Tuesday, March 19, 2024
27.7 C
Sydney

A Very Special Mass

Most read

Fr Reginald Mary OP celebrates the Campion College Matriculation Mass, his first Mass at his former college. PHOTO: Benjamin Conolly

Campion College’s first Alumnus ordained to the priesthood returned Monday 1 March to celebrate the 2021 Matriculation Mass.

2011 graduate Fr Reginald Mary OP was ordained in December 2020 and was welcomed back to the college for the annual Campion Matriculation Mass and Ceremony.

Fr Reginald concelebrated Mass with College Chaplain Fr Peter Kruk OP and Lecturer in Theology Fr Luke Holohan, to mark the start of the academic year and welcome the new cohort of Campion College Students.

Fr Reginald, currently serving as the Champlain at the University of Notre Dame Sydney, said it was his time at Campion that first gave him the desire to pursue truth that led him to find his vocation to the priesthood.

- Advertisement -

“I did a lot of growing in the three years I was here and a big part of that was taking a greater sense of responsibility for my future and asking those foundational questions,” said Fr Reginald.

“Like does God have a plan for my life and how do I go about finding that out and listening to it?

“It was only be a couple of years after Campion that I encountered the Dominican order.”
The return of the new priest has had a a significant impact on Campion’s current crop of students.
Fr Reginald Mary OP delivering his Homily at the Campion College Matriculation Mass. PHOTO: Benjamin Conolly

Third year student Sophia Shogren said it was uplifting to see someone enter the religious life who had gone through the same university experience as she is currently undergoing.

“[It’s] beautiful to see someone who while at Campion was discerning their vocation,” said Ms. Shogren.

“And then to actually see them pursue something that is so obviously countercultural in the shape of the religious life, being a priest, is very inspiring.”

Campion College President Dr Paul Morrissey said he had found the return of Fr Reginald to be a very moving occasion.

“As a catholic institution, it’s great to hear of our students entering religious life,” said Dr Morrissey. “Having our first ordained priest here was a fantastic, really moving occasion.

“I’ve got to know father Reginald very well over the years and he’s a wonderful young man and a great young priest.”

The Campion Matriculation Mass and Ceremony is celebrated annually at the start of each academic year to welcome new students to the College’s Liberal Arts education.

Dr Morrissey said that he hoped that commencing students would appreciate the Matriculation ceremony and allow it to give physical sense to what they were going to live in their mind over the next few years.
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -