Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Brisbane Oratory ordains first man in pre-Christmas milestone

byJoe Higgins
7 January 2021
Reading Time: 4 mins read
AA

Ordination joy: Fr Andrew Wise, Fr Scot Armstrong, Deacon Conor Power, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Deacon Adam Walk, Fr Adrian Sharp and Br Tyson King.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Ordination joy: Fr Andrew Wise, Fr Scot Armstrong, Deacon Conor Power, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Deacon Adam Walk, Fr Adrian Sharp and Br Tyson King.

DEACON Conor Power has become the first man ordained for the Brisbane Oratory since it was established in 2015.

He said passing the historic milestone was a sign to the Oratory community and to the broader parish community that “we really are committed to our parish and to the people of Brisbane”.

Deacon Power was ordained to the transitional diaconate at a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Mark Coleridge at Mary Immaculate Church, Annerley, on December 21.

“It’s a great joy for us to reach this milestone of our first ordination,” Brisbane Oratory moderator Fr Adrian Sharp said.

“It’s been great for our parishioners, too, who have been journeying with him since he joined us in 2015, and some longer than that since they’ve known him since his childhood, since he is a local of Brisbane.

“We look forward to his priestly ordination, hopefully in the latter half of this year.”

Deacon Power said his ordination was a “beautiful Mass” and a “spectacular day”.

Despite limits placed on attendance because of COVID-19 restrictions, Deacon Power still managed to invite 42 family members to the Mass as well as some close friends and community members.

Two moments especially stuck with him from the day.

“I think when you’re lying face down on the floor of the sanctuary and the Litany of the Saints is being chanted from the choir loft and you can hear everyone in the pews responding along …, and the archbishop is sitting there as well, it kind of crystallises the moment and makes it abundantly clear what you’re asking of the Church and what you’re asking of the archbishop and the beauty of what’s happening as well,” Deacon Power said.

Related Stories

Bishops prepare to elect new Conference president

Fr Neil Muir installed as Holy Spirit Seminary rector

Missionary priest Tim Norton ordained new auxiliary bishop for Brisbane

“And just the joy of the people at the end afterwards when we were at the front (of the church),” he said.

“Face after face, smile after smile, it was incredibly encouraging and if you weren’t already enthusiastic you would have been by the end.”

Being ordained four days before the Feast of the Nativity forced out that enthusiasm too as Deacon Power preached three homilies in less than 24 hours over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

“Three homilies for Christmas; it was a bit of a baptism by fire,” he said with a laugh.

“I’m a relatively comfortable public speaker, I’ve done public speaking in jobs prior to following my vocation and it was never an issue but it’s amazing, just the difference when you’re up in front of the people in the pulpit at the lectern,” he said.

“When you actually believe this is the Word of God, it takes on a whole new level; it’s not just some frivolous or meaningless negotiation of something, this is the actual Word of God that you’re trying to help people come closer to and understand better.”

Deacon Power joined the Oratory in 2015 and studied in Toronto and in Rome before he returned to Brisbane in 2019.

He lauded his formators across the world and at home, saying they “give of themselves 100 per cent”.

“Their energy, their enthusiasm and their giving of their time really can’t be matched,” he said.

He said his goals for his diaconate were to fulfil the promises he made before Archbishop Coleridge and to assist the priests with weddings, baptisms and funerals.

Deacon Power had also been named chaplain of the Frassati community, ministering to the men there who were starting out as young professionals or studying.

To any young men who were considering a vocation to the priesthood, Deacon Power said “don’t hold back”.

“Be willing to dare and don’t be afraid to respond because even if you go in for a year and you come out, it won’t be a year wasted – you’ll have learned so much about yourself and come out a better man for it and a more capable person as a result as well,” he said.

Deacon Power said he was grateful to all the “kindness and the assurance of prayers I’ve received from such a wide range of people”.

“It’s just been impossible to keep track of everyone, but I’m really just very appreciative of that, it’s very reassuring and comforting for me.”

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Brisbane Catholics look back on the highs and lows of the 2011 floods

Next Post

Canossian Sisters transfer aged care works to Ozcare

Joe Higgins

Related Posts

Australia’s historic Plenary Council gathering that could reshape the Church
News

Bishops prepare to elect new Conference president

3 May 2022
Fr Neil Muir installed as Holy Spirit Seminary rector
QLD

Fr Neil Muir installed as Holy Spirit Seminary rector

8 March 2022
Missionary priest Tim Norton ordained new auxiliary bishop for Brisbane
News

Missionary priest Tim Norton ordained new auxiliary bishop for Brisbane

22 February 2022 - Updated on 28 February 2022
Next Post

Canossian Sisters transfer aged care works to Ozcare

People with low income face stress in the private rental market

Greater Brisbane plunged into three-day lockdown to stop spread of UK COVID variant

New deacon sees Scripture differently since ministering in 'salad bowl of Brisbane'

Popular News

  • From a humble start Albanese is sworn in as new prime minister

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • US bishops applaud San Francisco prelates pastoral response to Pelosi’s decades of abortion advocacy

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”
News

Archbishop calls for prayers in “troubled times”

by Mark Bowling
24 May 2022
0

BRISBANE Archbishop Mark Coleridge has used the feast day of Our Lady, Help of Christians to call...

Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village

US bishops applaud San Francisco prelates pastoral response to Pelosi’s decades of abortion advocacy

24 May 2022
Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village

Myanmar military burns houses, destroys a village

24 May 2022
Life ‘is always sacred and inviolable’, Pope Francis says

Life ‘is always sacred and inviolable’, Pope Francis says

23 May 2022

From a humble start Albanese is sworn in as new prime minister

23 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping