Homily for the Mass of Ordination to the Priesthood of Rev. Mr Adrian Suyanto, Rev. Mr Likisone Tominiko and Rev. Br Charbel Boustany FFI, Memorial of St Benedict
St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 11 July 2024
A recent article in Seek.com outlined the importance of a well-crafted job description for attracting suitable candidates and establishing expectations for the role.[i] According to the experts, a good j.d. must showcase the company, describe the critical functions and core responsibilities of the position, and specify qualifications and rewards.
Applying such thinking to the priesthood is not straightforward. After all, a job you do for some hours or years, but a vocation is 24/7 and for life. Many put up with their job while having their ‘real life’ elsewhere, whereas a vocation is your real life. Some undertake a career with a view to wealth and advancement, but you’d be mad to enter religion for that! Most importantly, you pick a job that suits you, but you discern a vocation in a dialogue with God, responding to His promptings and submitting to the judgment of His Church: you choose a career, but a vocation chooses you.[ii]
The famous Rule of today’s saint, Benedict, opens with a plea to “listen with the ear of your heart”[iii]—a line often quoted by Pope Francis.[iv] But hearty listening can be difficult with all the noise and distractions around us, the passions and desires within. What precisely God wants is not always clear: sometimes He seems to be offering multiple j.d.s or rather vague ones. Trusting in God is all very well, but trusting in ourselves can feel safer. Yet if we do that, we may miss the opportunity of a lifetime. As Jeremiah makes clear today, God has big plans for each one of us: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I consecrated you” (Jer 1:4). The company, task, qualifications and rewards are all in God’s mind’s eye at least, but also in our own heart’s ear if we are truly open.
Let’s begin with the company. The word sounds rather ‘corporate’, but the Jesuits who formed Pope Francis first called themselves Compañía de Jesús, the Company of Jesus. It had a military rather than corporate resonance—St Ignatius was a former army captain, and his ‘Jesuits’ were to be comrades-in-arms for the Church. But we know our ‘companions’ in faith are the saints and saints-in-the-making, our brothers and sisters in the family of God, the Church which is the communion and sacrament of salvation.
Vincent Van Gogh, The Harvest (1888), Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
What is the priest’s job in this company? “God so loved the world, He gave His only Son” (Jn 3:16), gave Him into the hands of sinful men, to be crucified but rise again for their salvation (Mt 17:22f et par.). His Word and Sacraments would be the ways for us to participate in that saving grace. So, on the night before He died, Christ instituted the priesthood, appointing new sons as the means by which His Word and Sacraments would reach the ends of the earth (Mt 28:16-20 etc.). To be called to this service is to be charged, as Jeremiah said (Jer 1:4-9), with being “prophet to the nations”, with God’s words on our lips; it is to be entrusted, as Paul wrote (2Cor 4:1-7), with preaching and leading, reflecting “the glory of Christ”; it is to be sent, as Jesus taught (Lk 10:1-9), as a labourer in the Lord’s vineyard, healing bodies, harvesting souls and proclaiming God’s kingdom come.
There are some today—even at councils and synods of the Church—who would strip priests of their responsibilities for preaching in the liturgy and governing the community. It’s not that they seek a richer collaboration and more co-responsibility: they want to ‘shift power’ to certain lay experts. In the process they would disintegrate the celebration of the Word from celebration of the sacrament, leadership from pastoral care. How this pared-down priesthood as sacrament dispensers can be squared with what Christ instituted and the Catholic tradition teaches is far from clear: for, as the Second Vatican Council affirmed, the critical functions of the priest are to teach, sanctify and govern. Their core responsibilities are to lead and serve with a shepherd’s heart, to dispense the graces of the sacraments, and to proclaim the kerygma and all Church teaching “with none of the reticence of those who are ashamed of the Word of God, no deceitfulness or watering down… but openly stating the truth” (2Cor 4:1-7).
We know the necessary skills for a priest, honed by years of formation, and requisite qualifications, given in today’s great sacrament. We even glimpse the rewards: being received by persons of peace, Jesus says (Lk 10:1-9), sustained by the communion of saints. Some of it sounds daunting. Some recoil from such a task. But it is the most exciting of vocations, demanding but rewarding also, radiant as Paul says, with the the knowledge of God and the glory of Christ.
Our candidates tonight come from the Asian, Middle Eastern and Pacific cultures now making such important contributions to the life of the Church in Australia. Adrian grew up Buddhist in Indonesia but sought baptism at 14. He came to Australia to study chemical engineering at UNSW and there got involved in the Chaplaincy and CASS. They tricked him into attending one of Cardinal Pell’s dinners for young men considering their vocation. He was struck by the normality and happiness of priests and seminarians he met. Now he will be one of those normal, happy priests in the service of God and neighbour.
Likisone’s calling came through his complicated Samoan family, especially his grandmother and adopted parents, who cultivated faith, prayer and servant leadership in him. Never one to refuse a free meal, when Sone heard of the Cardinal’s dangerous vocations dinners, he went along. Through various secular jobs “the faith of his fathers”—or indeed his grandmothers—continued to call him. He came to see that his wounds could be healed and his gifts directed, all to the glory of God.
