ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 26 APRIL 2026
Sheep and goats. They were crucial for Ancient Near Eastern communities: the health of the flock determined the wealth, even survival, of the individual, tribe, nation. And so, to call God ‘the Shepherd of Israel’ was to say He cared deeply about our welfare. Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd, and many other biblical passages, celebrated God’s protection in an often-hostile world of ‘deserts’, ‘wolves’ and ‘thieves’.[1] It also challenged political and religious leaders to imitate God in their ‘pastoral’ concern for their subjects, especially the weak:[2] to be a shepherd-king or a shepherd-priest meant total dedication to the flock.
Which was all very well for ancient Jews and early Christians, but can limp as an analogy for modern discipleship. None of us would find it flattering to be compared to sheep and goats. Though our Australian economy, like ancient Israel’s, once “rode on the back of the sheep,” nowadays we only encounter sheep at the Royal Easter Show or as our Sunday roast! They are there to be fleeced or devoured. We think of them as unintelligent and expendable. If I said this congregation was ‘a bunch of sheep’ with ‘sheepish grins’, you wouldn’t be flattered!
Even the word ‘shepherd’ is alien to Australian farming and we certainly don’t expect our stockmen to know their sheep by name: when you’ve got thousands of them roaming on tens of thousands of hectares that’s impossible. So, what is our talk of sheep and shepherd supposed to conjure up for us?
In our Gospel today (Jn 10:1-10), Christ tells us what He means by such talk. He does not romanticise the shepherd’s calling. Some shepherds, He says, are false, self-serving, even harmful. A good shepherd is one who enters the fray ‘by the gate’ rather than breaking in; in other words, he is an appointed leader, not an interloper. He works ‘in the open’, in the light, rather than craftily, in the dark. He cares for his charges, rather than seizing what is not His. He defends them, if needs be even with His life. And the sheep recognise all this, that he knows and cares for them and their interests. He calls each by name, because to him they are not just numbers but known and loved individuals. He walks ahead so they might follow and keeps them safe, not scattered. So, to be shepherded by Christ is to be known, loved, and led, not abandoned, exploited or driven.
When Catholics think ‘shepherds’ and the ‘pastoral’ office, they think bishops and priests—those ordained to teach, sanctify and lead Christ’s flock. Fair enough. Yet there is a broader shepherding in which all the faithful share: every Christian teaches by their words and deeds, hopefully in service of the truth; every Christian sanctifies by offering prayers and sacrifices; every Christian leads and serves by acts of mercy towards others. While the clergy mostly minister within the Church (ad intra), to the lay faithful, the lay faithful must witness outside (ad extra), in the world. And consecrated religious live on the cusp between the two, often ministering in both places.
Consecrated religious built much of the religious and social infrastructure of this country. Many of us were blessed to have known and been influenced by them. I had a great aunt a Mercy Sister at the Mater and she was matriarch of our family. Four religious orders had a hand in forming me at school, several more at a tertiary level, and another formed me as a friar and priest. I am hugely grateful to them for their witness to faith and love. I count it a very great loss for the Australian Church that the number and impact of our religious have declined; we must never resign ourselves to this as inevitable. Their reduced footprint has cost our Church in holiness and evangelical creativity.
One of the proposals from the faithful of Sydney to be considered at our forthcoming Archdiocesan Synod is that we do more to introduce new religious communities and grow existing ones in our diocese over the coming years. I pray that that will be so.
Thirty years ago, this past month, Pope St John Paul II promulgated his great Apostolic Exhortation on the consecrated life, Vita Consecrata.[3] The communion of the Church, he pointed out, is enriched by three ranks of the ordained, many religious charisms, and various states of life.[4] To maintain that rich diversity, each must understand and be faithful to their particular vocation as well as those things common to us all.
Reflecting upon the complementarity of the priesthood and religious life, John Paul observed that the clergy are ordained to be images of the Incarnate Son, head and shepherd, guiding us in these now times; but that religious are professed to be images of the Eschatological Son, pointing us towards the not yet times. Theirs is “the goal towards which all things tend, the splendour before which every other light pales, the infinite beauty which alone can satisfy the human heart”.[5]
From early in the history of the Church, monks and nuns have pursued a radical spiritual life, in imitation of Christ. Their spiritual combat by prayer, asceticism and living the beatitudes transfigures human life in expectation of the vision of God.[6] They make visible the marvels wrought by God in frail humanity of those called.[7]
The contemplative nun at prayer, the brother feeding the poor, the sister teaching in the classroom, the hermit practising his asceticisms, the religious priest at the altar—each, in their own way, offers a compelling image of the transfigured life.[8] They shepherd others in the love of God less by argument or authority than by attraction. They show that God is real, that He is worth everything, that He satisfies the human heart as nothing else can. In recent times, Pope Leo XIV has echoed this conviction by highlighting the “often-hidden daily actions” of consecrated men and women that illuminate God’s great plan for peace and salvation.[9]
For this is the heart of Easter: that the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for us, is now the Glorious One who has taken that life up again; He walks ahead of us still, calling each of us by name. Whatever our vocation, may each of us listen for His voice amid the noise of our days; and may our religious, by the quiet radiance of their consecrated lives, help the whole Church to follow Him home.
Remarks after Holy Communion
From 30 April to 3 May the Archdiocese will celebrate an archdiocesan synod, which will explore ways to make our liturgies and lives more prayerful, our parishes and communities more Christ-centred, and our priests and people more missionary. I ask you to pray for wisdom, fidelity, courage, inspiration for the members, and so for the success of that synod beginning this Thursday.
You will have noticed the erection in the cathedral square of the venue for the forthcoming Sistine Revelations immersive experience. It will be a wonderful experience of sacred art and modern technology in service of the Christian story and will run from 16 May to 19 July. I recommend you book tickets now and bring someone with you who might be inspired by the beauty of the Sistine Chapel.
Today we celebrated our jubilarian religious who between them have served for more than 5,000 years. They come from communities of religious who together must have served God and His people for many tens of thousands of years! On behalf of the Church of Sydney I thank every one of them. God bless our religious.
[1] Gen 48:15; 49:23-24; Pss 23:1-6; 28:9; 79:13; 80:1; 95:7; 100:3; 119:176; Isa 40:11; Jer 31:10; 50:7; Hos 4:16; Mic 7:14; Ezek 34:11-23,31; Mt 2:6; 18:12-14; 25:32-46; Lk 12:32; 15:3-7; Jn 10:1-18; Acts 20:28-29; 1Pet 5:2.
[2] 1Chr 11:2; Ps 78:70-72; Jer 23:1-4; Zech 10:2-3; 11:16; Mic 5:4; Ezek 34:23-24; 1Pet 5:2-4.
[3] St John Paul II, Vita Consecrata: Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Consecrated Life and Its Mission in the Church and in the World (‘VC’, 25 March 1996), 16.
[4] VC 4.
[5] VC 16.
[6] VC 6, 10, 14, 15, 17, 33 etc.
[7] VC 20.
[8] VC 35.
[9] Pope Leo XIV, Address to Participants in the Jubilee of Consecrated Life (Paul VI Hall, 10 October 2025).
INTRODUCTION TO MASS OF THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR A + CONSECRATED LIFE
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY, 26 APRIL 2026
Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral for the Solemn Mass of the Fourth Sunday of Easter, ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’. Today is the 63rd World Day of Prayer for Vocations, when the Church asks the Lord to raise up new labourers for His vineyard, praying especially for the vocations of bishop, priest and deacon, consecrated women and men. In his message for this day of prayer, Pope Leo reminds us that every vocation begins as the interior discovery of God’s gift in the depths of our hearts, even as He calls us out of ourselves to serve Him and our fellows.[i]
Today here at St Mary’s we celebrate in particular the many religious who have offered the witness of their common life, apostolates and personal prayer here in Sydney—those who have gone before us and on whose shoulders we stand, those still serving us, and those who, by God’s grace, are yet to come. So it’s a joy to see representatives here today of the Brigidine Sisters, Blessed Sacarments, Charities, Christian Brothers, Daughters of St Anne, Daughters of St Paul, Dominican Friars, Dominican Sisters, Holy Spirit Sisters, Jesuits, Josephites, Little Company of Mary, Little Sisters of the Poor, Lovers of the Holy Cross, Mercy Sisters, Michaelites, Missionaries of Charity, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Passionists, Patrician Brothers, Presentation Sisters, Redemptorists, Salesian Sisters, Scalabrinian Fathers, Sister Disciples of the Divine Master, Sisters of Our Lady of China, Sisters of Reparation, a consecrated virgin, and more! Sydney is truly blessed with consecrated religious. We offer particular congratulations to our jubilarians, whose cumulative years of service total over 5,000! And also to the congregations celebrating significant milestones this year: the Presentation Sisters mark their 250th anniversary of foundation; the Mercies 180 years; the Joeys 160; and the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master 70 years in Australia. Warmest congratulations to all! And our thanks to the Vicar for Consecrated Life, Sr. Anetta Szczykutowicz PDDM for bringing us together.
I ask your prayers today for the repose of the souls of Rusty Walters, one of our generous bell ringers here at St Mary’s for more than 60 years, from about the age of 14; and Fr David Taylor who was in the same ordination class as Dean Don Richardson, was the deacon at my ordination to the priesthood, and ended up parish priest of Manly before retiring due to declining health. To everyone present, visitors and regulars, a very warm welcome to you all.
[i] Pope Leo XIV, Message for 63rd World Day of Prayer for Vocations (2026).
