An article from "CentreCOMM", August 1994 ...

How do I feel now The Centre is 25?
by Rev Mario Schoenmaker

Background to The Centre

The Centre, having been established in 1969, is celebrating its twenty-fifth year of existence, but my ministry dates back much further. I came to Australia in 1955 and became a missionary among the Aborigines in 1959, in a small settlement near Bunbury in Western Australia. At that time I had just married. We were living in Frankston, Victoria. I remember well the Fiat sports car I had at the time. It was the only car of its type in Australia. We put that car on the train in Adelaide and took it off at Norsman and from there drove to Perth. It was quite an experience. We were new immigrants and for us to drive through such glorious and enormous country was a real eye-opener.

From the Roelands Mission, as it was called, we were transferred to Bunbury, where we accepted a pastorate with the Presbyterian-Congregational Church. That was a funny experience, because the Congregationals were quite happy for me, an unordained minister, to give the sacraments but the Presbyterians weren't. That commission lasted for about nine months. Then I was transferred to the Victoria Park and Rivervale Congregational churches - at least these were both Congregational! Here I had to do my theological studies again and at the same time attend to two churches which in those days had two services on a Sunday, morning and evening, and all sorts of other activities during the week.

In 1969 I was ordained and Colin Read joined our church. It was through his vision and his wider and perhaps fresher view of things, because he wasn't brought up in the church, that we commenced The Centre. It was opened by the Lord Mayor of Perth. It was an exciting time, for by then we had incorporated spiritual healing and esoteric teachings into the church.

The Pure Teachings of Christ

If you ask me what I feel after twenty-five years then, in a sense, there is a certain pride that we have built up such a beautiful Centre. There is also a sense of not having achieved, but I presume that is always the case. One wants to achieve more, not for self glorification, for that doesn't worry me any more, but rather to bring the teachings of the Christ to the southern hemisphere, the real pure teachings.

There are many teachings in the world today, and the name of Christ is associated with some of them, but we have remained quite biblical, that is, our teachings are derived from the Bible. We have also instituted again the ceremonies as they were enacted in the ancient mystical temples. Of course we have modernised them, but they still retain the power that flows from the ancient mystical temples. Of course we have modernised them, but they still retain the power that flows from the ancient liturgies or mystical plays as they could also be called. So our church is quite different to any other church that we know of in that we have this liturgical element, the mystical part, but we also have a teaching component. Through the addresses given during the Sunday services, the Healing Services and Full Moon celebrations, in our Order of the Mystic Christ, in the Institute of Metaphysics and also in Psychodrama, we have brought forth the purity of the teachings of Christ.

This, of course, brings about a reaction from people. Those who are called are called and will respond. Those who are not called may respond in the beginning but eventually they will leave because they cannot take the truthfulness of such teachings. Most people are quite self-orientated and want to advance self, but our teachings are not based on an egocentric foundation. The purity of the Christ teachings are what St Paul taught to his people, that "it is not me but Christ." Therefore the ego has to be sacrificed so that Christ can reign supreme within one's being. This, of course, is very difficult, and all of us are working and striving towards this in one way or another.

Many People Blessed and Healed

I am grateful for the way many, many people have been blessed. Even after all these years I still get letters and telephone calls and I still meet people who over the years have been touched by our teachings and by the revelations they have received from us. It is heart warming to have seen so many people changed and transformed. It is great to see people with the simple faith and knowledge that they can express the Christ spirit in the world round about them.

They say that I am an extraordinary person but that is not quite true as far as I am concerned. I am motivated by the spirit of Christ, which is quite different to my own spirit. And when one is motivated and inspired by the spirit of Christ it makes on handle situations - such as occur when leading and guiding a church - quite differently. Many people have not agreed with the way I have done things, and in some ways I have always been grateful for their criticism, but looking back now and seeing the shadowy figures who directed their criticisms at me and us, the church, I can say that I am grateful that I listened first and foremost to the Christ and secondly to them.

The Inspiration of St Paul

Twenty-five years of leading and building a community of people who are Christed is not an easy task, but over these years I have found the New Testament, and especially the letters of St Paul, to be my strength and my comfort. What one has had to endure over all these years seems nothing when compared to what St Paul had to endure in order to bring about change and transformation in the different places he visited. His travelling, his meeting with other people, and most of all the criticisms and dealing with the churches who were untrue to the spiritual teachings was for him a great agony and anxiety, but in his letters one can find also the jubilation, the joy and the realisation of the task at hand.

In some way I place myself in his company. There is of course sorrow - the sorrow of losing good friends because they did not agree or wanted to do their own thing and not the thing of Christ; the sorrow of seeing people suffering unnecessarily; the sorrow of people who opposed the teachings. But there is also the joy - the joy of seeing people responding to the freemaking gospel that we preach, the joy of seeing people transformed, healed and complete. This has been the most marvellous and wonderful experience over all these years.

The True Priesthood

My love and my compassion always go towards other people. The more I can be assistance to them the more I can fulfil the priesthood which was given to me at the age of seven years. If you would ask me whether after all these years and sorrows and joys I would like to retire and lay down the mantle of the priest, then I would say no, a priest is for ever, a priest can never stop. They may perhaps take it a bit easier, but in the finality a priest is a priest, the communicator between God and man, the person who brings the human being to God in prayer and meditation, the one who agonises over the salvation, transformation and changes of another soul, the one who can give the sacraments of strength and comfort. That to me is the real priest and our church has successfully reinstated this priesthood.

Where in other churches the priesthood is somehow no longer honoured and respected and the priests themselves try to become like the people in the world, we have not done this. The priest is a person set apart for a holy task and as such must remain in that office. But we also recognise that one is always human, and in our humanity we need contact with other beings. We need to communicate on a social level, we need to enjoy ourselves and to be able to break forth in laughter. The priest must never take life so seriously that laughter and joy are absent.

The Hope of Glory

For the rest I can only say that these last twenty-five years have been source of strength to me. In spite of all the things we have experienced, and we can write books about that, there is a sense of fulfilment. I have done what Christ asked me to do. With St Paul I can say that I have fulfilled the task given. I have run the race and I am waiting for the crown.

To you who read the words I send you my blessings and hope that this year, which is our twenty-fifth anniversary but also the Year of Reconciliation, you may be reconciled within yourself, with your God, and that you may find the Christ within your being, so that of you it can be said, as it can be said of all of us: Christ in you, the hope of glory!