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DEALING WITH
THE DEVIL
An Australian bishop has compiled two new resources for those who confront evil - one for priests, the other for the baptised – Page 15
World.
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therecord.com.au
PAKISTAN’S
PARADOX A longtime Australian missionary has confronting things to say about religious persecution – not in Pakistan but here in Australia – Pages 9-11
Six months after taking over, Archbishop reflects on priorities and goals
The future is ours to make
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB in his office at Cathedral House in Perth. In a letter to the faithful of Perth in this week’s Record, he sums up his impressions of his first six months in office and the signs of hope he sees for the New Evangelisation and for the future of the Church. PHOTO: RON TAN PHOTOGRAPHY
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EAR brothers and sisters in Christ, having been archbishop here in Perth for six months I would like to take this opportunity to write to you and share some reflections with you on the journey so far. Rather than write a formal pastoral letter, I simply want to offer you these simple thoughts. It has been a busy and in some ways rather overwhelming period, but it has also been a time in which I have experienced the hospitality, generosity, understanding and kindness of so many people. To all of you – laity, religious and clergy – who have made me so welcome, I would like to say a very sincere
“thank you”. There have certainly been some challenges and difficult moments, but they are far outweighed by many wonderful experiences of faith and hope. Some
Again: the greatest challenge is to return the Church to Christ and Christ to the Church. important decisions have been made and I have benefited from the wise advice of many people. I am very grateful that, in God’s providence, I have taken up the role
of Archbishop during the Year of Grace. In spite of all the challenges and difficulties we face today as a Church, I have no doubt that if we accept the invitation to “contemplate the face of Christ” and “start afresh from him” then he will lead us forward and help us to be, together, the living sign of his ongoing presence in our world and in our time. In that spirit, I would like to repeat the statement I made at my installation. The greatest challenge we face today is the challenge of returning the Church to Christ and returning Christ to the Church. As I said six months ago, this is not a call to be something other than we are: rather, it is a call to be more
fully what we already are. One of the great strengths of our archdiocese, and one of our greatest blessings, is the presence of our two seminaries. As I write this letter,
Keep your eyes open for men who might be priests. Don’t be afraid to encourage them! we have 15 students in residence at St Charles’ Seminary in Guildford with another seven students studying interstate or overseas. At the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in
Morley, there are another 14 students following the spirituality of the Neocatechumenal Way, with three more awaiting their visa approvals. These two seminaries are an extraordinary sign of hope for us. As I reflect on this wonderful gift, I am led to ask everyone in the archdiocese to pray for our seminarians and to encourage more young (and perhaps not so young) men to ask if God is perhaps calling them to the same vocation. Keep your eyes open for men who might Continued on Page 6 Archbishop writes from the Synod for the New Evangelisation in Rome - Page 5