Redemptoris Mater Seminary 30th Anniversary

ARCHDIOCESAN MISSIONARY SEMINARY REDEMPTORIS MATER PERTH

30TH ANNIVERSARY 1994 - 2024

Message from Archbishop Costelloe SDB On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary it is right that we should acknowledge and thank all those who have been a part of the life and mission of the seminary over these thirty years. In particular I would like to thank the current rector, Fr Michael Moore SM and the current vice-rector, Fr Josue Que Moran and all those who have contributed to the work of formation of our young seminarians.

I acknowlege, too, the invaluable contribution of Mr and Mrs Toto and Rita Piccolo and Fr Tony Trafford, National Responsibles for the Neocatechumenal Way in Australia, for their commitment to the seminary since its foundation.

The decision to establish the Redemptoris Mater Seminary was taken by Archbishop Hickey in 1994, and the fruits of that decision continue to flourish in the Archdiocese and beyond. Many men from all around the world have been formed for the missionary priesthood at Redemptoris Mater with the first priestly ordinations taking place in 1997.

As well as serving the many needs of the people of God in our Archdiocese, the priests ordained from Redemptoris Mater are also to be found ministering in other parts of Australia and beyond. The whole world and the whole Church, including our own Archdiocese, are in need of priests with a missionary heart. The aim of the Redemptoris Mater seminary is to form such priests, preparing them to be, in imitation of Jesus Christ the one priest, living images of the Good Shepherd and true signs and bearers of God’s love and mercy.

Through his call for a truly synodal Church which is characterised by communion, participation and mission, Pope Francis has indicted the path which the Lord is calling the whole Church to follow at this time in our history. I am confident that, through the grace of God and the ongoing support of the many people who accompany the work of the seminary, Redemptoris Mater will continue to be a source of priestly and missionary vitality for the Archdiocese of Perth and beyond.

As we celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the foundation of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary here in Perth, let us continue to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest (cf Matthew 9:37-38). Let us pray, too, that the seminary will continue to guide and shape our young seminarians so that they truly reflect the mind and heart of the Lord Jesus who came “not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

And finally, let us entrust the life and mission of the seminary to Mary, the Mother of the Church and Help of Christians, who continues to say to all of us, and she once said to the stewards at the wedding feast in Cana, “do whatever he (Jesus) tells you to do” (John2:5).

Message from Bishop Sproxton It is with immense joy that I extend my congratulations to Redemptoris Mater Seminary on the special occasion of the 30th anniversary since its inauguration.

This milestone is a testament to the determination, faith and service of all who have served at the Seminary since 1994, particularly the Rector Fr Michael Moore SM, former Vice Rector Fr Eric Skruzny, former spiritual director Fr Nicholas Falzun OP, the foundation seminarians, as well as the multitude of benefactors and volunteers.

I extend my congratulations and thanks to the National Catechists of the Neocatechumenal Way, Mr and Mrs Toto and Rita Piccolo, Fr Tony Trafford and the numerous seminarians and itinerants that have given their life to the formation of the seminary and the seminarians, guided by Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Thirty years ago, a vision was brought to life, a vision to establish a place where men from all over the world could be nurtured in their faith, through their formation, spiritually, intellectually, humanly and pastorally and so prepared to serve God and His people with dedication and compassion.

As I look back on the journey we have travelled, I am filled with awe and gratitude for the countless blessings and accomplishments that have marked the development of the seminary, the construction of the buildings, the ordination of the seminarians, their ministry, the generosity of the benefactors and most of all the many gifts that God has allowed to flow through our Archdiocese. The contributions, whether through prayer, financial or active involvement, have been instrumental in sustaining and advancing the mission of the Seminary. We thank you for believing in that mission and generously supporting this sacred work.

Our Archdiocese has been blessed to have the service of Fr Michael Moore as Rector, who has guided the many men, each with their own unique story and calling, as they passed through the doors of Redemptoris Mater Seminary.

Fr Michael’s wisdom, generosity of spirit and courage has been nothing short of a work of the Holy Spirit, giving the Seminary a rich spiritual life and creating a vibrant community, a Seminary that has Christ at its core.

In reflecting on this anniversary, I remember that our Catholic faith teaches us that we have been set apart, not to be elite, but to be a community that belongs to God. The Seminary is called to present God in a unique way to the world.

It is a community that forms men for missions in the Archdiocese of Perth and other dioceses.

Our ordained priests and seminarians deserve special recognition. They are the heart of the Seminary, bringing energy, enthusiasm, and a thirst for knowledge. Their willingness to dedicate their lives to the service of God and the Church is both inspiring and humbling. We celebrate their openness to the will of God and look forward to the many ways they will continue to shape the future of the Church in Perth.

In the spirit of celebration, let us give thanks to God for His abundant blessings over the past 30 years. Let us pray for His continued guidance and grace as we embark on the next chapter of our journey. With faith as our foundation and the Holy Spirit as our guide, we look forward to the future with hope and anticipation, confident that God will continue to work through us to accomplish His purposes. Thank you for being a part of this incredible journey.

Message from Rev Fr Michael Moore sm

Dear Friends It is with great emotion and humility that I write this letter on the 30th Anniversary of the Canonical Erection of Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary of Perth. This occurred at St Mary’s Cathedral on the evening of the Vigil of the Feast of the Assumption in the presence of our beloved Archbishop Emeritus, the Most Rev Barry James Hickey, the then Itinerant Team of the Neocatechumenal for Oceania, Toto and Rita Piccolo and Fr Vicente; the first Vice Rector, Fr Eric Skruzny, the first group of 22 seminarians, the brothers and sisters of the Way and many faithful of Perth.

I have witnessed the Providence of the Father who has provided a multitude of seminarians from 19 countries; formators; the Catholic University of Notre Dame; a home for the seminary at the former Carmel hospital, builders and new buildings; food on the table and many people who have befriended the seminary. What is written in the Book of Deuteronomy has been fulfilled: “in all those years that I (Yahweh) led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.”

Today all of us, filled with wonder and awe, reap and enjoy the fruits of a small seed sown, in one of the most isolated cities of the world, on the night of 15 August 1994. How can we not thank the Lord for the 44 priests and three deacons ordained who are labouring in the vineyard of the Lord, giving freely what they have received freely?

They are scattered throughout the world in Costa Rica, Ireland, Papua New Guinea and South Africa; in Australia in the Dioceses of Broome, Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne and Sydney and in many parishes of the Archdiocese of Perth.

In these 30 years I have had the privilege to see this seminary appear out of nothing. I express our gratitude to Mr Kiko Arguello and Ms Carmen Hernandez who together with Fr Mario Pezzi are the International Team of Neocatechumenal Way, whose inspiration made this seminary possible. To Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey who requested the seminary; to the Most Rev Timothy Costelloe SDB, current Archbishop of Perth who supports the seminary in the Archdiocese and in its mission internationality; the Team responsible for the Neocatechumenal Way in Oceania and you who generously assist us day by day, week by week for the last 30 years.

I ask everyone to continue to pray for the seminary, so that we, as the Blessed Virgin Mary, may always be faithful and obedient to the Father.

With gratitude Fr Michael Moore SM Rector

30th anniversary: An occasion to bless the Lord for his amazing works In 1977 we were sent by Kiko and Carmen, the Initiators of the Neocatechumenal Way, from Rome to open the Neocatechumenal Way in Australia. After forming a few communities through the announcement of the Gospel in Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin and Brisbane, we were invited by a Dominican priest, Fr Nicholas Falzun OP, to open the Way in Perth – with the blessing of Archbishop Foley in 1985. This was the year in which St John Paul II welcomed a proposal of Kiko, Carmen and Fr Mario, the initiators of the Way, to send mission families to difficult parts of the world.

Three years later, the Holy Father opened the first Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Rome, to form presbyters from the vocations arising from the Neocatechumenal Way, so that they might accompany and help the mission families in the New Evangelisation.

Two such families were sent to Perth by the Pope in December 1988.

In 1990, the then Bishop of Geraldton, Most Rev Barry Hickey, invited us to present to him our experience of the Neocatechumenal Way. He had been told by the Holy Father of the fruits of this charism, and how families were helped in their life. In the meantime, he was nominated Archbishop of Perth. On the occasion of our visit to him in Perth, he asked to hear the content of our preaching. When Rita announced the kerygma to him, he was satisfied, and asked about the new Redemptoris Mater Seminaries recently opened in Rome, London, Warsaw and Newark.

The Archbishop immediately asked if it would be possible to send some seminarians to Rome. We told him that it was possible, but that if he wished he could have a Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Perth. On 15 August 1992, during a pilgrimage for young people to the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in New South Wales, we asked the Virgin Mary for the grace to open a seminary in Australia. On our return home we discovered that exactly during the sung Rosary the Archbishop had called asking for a Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary in Perth.

Thus the Seminary commenced in 1992. The University of Notre Dame grasped the opportunity to open a faculty of theology, and soon generous benefactors were providing in amazing ways to make possible the construction of the seminary: what had been a very small nursing home called Mt Carmel started to become, always through God’s providence, the beautiful and attractive Redemptoris Mater Seminary we know.

Thirty years have passed since the official Decree erecting Perth’s Redemptoris Mater Seminary on 15 August 1994.

We profoundly thank God for his help, through the intercession of the Mother of his Son, in preparing and sustaining many seminarians to discern their vocation. More than 40 presbyters have been ordained and are spending their lives announcing the Gospel in Perth, around Australia, and in the other continents.

From the beginning the seminarians have participated in the Neocatechumenal communities in Perth and elsewhere.

This has been a fundamental and basic part of their human and liturgical formation.

We are very grateful to Kiko and Carmen whose vision and courage have given to the Church more than 120 Redemptoris Mater Seminaries throughout the world. May the Lord reward them immensely for this gift to our generation. We also thank Archbishop Emeritus Hickey for his courage and foresight in requesting the seminary, and our current Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, who has accepted and believed in the vital mission of the Seminary for the Church of today.

It has been a great privilege for us to help so many young men to become missionary presbyters and to see them start losing their life for the announcement of the Gospel.

May the Lord, through the intercession of Mary, raise up from this seminary many more missionaries to evangelise this generation!

Totò & Rita Piccolo, Fr Tony Trafford and Alex Cantos

The Neocatechumenal Way

Kiko and Carmen with Most Rev Archbishop Casimiro Morcillo in the outskirts of Madrid, 1960s.

God never fails to provide prophets to His Church who help her read the signs of the times. Pope Saint John XXIII said that the renewal of the Church would come through the poor.

The Neocatechumenal Way is this seed, born in the shantytowns of Palomeras, Altas, in the 1960s, one of the poorest suburbs of Madrid. The Archbishop of Madrid, Casimiro Morcillo, recognised in the experience lived by Kiko Argüello, Carmen Hernández, and the brothers and sisters of the very first community of the shantytown, a true rediscovery of the Word of God and an implementation of the liturgical renewal promoted in those years by the Second Vatican Council.

Today we live in a post-Christian society. Faith is no longer a common social factor, and God’s response to this lack of faith in modern man is a catechumenate to rediscover the riches of Baptism. An itinerary lived in small communities based on a tripod: celebration of the Word, liturgy, and community.

Pope Francis, in March 2015, receiving the brothers and sisters of the Neocatechumenal Way, addressed them with these words: “This is the Neocatechumenal Way, a true gift of Providence to the Church of our times, as my Predecessors have already affirmed; especially Saint John Paul II when he said to you: ‘I recognize the Neocatechumenal Way as an itinerary of Catholic formation, valid for our society and for the present times.’”

Approval of the Statutes

Kiko, Carmen and Fr Mario with Pope Benedict XVI.

On the 11 May 2008, on the Feast of Pentecost, Pope Benedict XVI, through a decree of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, definitively approved the Statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way. Thus the process initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1997, aimed at giving the Way formal juridical recognition and making it a universal heritage of the Church, was concluded. The Way was defined not as an association of the faithful or a movement, but as it truly is, “an itinerary of Catholic formation,” a catechumenate that responds to the needs of modern man.

On the 10th of January 2009, Pope Benedict XVI, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the Way, said: “How can we not praise the Lord for the spiritual fruits that it has been possible to gather in these years through your method of evangelisation? How many fresh apostolic energies have been inspired, among both priests and lay people! How many men and women and how many families who had drifted away from the ecclesial community or had abandoned the practice of Christian life through the proclamation of the kerygma and the process of the rediscovery of Baptism have been helped to rediscover the joy of faith and the enthusiasm of Gospel witness!

The recent approval of the Statutes of the Way by the Pontifical Council for the Laity has sealed the esteem and benevolence with which the Holy See follows the work that the Lord has inspired through your Initiators.”

Families in Mission There are places in the world where the announcement of the Gospel has never reached, others where it has been rejected: modern man has lost the sense of the sacred, the religious and of God. Pope John Paul II indicated that to respond to secularisation it was necessary to “return to the very first apostolic model”, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, where Christians gathered in homes for the breaking of bread and prayers.

