Today St Mary Magdalene's is a thriving inner city church, catering for a congregation who come from far and wide to support the ministry of the parish, and participate in its worship.
St Mary Magdalene's offers worshippers a choice of liturgical styles in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. There are opportunities for worship using both traditional and modern liturgies throughout the week. In accord with current Anglican practice in Australia and in many other parts of the world, the Revised Common Lectionary is used for all liturgies. Worship in the catholic tradition is carefully and respectfully ordered, and this is a particular characteristic of services at St Mary Magdalene's.
St Mary Magdalene's joins annually with other city churches for the blessing of palms at St Francis Xavier Cathedral and the palm procession to our respective churches.
From the time of its foundation at Moore Street, St Mary Magdalene's has had a catholic focus, both theologically and liturgically, and the first service in the Church after its Dedication (by the Primate) was a celebration of the eucharist by the Bishop's Chaplain. The vestry record books reflect a strong catholic liturgical life, with regular and ultimately daily celebrations of the Eucharist, and the regular offering of services such as the Stations of the Cross, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament (often described in the accepted code as "Devotions") which were characteristic of the catholic branch of Anglicanism.
The parish has a series of photographs taken during the incumbency in the 1940s of Fr Percy Ferris showing 'English Use' vesture and movement at High Mass (famously promoted by Percy Dearmer in his liturgical manual The Parson's Handbook), though from the time of Fr Howell Witt in the 1950s, a more resolutely 'Roman' position was adopted, with The English Missal (one of two translations of the latin Tridentine rite popular with anglo-catholics) and Ritual Notes (a liturgical directory) taking pride of place on the vestry bookshelf. The occasional visits by the incumbent or parishioners to England always included a visit to Wippells, Watts, or Knott and Co to buy vestments, and the parish had a current account at Pellegrini's to ensure the ready availability of liturgical impedimenta for every occasion.
It is wrong, however, to assume that the worship at St Mary Magdalene's is as it has 'always been', or that it belongs to one unaltered 'Anglo-catholic' tradition. Far from it! Influenced by its Roman Catholic neighbours, St Mary Magdalene's was one of the first Anglican churches in Adelaide to embrace liturgical reform, and the parish used the Roman rite in its 1969 and 1975 English translations until the early 1980s, when it reverted to the use of The English Missal. Contemporary worship was reintroduced in 1992, and since then the round of daily worship includes both traditional and contemporary forms in the course of the week.
Contemporary masses are structured according to the provisions of the Holy Communion Second Order in A Prayer Book for Australia and draw on a wide range of liturgical sources in expressing the parish's catholic focus. Sunday worship offers a variety of forms of worship, including a Roman Rite Vigil Mass on Saturday evening, the Sunday 9 am Sung Mass at which particular attention is paid to the inclusion and participation of children, the 10.30 am Solemn Mass, which has a formal ritual and musical tradition and is offered as a High Mass with Deacon and Subdeacon on Principal Holy Days, and the 6.30 pm Mass for Justice which is informal and meditative in character.
The traditional rite used at St Mary Magdalene's is based on The English Missal and the 'Proposed' 1928 Book of Common Prayer. This rite is used for several daily masses during the week, and in keeping with the value placed at St Mary Magdalene's on its traditional liturgical heritage, traditional masses are sung on a number of occasions during the year, particularly All Souls' Day, when High Mass is offered, complete with elaborate ceremonial in the western tradition. The occasions for traditional worship are advertised in the parish calendar and on the News page.
Special occasions for traditional worship in 2011 include:
