Archbishop's Homilies 2010

Mass for Priests' Support and Education Fund Dinner

ADDRESS GIVEN BY ARCHBISHOP DENIS HART AT THE PRIESTS’ SUPPORT & EDUCATION FUND DINNER AT MOONEE VALLEY RACE COURSE ON FRIDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2010 AT 7.30 PM

Your Excellency the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, dear brother Bishops, Priests and People,

It is with great esteem and gratitude that I honour the presence of the Governor-General of Australia, Her Excellency Quentin Bryce, at this Priests’ Support and Education Fund Dinner.

In times which can often be difficult it underlines the importance given by the community of Australia to the untiring work of priests in nourishing and building up the faith and community spirit of our people.

In the Archdiocese of Melbourne, which is the biggest Diocese in Oceania, we have a proud tradition of priesthood, recognised by the community as generous service far beyond the confines of Catholicism and tapping into the deepest recesses of the goodness which is inherent in the human spirit.

Your Excellency, your presence here among us does us a great honour and is a tremendous encouragement to both priests and people.  Here in Melbourne our priests and people have been renowned for their initiatives, their dedication, their outreach to the community and of their spirit of Catholic faith. 

Melbourne has often been a place of ferment, energy and theological discussion.  Similarly, it has been a place of outreach and service.  This Education Fund Dinner is a very tangible way of the lay people from Victoria who seek to encourage their priests and provide for the young men who are aspiring to the priesthood.

The face of the Church in Melbourne, once Anglo-Saxon, is becoming very multi-cultural.  As with great success we welcome people from all over the world, similarly we have welcomed priests from migrant families and those who have come to join us at this particular time.  Our Seminary at Carlton numbers some fifty students from a wide range of nationalities.  This Dinner is a tremendous encouragement to them, to Father Brendan Lane, the Rector, and to me, for all that is being achieved.  I am humbled and grateful, Your Excellency, by your presence and by the esteem and generosity of so many people who have received the goodness of God shown through their priests and who welcome and recognise the service given by priests, while at the same time valuing the holy vocation to which our seminarians are aspiring.

 A priest of Jesus Christ is a servant, a man of God, a teacher of faith and holiness, and one who with his skills reaches out to the community in which we live.  Tonight, as I recognise your presence and that of so many friends, may I commit the Archdiocese of Melbourne to a generous contribution to our Australian community and to new resolve in promoting the existence and welfare of the priesthood because this will serve the community with generosity and distinction as it has done since the foundation of our great Archdiocese in 1848.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.  May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.  May he show you his kindness and give you his peace.

+ Denis J. Hart,
ARCHBISHOP OF MELBOURNE.