In the Way, the Lord has raised up many families willing to leave everything and go on a mission to live in the middle of the world like yeast that ferments the whole batch: a true “Courtyard of the Gentiles”, as Benedict XVI defined it. Thus small communities are formed made up of a presbyter and four or five families with numerous children who give a Christian testimony by presenting the signs of faith: love and unity.

On the occasion of sending the first hundred families of the Way, John Paul II said: “Dear ones, I came here very willingly. I very willingly accepted your invitation on the feast of the Holy Family to pray together with you for the most fundamental and important thing in the mission of the Church: for the spiritual renewal of the family, of the human and Christian families in every nation [...] If we must speak of a renewal, of a regeneration of human society, indeed of the Church as a society of men, we must begin from this point, from this mission.

Holy Church of God, you cannot carry out your mission, you cannot carry out your mission in the world, if not through the family and its mission” Family in Mission Convivence, 1989.

Paolo and Elena are sent on Mission to Perth, by the now Pope St John Paul II, in 1988.

Families in Mission with Seminarians in 1996.

Paolo and Elena, Francesco and Antonella with their kids in 2001.

Thanksgiving Dinner with Families in Mission, 2024.

The Vocational Call St John Bosco says that seventy percent of young men are called to the priesthood. But how can a young man respond if no one calls him?

For several years, the Lord has gifted the Neocatechumenal Way with vocational meetings, especially during World Youth Days, where many young people, moved by the same fervent desire to do God’s will that led Isaiah to cry out, “Lord, send me!”, can say their first “yes” to the Lord out of love for God and the Church.

This vocation, born through the rediscovery of Baptism in small communities, is then verified, accompanied, and supported through vocational centres that lead young men to freely choose to give themselves to God by entering a “Redemptoris Mater” seminary for the New Evangelisation.

It is necessary to form priests who support those families in their mission who have left everything for the proclamation of the Gospel.

In the face of the vocational crisis, more or less widespread, it is a source of immense consolation for the Shepherds of the Church and the scattered communities throughout the world, the flowering of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life: they are signs of God’s love that does not abandon His people but fills them with new gifts.

“You have seduced me,Yahweh, and I have let myself be seduced; you have overpowered me: you were the stronger.

I would say to myself, ‘I will not think about him, I will not speak in his name any more,’ but then there seemed to be a fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones.” Jer 20:7-9

Cardinal George Pell and Kiko at the Vocational Meeting in Sydney, 2008.

Young men standing up for the call to the Priesthood at the Vocational Meeting in Sydney, 2008.

Youth from the Perth communities of the Neocatechumenal Way at World Youth Day Panama 2019.

Fr Liam, Fr Luis, Fr Freddy, Fr Noe and Fr Victor at World Youth Day Portugal 2023.

Redemptoris Mater Seminaries

From the evangelisation efforts initiated by families in different areas, the need for priests quickly became apparent to support the newly formed communities and potentially establish new parishes.

One characteristic of these seminaries is their internationality, demonstrating their missionary nature for the whole world, until the ends of all the earth.

This concretely manifests the new reality proclaimed

by Christianity, where there is no longer distinction In this context, the “Redemptoris Mater” Seminaries between man and woman, between black and white, were born, thanks to the prophetic vision of the initiators but a new creation, a heavenly man. of the Way, encouraged by Pope John Paul II. Experience has shown that integrating an itinerary of The “Redemptoris Mater” Seminaries are one of the Christian life initiation, such as the Neocatechumenal most important fruits of the renewal of the council. Way, into priestly formation greatly aids in the A completely new reality, envisioned by the Second psychological, affective, and human maturation of Vatican Council which, in “Presbyterorum Ordinis” no. candidates (before being priests, they are Christians 10, wrote: “ Let priests remember, therefore, that the who, in their journey of faith, learn communion, care of all churches must be their intimate concern.... obedience, prayer, the sense of the Cross, etc.), and To accomplish this purpose there should be set up importantly, in uniting the mission with the parish. international seminaries for the good of the whole Indeed, the Neocatechumenal Way is a formation Church.” period that concludes in the parish with vibrant, mature, and missionary communities united with the parish In 1991, the Interdisciplinary Commission, formed by priest and the Bishop.

