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Cardinal’s call over "Catholic priorities"
Five ordained in ‘historic moment for archdiocese’
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| 29 May, 2011 |
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| ‘HISTORIC’: The five ordinands lay prostrate before the altar during the chanting of the Litany of the Saints ahead of their ordination in St Mary’s Cathedral last week. Photos: Kerry Myers |
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WHEN there are no vocations of any type for decades we need to examine the priorities of the Catholic community itself, said the Archbishop of Sydney, George Cardinal Pell.
“Some Catholic communities unfortunately are not life giving,” said the cardinal in his homily as five young men were ordained to the priesthood in an “historic celebration for the Church” at St Mary’s Cathedral last Saturday.
“Some Catholic communities can be contraceptive, even while Catholic life seems on the surface to continue vigorously.
“This phenomenon of different growth rates deserves examination and discussion, although focusing energies on the promotion of faith, on encouraging the recognition and love of
Jesus as the son of God as well as the son of Mary (‘I am in the Father and the Father is in me’), on regular prayer, Catholic orthodoxy, and an explicit and regular explanation to young people of the need of priests and Catholic leadership and service in many areas is essential; and sometimes missing or obscured.”
The new priests are Simon Apablaza, 29 (Chile), and Luca Infantino, 31 (Italy) – the first two candidates to be ordained from the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Sydney (Neo-Catechumenal Way) – and Emmanuel Seo, 34, Peter Kwak, 30, and Gregory Morgan, 24, from the Good Shepherd Seminary, Homebush.
Cardinal Pell said these ordinations are “significant for the history of the archdiocese
of Sydney, because for the first time we have vocations from three life-giving Catholic communities, very different one from the other, but united in serious faith and Catholic loyalty”.
“I refer, of course, to the Sydney Catholic Korean community, the Neo-Catechumenal Way and the Pared (Parents for Education) Schools, inspired by the Opus Dei movement.”
The cardinal said whatever the other changes in society, which are often difficult to interpret, we can be sure God is calling enough men to be priests, although many might not be able to “hear the call because they are tuned in on different wavelengths or because they find too much static on the line”.
“Every priestly vocation is a mystery, a mystery where the grace of God, personal
freedom, family and community interact under Divine providence,” he said.
"Church history has seen many changes; groups have come, grown strong, withered and sometimes disappeared or continued at a reduced level.
“We have seen groups of widows, hermits, monks, friars, religious orders; the so-called new movements follow these patterns in different ways. But the sacrament of baptism has
always been the foundation as Christian life is lived out in local communities served
and led by priests.”
He added: “Unless a goodly number of young men and women step forward to lead and serve we will not be able to retain the wonderful strengths we have, much less develop them further for the glory of God.
“We thank God for the fact that these five young men have answered the call and we pray that the wonderful promise of this morning is translated into many years of prayer, service and effective leadership.”
Cardinal Pell was the ordaining prelate with concelebrants including bishops and priests of the archdiocese and visiting bishops and priests.
Fr Eric Skruzny, who is rector of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, said the ordination had a “wonderful sense of unity” about it. “For us at Redemptoris Mater, it was an historic
occasion,” he said.
Good Shepherd Seminary rector Fr Tony Percy said the ordinations were “a good sign of unity”.
Fr Simon has been posted to Earlwood, Fr Luca to Panania, where he has been on placement as a deacon, Fr Emmanuel and Fr Gregory to Liverpool, and Fr Peter to Berala.
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