Sydney
10 August 2003
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Catholic MPs told to oppose same-sex ‘marriage’ moves
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Honour a ‘bolt from the blue’
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Honour a ‘bolt from the blue’
The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr George Pell, with Bill d’Apice after his investiture as a papal knight
By Marilyn Rodrigues
“It was a bolt from the blue,” says Bill d’ Apice of being honoured by the Pope as a Knight Commander in the Order of St Gregory the Great. “I had no idea.
“I’m humbled and a bit embarrassed because there are many other people deserving of an honour.”
Bill, chairman of Catholic Church Insurances, is the fourth generation of d’ Apices and the sixth member of his family to receive a papal knighthood in 150 years.
His father, Hugh, and uncle, John, also papal knights, were present at the investiture ceremony at St Mary’s Cathedral House.
Bill, 49, received the award for his many years of service to the Church, much of it voluntary, including as principal legal adviser to the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Sydney archdiocese.
His work has extended to the dioceses of Wollongong, Broken Bay and Parramatta, the Sydney archdiocesan and diocesan development funds, the Catholic Education Offices of Sydney, Parramatta and Broken Bay, plus the Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia, the Patrician Brothers, St Ignatius College, Riverview, parishes and other Church bodies.
He has been on the board of Catholic Church Insurances since 1995 and chairman since 2000, and the board of the archdiocese’s development fund.
He and his wife, Deborah, have two sons, James, 21, and Robert, 17.
Bishop Peter Ingham, Bishop of Wollongong, paid tribute to Bill at the investiture ceremony as a fine Christian family man and an example of the baptised being a leaven in society.
“Bill d’Apice belongs to a family whose service to the Church in this country over four generations has rarely been equalled and hardly surpassed,” he said.