Pope John Paul II to address the severe shortage of priests in many parts of the world, recognised that: “This Young men who, after a period of vocational idea of the Council has been applied to the “Redemptoris discernment, are ready to enter a seminary, are invited Mater” seminaries which prepare presbyters for the by their catechists to a global Convivence of aspiring New Evangelisation according to the program of the seminarians at the International Centre “Servant of Neocatechumenal Way... this would realise a new form Yahweh” in Porto San Giorgio. It is wonderful to witness of ministry: the diocesan missionary.” (L’Osservatore the miracle of seeing young men willing to leave Romano 15.3.1991). everything and go on mission to any part of the world, wherever the Lord calls them.

The “Redemptoris Mater” seminaries are not seminaries of the Neocatechumenal Way but, as the Statutes state, As of today, there are over a hundred “Redemptoris are true diocesan seminaries under the authority of the Mater” Seminaries worldwide.

Bishop.

Patron Saints San Gabriele Francesco (Francis) Possenti was born into a large aristocratic family in Assisi, Italy, on March 1, 1838, the eleventh of thirteen children. Handsome, vivacious, and very popular—fond of dancing, fine clothes, and the theater—Francis led the carefree life of a cultured young man.

When he was 18 years old, —while he was participating in a procession of the ancient icon of Our Lady of Sorrows, it seemed to Francis that Mary looked directly at him from the icon, and spoke to his heart: “Francis, you are not made for this world. Follow your vocation.” He then joined the Passionist novitiate.

In 1859, he moved to the small isolated monastery of Isola del Gran Sasso, in the Teramo province of Abruzzo, where he became known for his charity, and his love for Mary and Christ Crucified. It was here that he succumbed to tuberculosis. Cheerful to the end, though racked with pain, he died, at dawn, on February 27, 1862.

“How well the Lord knows how to repay his servants.”

St Peter Chanel In 1831, as superior of seven Marists, Peter Chanel travelled to Western Oceania. The bishop accompanying the missionaries left Peter and a brother on Futuna Island northeast of Fiji, promising to return in six months. He was gone five years.

Meanwhile, Peter struggled with this new language, making the difficult adjustment to life with whalers, traders, and warring natives. A few natives had been baptized, a few more were being instructed. When the chieftain’s son asked to be baptized, persecution by the chieftain reached a climax. On the 28th of April 1841, Peter Chanel was clubbed to death.

Within two years after his death, the whole island became Catholic and has remained so. He was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1954. Peter Chanel is the first martyr of Oceania and its patron.

“It does not matter whether or not I am killed; the religion has taken root on the island; it will not be destroyed by my death, since it comes not from men but from God.”

Our History

The first group of Seminarians that were sent to Redemptoris Mater Seminary, Perth, 1992.

Host families welcoming the arrival of the first Seminarians, 1992.

Paolo teaching the Seminarians, 1995.

Seminarians in class, 1995.

Fr Eric with Seminarians working, 1995.

First visit of Kiko, Carmen and Fr Mario to the Seminary, 1995.

Seminarians working with brothers of the community, 1997.

Construction of the Sanctuary of the Word, 1997.

Completion of the Sanctuary of the Word, 1998.

Construction of the Bedroom Block and Bell Tower, 2000.

Construction and Dedication of the Chapel, 2005.

Ordinations

Presbyters in Mission for the New Evangelisation

Pope John Paul II repeatedly invited the Church to a New Evangelization and did not hesitate to define the Neocatechumenal Way as a “work for the new evangelisation” (Letter “Ogniqualvolta”). Since then, the Church has continued to recognise the great missionary zeal of the Neocatechumenal communities.

“The specificity of the formation of priests in the ‘Redemptoris Mater’ seminaries lies in emphasising the universal dimension of their mission. They, along with groups of families who, leaving everything behind, have made themselves available to be sent to the most secularised areas, create, through their presence and testimony, Christian communities and, God willing, new parishes” (Rule of Life, n.6).

In communion with their diocesan bishop and in accordance with their missionary vocation, they offer themselves to serve the Lord wherever there is a need. Each year, the priests made responsible of the new Missio ad Gentes receive, along with the families that accompany them, the missionary mandate from the Supreme Pontif. The Pope hands them the cross of Christ, encouraging them with words full of gratitude and paternal encouragement: “I accompany you and encourage you. I remain here, but with my heart, I come with you” (Pope Francis).

