DEACON Clinton McGoldrick became the first Indigenous man ordained in the history of Brisbane archdiocese last Saturday.
He was ordained to the permanent diaconate at St Stephen’s Cathedral with his wife and two sons as well as many friends, fellow deacons and priests supporting him.
He said it was an amazing day and the words of Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, who ordained him, were “very moving”.
“Not just for me, but for many Indigenous people who were in the congregation,” he said.
In his homily, Archbishop Coleridge said “we are a Church in search of a new engagement with our First Nations people – something we’ve never seen before”.
“Ordaining this man who comes from our first Nations people may very well be part of what God is up to precisely at this vital point,” he said.
“It might just be that through Deacon Clint, Aboriginal man that he is, God might teach the rest of us, the Church and others, what it means to befriend and love the Indigenous peoples, the First Nations of this land.”
Deacon McGoldrick said there was a lot of need for the sacraments in Indigenous communities and wanted his ordination to be a sign of hope.
“(Becoming a deacon) is obviously a very rigorous and lengthy process and there are not too many Indigenous people who can meet the requirements and commit to that process for various reasons,” he said.
“To be somebody who has been able to successfully navigate that program, I want that to be a sign to other people to say, ‘I can do that as well’.
“Certainly there’s a lot of Indigenous Catholics in Australia and even so in Brisbane and I hope they see (ordained ministry) as a new way to express their vocation or spirituality.
“There’s a lot of need for the sacraments to be undertaken in Indigenous community, and with the good – the weddings and baptisms – there’s a lot of deaths in the Indigenous community.
“Respectfully, to have an Indigenous person perform those sacraments is quite meaningful.”
Deacon McGoldrick’s ministry would centre on army chaplaincy.
He served as a combat engineer in the army in the early 2000s before he left to teach, concluding his final stint with St Patrick’s College, Shorncliffe, this year.
“I’m very supportive of St Pat’s supporting me for my next stage in life,” he said.
Returning to the army, Deacon McGoldrick was going to be posted to First Intelligence Battalion.
He was currently the only full-time Catholic deacon in the Military Ordinariate in South East Queensland.
He said there was a deep need for chaplains in the army.
“All soldiers sacrifice their normal life,” he said, “It’s one of service but it’s one of sacrifice.”
He said soldiers could be “poor in spirit” in many ways.
Being away from family for long periods of time; young soldiers trying to learn to be adults in a life driven by chain of command; soldiers being “broken in service of their country”; people jaded by military service and wanting to return to normal life; and the nature of what the army does, Deacon McGoldrick said.
Deacon McGoldrick brought a picture of St Oscar Romero with him to his ordination.
“If I was to describe my call and my mission, it would be to use my voice on behalf of the voiceless,” he said.
