RACING the clock to beat Queensland’s latest COVID-19 lockdown, four new priests were ordained in Brisbane’s St Stephen’s Cathedral yesterday.
Three of the four new priests, Fr Francis Fernandes, Fr Jack Ho and Fr William Aupito Iuliano, were ordained for the Brisbane Archdiocese.
The fourth priest, Fr Luke Bulley, was ordained for the Passionist Order.
As Fr Bulley had spent formative years in Brisbane, and had been a peer of the other three priests early in their discernment process, it was fitting all four were ordained together.
Originally scheduled for 7pm on the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul (June 29), the Ordination was brought forward by three and one-half hours, finishing 20 minutes ahead of the mandated lockdown at 6pm.
There was an added minor hitch when the cathedral lights went out briefly during the liturgy.
Ordaining bishop and principal celebrant Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge captured the mood of COVID-19 uncertainty as he delivered the homily.
“Neither Peter nor Paul knew what they were in for when they said yes to the call of Christ. Neither do William, Jack, Luke and Francis. Neither did I; neither did you. We all sign a blank cheque,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
“Peter and Paul may have had twinges of nostalgia for the world they’d left behind, but they persevere to the end for two reasons.
“First, they had an unshakeable sense of a call that had come to them very directly and personally from Jesus.
“For Peter, the call came at Caesarea Philippi and was confirmed on the shore of the Lake. For Paul the call came on the road to Damascus.
“Secondly, both men came to see that, in their experience of suffering, they were actually living the Paschal Mystery.”
Like Peter and Paul, Archbishop Coleridge said each candidate had been called directly and personally by Jesus, and he urged them never to lose hold of that sense of call.
“They too will have to reproduce the pattern of the Lord’s death, to show forth the Paschal mystery in their life, allowing their weakness to become strength, their defeats to become triumphs,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
“For this to happen they too will need to be rescued, again and again, by a power not their own.
“They will have to be rescued from a life half-lived. A life small, safe and comfortable perhaps, but only half-lived.
“There is always a risk that we can say ‘yes’ to the Lord but never really leave home; preferring to stay in our own comfort zone, our own little world, rather than set out boldly on the path the Lord opens before us. The path into the vast world of Easter.
“If these four men, our brothers, allow Jesus Christ to rescue them in this way they will certainly shed blood.
“But at journey’s end, at the end of a wonderfully surprising and fulfilling life as a priest, each of them will say with St Peter: ‘now I know that it’s all true; the Lord really did send His angel to rescue me’, and with St Paul: ‘the Lord has rescued me from the Lion’s mouth, from all evil attempts on me, and has brought me safely to His heavenly kingdom.’”
Fr Fernandes has been appointed to the Cathedral parish. His Mass of Thanksgiving will be celebrated at 8am on Sunday, July 4 at in St Catherine’s Church at Moggill.
Fr Ho has been has been appointed to the Burleigh Heads parish. His Mass of Thanksgiving will be celebrated at 10am on Saturday, July 3 in St Mary’s Church at Ipswich.
Fr Aupito Iuliano was serving at Gympie parish before ordination and will retain that appointment. His Mass of Thanksgiving was planned for celebration on Friday, July 2 in Our Lady Help of Christians Parish at Narre Warren in Victoria.
Fr Bulley was serving at St Paul Apostle in Endeavour Hills, Victoria before ordination and will retain that appointment. His Mass of Thanksgiving will be celebrated at 4pm on Saturday, July 3 at St Mary’s Retreat “The Fort” in Oxley.