© Vatican Media

Fr Victor with the Mission Families and Community in Baldivis.

Fr Liam and Fr Patricio with the Mission Families and Community in Broome.

Fr Clesio with the Itinerant Family and Community in East Timor.

Fr Eugenio with Sylvie in Mission in Papua New Guinea.

Life in the Seminary

“Formation in the seminary, according to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, aims at the of formation of true shepherds, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, Teacher, Priest, Shepherd. It rests on two pillars: life in the seminary and the Neocatechumenal Way for full human, intellectual, spiritual and missionary maturity.” (Seminary Rule of Life n.3).

Everyone, including the formators, has their own community of brothers and sisters in which they can learn to grow in faith, to listen to the Word allowing it to illuminate their life and their calling, to convert every day with their brothers. This is an enormous help to escape the isolation, the loneliness that so infests our society, to create communion: 15 young people from the most varied cities and cultures of the world can live in peace, loving each other? We are witnesses that this has happened and continues to happen every day.

The days in the seminary are marked by the celebration of the Eucharist, prayer, study, work and the joy of community life.

The study of Theology prepares them to best carry out the mission that God will entrust to them by knowing how to face the challenges of today’s world: “worship the Lord, Christ, in your hearts, always ready to respond to anyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pt 3,15).

Through the various services they are helped to give themselves to others and to discover the beauty of not living for themselves: “in fact, the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). Finally, there is no shortage of times dedicated to sport and moments of communion in which the joy of being together is expressed.

In the seminary every seminarian experiences a time of discernment. This is necessary to be confirmed in the vocation to which the Lord is calling him. His trust in the guidance of the Bishop, the formators and the catechists that God places beside him is therefore fundamental: “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the path and to let you enter the place that I have prepared. Have respect for his presence, listen to his voice and do not rebel against him” (Ex 23:20-21).

Some of our Helpers & Benefectors

“Deesis” or “Deisis”, meaning supplication, prayer “It seems important to us that the presence of the heavenly Church, the eschatological dimension of the liturgy, be visible in the liturgy. For this rea- son, behind the president, we have made a curved wall, this apse, with a painting that represents the second coming of Jesus Christ. In every liturgical celebration we are always waiting for the Lord who will return. (Luke 12:35-36) In the tradition of icons the universe is represented as a scroll with stars, the morning star, the sun and moon, the Alpha and the Omega. Christ returns with the new covenant love your enemy. Together with him, in white robes, the Virgin Mary, St John the Baptist, St Peter and St Paul have come down from heaven.

In the iconostasis of the Eastern Church there is never a lack of what is called the “Deesis” or “Deisis” (supplication, prayer); the composition found in the centre of the iconostasis in which the Virgin Mary and St John the Baptist, on either side of Christ, intercede for humanity.

In the Confiteor, before the liturgical reform, we used to say: “I confess to almighty God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary... to John the Baptist, to the holy apostles Peter and Paul.” They come down from heaven to pray for us.

They make present the Old and the New Testaments: the Virgin Mary is the Virgin Daughter of Zion, the Daughter of Jerusalem (2Kings 19:21); St John the Baptist is the precursor of the Messiah; St Paul, Jew, caries the Scriptures in his hand. St Peter, with the keys of mercy, represents the institution, St Paul the charism and together they are the two builders of the Church.

The four red horns are the four evangelists. According to the tradition they are the four beings who accompany the “Merkaba” the chariot of fire of the Lord: Matthew (the angel); Mark (the lion); Luke (the bull) and John (the eagle). (Ezekiel 1:4-28) With this icon we hope to have a presence that helps us to live the liturgy better, since heaven and earth are united in the Christian liturgy. Therefore it is important that there is a picture of the presence of the heavenly Church here.” (Kiko) This icon is a copy of an icon of the Deesis which Kiko Arguello painted in the crypt of the Church of the Canadian Martyrs Parish, Rome. The painter of this icon is Mr Jose Manuel Fernandez De Cañete assisted by his wife Mrs Maria Jesus Nieto and their son Miguel to whom we express our profound gratitude. They are from Madrid and are a family in mission of the Neocatechumenal Way in Canberra.

© Vatican Media

ARCHDIOCESAN MISSIONARY SEMINARY REDEMPTORIS MATER PERTH Fr Michael Moore SM—Rector 26 Camboon Road, Morley, WA 6062, Australia Phone: 08 9275 7411 Website: www.rmsperth.org.au