been a Russian Orthodox Church for a few years. n/t

[moobu2]

5. Christians have a bunch of churches there

not sure how many, maybe 15 or so, but this Russian Orthodox church is the best looking I think. It was built in Russia dismantled, shipped to Antarctica and reassembled.

[cleanhippie]

4. I thought there was an international agreement not to pollute that continent.

So much for that idea, I guess.