Nephew of a Lebanese Maronite monk and priest, Br Charbel had a great love for the liturgy and priesthood from an early age. After high school he undertook degrees in Business and Computing, worked in website development, travelled and socialised, before reverting to his earlier calling. Introduced to the Marian spirituality of St Louis de Montfort and St Maximilian Kolbe, he joined the Friars of the Immaculate, was formed in America and Rome, and is now ready to be a faithful priest of Jesus Christ and son of Mary Immaculate and St Francis.
My sons, Charbel, Sone and Adrian, you bring very different histories, ethnicities and talents to your vocations today. In a few moments time you will lay those gifts before the altar of God as you prostrate yourselves in prayer. Your interrogation and ordination, the beautiful prayers prayed for you and over you, the anointing with holy chrism and vesting in sacred garments, the traditioning of the offerings and pax from the whole body of priests—these things will make your j.d. as clear as day. No longer just my sons but now as my brothers and fathers, you will act in the person of Christ, as voices for His Word and ministers of His sacraments. In precious times of birth and rebirth, contrition and absolution, hunger and communion, romance and marriage, sickness and suffering, life and death, the holy People of God will invite you to be with them on Christ’s behalf. Do so with the humble confidence that you did not choose Him, no He chose you, chose you with the j.d. “to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last”! (Jn 15:16)
[i] “How to write an effective job description: A comprehensive guide,” seek.com 26 June 2024. Cf. Christina Wood, “11 tips for crafting highly effective job descriptions,” cio.com 4 July 2023; Kate Reilly, “6 job description examples—and what makes them effective,” LinkedIn Talent Blog 25 July 2023; “How to write the best job description ever: 6 tips for success,” resources.workable.com Sep 2023.
[ii] Pope Benedict XVI, Homily at Marian Vespers with Religion and Seminarians of Bavaria, 11 September 2006.
[iii] St Benedict, Rule of St Benedict, 6.
[iv] E.g. Pope Francis, Address to the Italian Federation of Associations of the Deaf, 25 April 2019; Homily for Mass Opening the Synodal Path, 10 October 2021; Listening with the Ear of the Heart: Message for the 56th World Day of Social Communications, 24 January 2022.
Word of Thanks after the Mass of Ordination to the Priesthood of Rev. Fathers Adrian Suyanto, Likisone Tominiko, and Charbel Boustany FFI
Thank you, Father Adrian, and may I echo your thanks to those who influenced your three journeys of faith and vocation, formed you for service as a priest, or made today’s such a special celebration. I congratulate the three families, the Franciscan Friars and the Presbyterate of Sydney on these three young fathers.
Sydney rings out with joy tonight that the Church has three new priests. Yet as we heard in our Gospel, “the harvest is rich but the labourers too few”. So with Christ I ask you all to pray for more like these. To the young men of Sydney I say: people are crying out for words of life and sacraments of grace to transfigure their hearts and lives; you might be the very one, by God’s grace, to offer them this. Come discern with us and be assured of a first-rate formation. May our three new priests inspire you to give yourself over to God’s plan too.
And to these three I say: Congratulations fathers! God bless you as you bless others. Thanks be to God!
Introduction to the Mass of Ordination to the Priesthood of Rev. Mr Adrian Suyanto, Rev. Mr Likisone Tominiko and Rev. Br Charbel Boustany FFI, Memorial of St Benedict, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 11 July 2024
Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney for the priestly ordination of Rev. Adrian Suyanto and Rev. Likisone Tominiko for the Archdiocese of Sydney, and Rev. Br Charbel Mary Francis of the Sacred Hearts Boustany FFI for the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. We celebrate this joyous occasion on the memorial of St Benedict of Nursia, co-patron of Europe and founder of Western monasticism, whose Rule helped shape Western Christian culture and continues to be lived by many religious.
I acknowledge the presence of Most Rev. Richard Umbers, Danny Meagher and Terry Brady; Vicar General Very Rev. Gerry Gleeson; Vicar for Clergy Very Rev. Sam Lynch; Director of Vocations Fr Daniele Russo; along with other vicars and deans. A special welcome to Very Rev. Fr Ignatius Manfredonia FFI, General Delegate of Br Charbel’s order, along with Rev. Fr Charles Robinson FFI, who will be vesting him.
From the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, I salute the Rector, Fr Michael de Stoop, with his staff; from the Redemptoris Mater Seminary Rector Fr Eric Skruzny and staff; and from the Catholic Institute of Sydney, the President Sr Isabell Naumann ISSM and faculty.
A warm welcome to the families and friends of our ordinands, who have been instrumental in nurturing their faith and vocations. From the Boustany clan I greet Charbel’s parents George and Dunia, siblings Margaretta, Toufic, and Leanne, as well as brothers-in-law Raymond and Rob, and a thousand Lebanese cousins. From the Suyanto family, I welcome Adrian’s parents Edy and Sukina, his brother Alwin with sister-in-law Alice and niece Lillian. From the Tominiko family, I acknowledge Sone’s parents Atonio and Ane, siblings Foster, Falaniko, Dominic, Moana, Catherine, Frances and Imelda, together with their families and a joyful horde of Islanders.
I also salute the priests of Sydney and beyond, who rejoice to welcome these new brothers into their ranks. We are blessed to have many seminarians here who tonight see light at the end of their own formation tunnels. I also acknowledge any members of the Franciscan family. I welcome all the deacons, religious and lay faithful, including those from the parishes from which our ordinands hail or in which they have served. To our three ordinands especially, and to everyone present here this evening or watching on via livestream, a very warm welcome to you all!