Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has invited clergy of his archdiocese to return to the heart of their vocation: Jesus Christ. Source: The Record.
Archbishop Costelloe addressed the archdiocese’s clergy at their annual conference, held on April 14-16.
The three-day conference, shaped by prayer and fraternity, focused on the theme, “What are we to do, brothers?” from the Actos of the Apostles.
The theme of the conference, drawn from the crowd’s response at Pentecost after hearing St Peter proclaim the risen Christ, framed the conference as a time of prayerful discernment for priests and deacons and serving the people of God across the Perth Archdiocese.
The answer to the theme of the conference, Archbishop Costelloe said, must begin with taking Jesus seriously and taking him at his word.
Study, theology and preaching preparation were necessary, he said, but they must lead to deeper encounter with Christ through prayer and contemplation.
“Then we have to gaze on the one we have come to know so much about so that through contemplative encounter he can take what we know and use it to shape and mould us into who he needs us to be,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
In later reflections, Archbishop Costelloe further developed this response through the themes of communion, unity and priestly renewal.
Describing the effect of ordination of transforming a member of clergy into a “living kind of sacrament,” Archbishop Costelloe went on to explain that any position of leadership or authority in the Church will ultimately only be effective to the extent that it is, as far as humanly possible, a faithful mirroring of Christ.
“Human weakness and fragility may be an explanation for our failure to be all that Christ is calling us to be, but they are not an excuse,” Archbishop Costelloe highlighted.
“If the prayer prayed at our ordination – may God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfilment – is not being fulfilled in your life or mine, this is our doing, not God’s,” he said.
FULL STORY
We have to know Jesus: Archbishop Costelloe tells clergy (By Jamie O’Brien, The Record)
