Homily of Archbishop

...through the processes of formation and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit these three men have been chosen to accept their special participation in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, in his ministerial priesthood. And the people of the Church will receive you, Antonio, Marcelo and Wilson with love and with high expectations.

They will want you to live up to the high ideals which have brought you here this evening. They will expect you to open up the Word of God for them, to tell them from the Words of Holy Scripture what God is saying to them, and how they too may walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

You will also celebrate the sacred mysteries for them, all the sacraments... the blessed Eucharist, when they receive the Body and the Blood of Jesus, for the forgiveness of sins and for their salvation, the food of life, and the food for their journey through life... When any individual feels like Peter in the gospel tonight, that they are about to sink, that they don’t count, that they falter, they feel that they are losing their grip on life and their power to survive, you will reach out to them as Jesus did and say ‘Courage, be of strong faith’, and you will tell them that Jesus can help them regain their poise, regain their confidence, and that they can go forward without fear.

You will also be part and parcel of the presbyterate of the Archdiocese of Perth. Yes, you have your own special calling and your own special way of formation. You are ordained for the spreading of the Gospel. You have a missionary vocation, but being ordained to the presbyterate of the Archdiocese of Perth, your brothers are your fellow priests: the priests that have come through St Charles Seminary and the priests that have come through other seminaries, here in Australia or around the world, are your brothers in the priesthood. And therefore they will expect you to be a great support to them and they to you, and I will expect that of you too, that as diocesan priests you have already promised, and will do so again tonight, obedience to your bishop, that is to me at the moment - and in God’s good time it will be to my successors, that you will be faithful...

That will set you free to do so many things for the glory of God and for the welfare of the people. So remember that you were ordained for the Church. You were ordained for all the people for whom you are confessors and friends, for whom you are the proclaimer of the good news of Jesus Christ and the Word of God, and the celebrant of the sacred mysteries...

You were ordained for today, for today’s times and conditions, and therefore you must know your people, and know what they are going through, and what their aspirations are and what difficulties and problems they face. You will be, because of your priesthood, invited to share the intimate lives of so many people that they would not share with anybody else, and it is a great privilege - and we are unworthy of this privilege that we are given - and therefore treat people with great respect as often as they share their lives with you. They will expect of you what they expect of Jesus Christ...

And when we go to the country and we talk to farmers we will see good crops... Sometimes we will see a field where the crops are not so good, where we see that weeds have grown up with the wheat, where we see that perhaps rust has entered the crop and damaged it... and they don’t develop the full head of grain and you know that that particular field has trouble. So it is with God’s harvest. You will find in certain parts of this harvest that the Evil One has done damage, that there are some who are depressed and lonely, without faith, without hope. You will find that the drug culture has captured so many young people today and damaged them and will suffocate them... You will find too that false ideals and false directions have been given to the people and they have gone in the wrong direction and have fallen by the wayside. You will know that the suicide rate in Australia is as high as any nation and that is a matter of great concern.

So you will be expected to know and to be among those people and to stand firm with them as one who loves them, one who has good news for them, as one who can lighten the darkness of their lives and lead them to full communion with Jesus, so that they can walk in the light of faith.

So many things are going to be possible to you, and God will direct your steps to be available to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, be available to the call of the people in your lives, be available to the call of the people whom you serve. And remember that you are the servants of the people and you are ordained for them.

With these high ideals now I ask God’s blessing upon you as in a few moments you will be ordained and will be ready to go out...

Extracts from the Homily

of Archbishop Barry James Hickey

ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, FRIDAY 18TH NOVEMBER 2011