Bishop praises ‘vibrant faith’ of grandparents

Sydney
2 June 2002

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Bishop praises ‘vibrant faith’ of grandparents

Mrs Agnes Hanna from Armidale is pictured with her eldest child, the newly ordained Bishop of Wagga Wagga, Bishop Gerard Joseph Hanna

Monsignor Gerard Hanna paid tribute to the “vibrant faith” of his paternal grandparents and his great-grandfather at his ordination as Bishop of Wagga Wagga.

He said he had been privileged to grow up and live in a home with his grandparents, Moses and Hemamy Hanna, who arrived in Australia in 1912 (his great-grandfather migrated here in 1886).

“These people brought with them a vibrant faith that had been lived in that part of Lebanon since the sixth century,” the new bishop said.

“Their commitment in faith remained undimmed over the five decades they lived in Australia.”

Bishop Hanna has been a priest of the Armidale Diocese for 34 years and was Vicar-General at the time of his appointment as fifth Bishop of Wagga Wagga.

So a large contingent from Armidale diocese was among the congregation of more than 1000 people who attended the ordination in Joyes Hall at Charles Sturt University.

Hundreds more watched the ceremony on closed-circuit television in the nearby convention centre.

More than 100 members of the Hanna family, including the bishop’s 85-year-old mother, Agnes, travelled from Armidale for the occasion.

Thirty-three Catholic bishops - including the former Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Edward Clancy, and the former president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, Cardinal Edward Cassidy - and more than 100 priests participated in the two-hour ordination ceremony.

Archbishop Francis Carroll, Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Wagga Wagga, was chief celebrant of the Ordination Mass, assisted by the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr George Pell, and Bishop Luc Matthys of Armidale.

At the beginning of the ceremony, the Vicar-General of the Wagga Wagga diocese, Mons Michael Burgess, read the Apostolic Mandate from Pope John Paul II appointing Bishop Hanna to govern the diocese of Wagga Wagga.

Bishop Hanna succeeds Bishop William Brennan who retired earlier this year because of ill health.

In his address before the end of the ordination ceremony, Bishop Hanna said: “My word to you today is a word of hope.

“It is clear that for all our technology and for our ability to build a world that is every day more efficient, we seem incapable of securing in a stable manner the highest values of justice, peace and human dignity.

“The third millennium of the Christian era has broken and we affirm our faith and our hope in the lasting values of the Gospel.

“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Bishop Hanna paid tribute to his parents, Joseph and Agnes, who “provided a home in which our Catholic faith tradition was foremost.

“Their influence and example has a value not measured by the currency of this world,” he said.

“I venerate the memory of my father, the first anniversary of whose death occurred last February.

“I honour my mother, present with me today, and who, at 85 years, continues to lead her family by her steadfast example and a vigour which is surely God’s gift to us.

“My brothers and sisters, Robert, Maria, Phillip and Christine, together with their spouses and families, have been nothing less than zealous in their loving support given from the first moment of my journey in the priesthood.”

During the ceremony, parish priests and parish representatives of the diocese of Wagga Wagga warmly greeted their new bishop.