THE rise of terrorism in the world, the challenge of child sexual abuse in the Church, and the importance of marriage are among topics covered in a Vatican Radio interview with Sydney’s Archbishop-elect Anthony Fisher.
The interview was aired after Pope Francis’ September 18 announcement that the Bishop of Parramatta would be the ninth Archbishop of Sydney.
Bishop Fisher succeeds Cardinal George Pell who has transferred to the Vatican to be prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.
Vatican Radio said it had only been a week since Bishop Fisher, 54, received a visit from apostolic nuncio Archbishop Paul Gallagher who informed him that the Pope was appointing him to lead the nations’ “Mother Church”, the Archdiocese of Sydney.
Bishop Fisher told Vatican Radio he still “hasn’t got over the shock”.
“As a boy, as a young man at university I used to go to Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral … and I never would have dreamed that I would be on the other side of the altar one day, there at the cathedral.”
Vatican Radio described Sydney as the most culturally diverse of its cities.
It referred to “the issue of co-existence” arising on September 18 after “counter terrorism police raided dozens of homes and detained 15 suspects, sparking angry protests from Sydney’s Muslim community”.
“I think it’s a time that we need to hear the loving wisdom of Christ and his Church about peace and restraint on people’s anger and vengefulness,” Bishop Fisher said. “The Catholic Church knows better than any institution in the world that people of different backgrounds can live together and love together … and I very much hope that Sydney can re-learn that right now”.
In the light of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Bishop Fisher was asked for a comment sexual abuse in the Church.
Bishop Fisher said he was well aware of the challenges ahead and that his aspiration for his episcopal ministry was perhaps best explained by his chosen motto: “Veritatem facientes in caritate” “Speaking the truth in love”.
“I think we have a wonderful treasure in the Catholic Church and what it teaches us that we should pass on to people, but we should always do that with mercy, with love – as Pope Francis keeps telling us,” he said.
Vatican Radio said Bishop Fisher was looking toward the upcoming October extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family with intense interest, even though he would not be attending.
“In many parts of the West, there is a crisis of confidence in marriage and family,” he said. “People think it’s too hard, they are reluctant to even attempt marriage. They have seen too many fail, it seems that the commitment required the self-sacrifice required is too much in an age where getting our own way and being personally fulfilled is everything.
“I think one of the things the synod can – and I really hope will – do for us is help restore some confidence in the beauty of marriage – in the way it reveals to all of us very important things about the human person and human condition such as self-sacrifice, commitment and reconciliation.
“It may not make headlines, but that’s what I’m looking for. I think the world needs desperately to learn how to love again, and how to live love in that wonderfully committed way that marriage is, or should be.”
