Sydney Catholic Stephen Noone celebrated his birthday this year like no other – making his first profession of vows with the Order of Capuchin Friars Minor at St Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel in North Sydney. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
The July 15 milestone, also the feast of St Bonaventure, brought together a group of the 32-year old’s family, friends and fellow friars to see him profess his commitment to Christ, dressed in the order’s distinctive brown habit and sandals.
“I was pumped, I was really looking forward to it because it’s one of those things where, you can say you love someone, and I know that God loves me and I love God, but I wanted to show my commitment in a deeper way,” Br Noone OFM Cap said.
“You hear people say they are so happy to have married their best friend, and I can see a similarity in religious life, where if Jesus is our best friend, as religious we get the opportunity to demonstrate this by consecrating ourselves to Him.
One of five children, Br Noone grew up in Merrylands in western Sydney, attended St Margaret Mary’s Primary School and Parramatta Marist High School, and grew up within the ecumenical Servants of Jesus community.
He later lived in Stanmore and attended St Joseph’s Newtown for two years prior to joining the order.
The former human resources professional worked in a number of secular and Catholic environments for a few years before realising he felt “a bit empty” and began a deeper search for meaning for his life.
Returning home after a visit to Assisi, he began searching for what that “something” more with his life and faith meant. He was considering a potential career change and beginning a relationship with the possibility of marriage when a moment hit him when he was listening to a worship song.
“I had this impression on my heart of, wow, I really love Jesus, but in a way that surprised me. It felt like God was inviting me to something exclusive,” he said.
After spending his novitiate in California, Br Noone will now reside in the order’s student formation house in Hawthorn in inner Melbourne, where among other things he will assist with ministry to young adults and serve at their St Francis Table ministry in South Melbourne.
FULL STORY
Stephen Noone makes first profession as a Capuchin Franciscan friar (By Marilyn Rodrigues, The Catholic Weekly)
