New Perth Auxiliary Bishop Nelson Po was encouraged to “feed the Lord’s lambs – look after His sheep,” during his episcopal ordination at St Mary’s Cathedral yesterday. Source: The Record.
More than 1200 people gathered for the historic occasion, which was led by principal consecrator Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, co-consecrators Perth Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton and new Sandhurst Bishop Rene Ramirez RCJ, in addition to Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Charles Balvo and 19 bishops from across Australia.
Another 3000 people watched the historic occasion via livestream, including the new bishop’s mother in the Philippines.
Archbishop Costelloe said it is through the powerful presence of God’s Spirit, acting through the sacrament of Holy Orders, that Bishop Po, 57, will be not just commissioned but enabled to be all that the Lord and his Church requires of him, as a bishop, a successor of the apostles, in this diocese and in the Church.
“In handing the crozier, the shepherd’s staff, to our new bishop tonight, we are reminding him, or rather the Church is reminding him, that through the grace of this sacrament of God’s provident love, he will be remoulded, reshaped, into a living image of the presence of our one true Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, among his people,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
“Our new bishop, already called to this through his baptism and his diaconal and priestly ordination, is now in a new and deeper way called to embody “God’s style” in every word he speaks, in every encounter he has, really in every breath he takes,” he said.
“You don’t have to be perfect to be a bishop. You just have to be someone who is determined to keep trying, day after day.”
Bishop Po’s ordination to the Order of Bishop is a first for Perth Archdiocese since Bishop Sproxton was ordained in 2002. The last Episcopal Ordination in Perth prior to that was for Bishop Robert Healy in December 1975.
In his message of thanks, Bishop Po highlighted that the plan of God never ceases to amaze him, “always with love, care and mercy.”
“I am very honoured by the trust Pope Leo XIV has placed in me and also very humbled in saying yes, in the same way the Virgin Mary did in becoming the Mother of Christ,” Bishop Po said.
FULL STORY
New Perth Auxiliary Bishop encouraged to feed the Lord’s lambs, look after his sheep (By Jamie O’Brien and Phil Bayne, The Record)
