Addresses and Statements

Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral as we commission the Sydney-based delegates to the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia. The previous four such councils – in 1885, 1895, 1905 and 1937 – were all held here in Sydney with this cathedral as their focal point, as will be the case for the final session of the 2021-22 council. Last time the aged and long-serving Archbishop Michael Kelly of Sydney presided.

It’s been a difficult year. At this time last year, smoke hung heavy upon our city, the light was an eery orange hue, and moths invaded the opening night; drought and bushfire continued through the first month of 2020.

Following the acknowledgements and welcomes from Lisa and Chris today, I want to add my own, including a very warm welcome to my place, St Mary’s Cathedral.

Dame Margot, Sir Richard and Sir John, My Lord Bishop Ingham, Mr Justice Kunç, Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor, professors and friends all

Welcome to St. Mary’s Basilica in Sydney for the Funeral Mass for Sr Mary Paul OLHC, last surviving member of our the Congregation of Our Lady Help of Christians.

“Let us not despair; it is a blessed cause, and success, ere long, will crown our exertions. Already we have gained one victory: we have obtained, for these poor creatures, the recognition of their human nature, which for a while was most shamefully denied.

‘All humanity is being put to the test’ says the Vatican’s bioethics thinktank, the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV), in Global Pandemic and Universal Brotherhood: Note on the Covid-19 Emergency.

Dare we hope in a world that is suffering? It can seem impossible, even insensitive, to talk of hope when people are sick or dying, anxious or isolated, unemployed or otherwise burdened.

I welcome today’s exoneration of Cardinal George Pell in a unanimous decision of the High Court of Australia.The Cardinal has always maintained his innocence and today’s decision confirms his conviction was wrong.

Dear brothers in ministry and brothers and sisters in Christ. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all in this time of pandemic.

With respect to the Celebration of Mass and other Liturgies. Many people are already self-selecting to stay at home and attendance at many Masses will predictably be under 100.

Apocalypse now? Drought, fires, storms and now plague. It can feel like the end of the world is coming. In a sense it is.