SUNDAY OBLIGATION RETURNS: ARCHBISHOP COSTELLOE ISSUES PASTORAL LETTER EMPHASISING IMPORTANCE OF THE EUCHARIST
By Jamie O'Brien
Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe
SDB has this week issued a Pastoral Letter, re-instituting the Sunday Obligation from Sunday 4 September. The Pastoral Letter, published Tuesday 16 August, addressed the whole Perth Catholic community, focusing on what it means for us to be a Christ-centred Church which is prayerful and Eucharistic.
“One of the acclamations which we say immediately after the Consecration invites us to remember that the Eucharist is the sacrament of our salvation: Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your cross and resurrection you have set us free,” the letter explains.
“In celebrating the Eucharist, we are celebrating, and being drawn into, the great mystery of our salvation: God so loved the world that he gave
his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life (John 3:16).
“This gift of eternal life,” highlights Archbishop Costelloe, “is the fruit of the life, death and resurrection of Christ: the fruit of the paschal mystery in its fullest sense.
“But all of this celebration will only make sense to us if we recognise our need for salvation and acknowledge that, no matter how hard we try, we cannot save ourselves.
“This recognition will only come through an acknowledgement of the power of sin and evil at work in our lives. Such a recognition will require great honesty and courage from each one of us.”
In inviting the Perth Catholic community to return to the Sunday obligation, Archbishop Costelloe said that with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, he temporarily suspended the obligation in order
to protect vulnerable people and to free them from any conscientious challenges they might have had.
“I believe that the time has come to remind us all again of the centrality of the Eucharist and of our need for the Eucharist. For that reason, I am reinstating the Sunday obligation, effective from the first Sunday in September, (Sunday, 4 September 2022).”
“If it is true that the celebration of the Eucharist is at the very heart of the life of the Church and is the most precious gift of God to the Church, then it is impossible to conceive of the Church without the Eucharist. Equally, it is impossible to conceive of a truly faithful, and faith-filled, living of the Christian life for a Catholic apart from regular participation in the Eucharist,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB elevates the body and blood of Christ on Holy Thursday, 14 April 2022, at St Mary’s Cathedral. PHOTO: RON TAN.
NEW PRIEST TO BE AT THE SERVICE OF A HOLY PEOPLE, SAYS ARCHBISHOP COSTELLOE
By Jamie O'Brien
Newly ordained priest Fr Grzegorz Rapcewicz is called and sent to care for a chosen race and a royal priesthood, said Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB.
Speaking at the ordination of Fr Grzegorz last Friday 12 August, Archbishop Costelloe highlighted that Fr Grzegorz will be at the service of a holy people.
“A people endowed with great dignity through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit within them, and through their growing conformity to the Christ who lives within them,”
Archbishop Costelloe said.
“And if it is true that sometimes this holy people may be harassed and dejected, a little like sheep without a shepherd (cf Matthew 9:36), then at those times it will be especially important that it is the presence of the Good Shepherd that Grzegorz brings alive through his life and ministry,” he said.
Hailing originally from Warsaw, Poland, Fr Grzegorz is the third
of seven children – all boys, and celebrated his 33rd birthday on Sunday 14 August.
He has spent the past year as a transitional deacon at the parish of Osborne Park, under the guidance of Parish Priest, Fr Wilson Donizetti Martins.
Parents Dariusz and Agnieszka, together with their sons Krzysztof, Jan, Adam, Jerzy, Maciej and Antoni (19) travelled from Poland for the special occasion.
Deacon Grzegorz arrived in Perth in March 2011 and was trained at Perth’s Redemptoris Mater Seminary, which functions under the auspices of the Neocatechumenal Way, and have as their mission the formation of diocesan priests for the "New Evangelisation".
Seminarians in training are members of Neocatechumenal communities which exist in a parish; in Perth there are some 15 communities across Mirrabooka, Cathedral, Cottesloe, Osborne Park, Midland and Kelmscott parishes.
Archbishop Costelloe explained that it is important for Grzegorz, and for us, to understand what it means to
be a priestly people.
“This is at the heart of the common vocation we all share and for that very reason it is at the heart of the vocation to the ministerial priesthood through which Christ enables the Church to live this vocation fruitfully,”
Archbishop Costelloe said.
“And why? Because it is at the heart of the life and ministry of Jesus himself.”
During his period of diaconate, Dcn Grzegorz, who says he is naturally a shy person, highlights he has learnt much, particularly with regards to giving homilies.
“God has really helped me to come out of myself, to be more open to people, to listen to them and their experiences.
“To be able to give meaning to someone’s suffering, to be with people who are sick, it has all been a tremendous experience,” Dcn Grzegorz said.
Fr Grzegorz celebrated his Thanksgiving Mass at Osborne Park Parish, St Kieran’s Church, Sunday 14 August at 9am.
Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, newly ordained Fr Grzegorz Rapcewicz and Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton following the ordination to the priesthood of Fr Grzegorz at St Mary’s Cathedral, Friday 12 August. PHOTO: RON TAN.
GOD INTERVENED THE IN LIFE OF FELIPE, BRINGING HIM ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE PRIESTHOOD
By Jamie O'Brien
Colombian seminarian Andres Felipe Fernandez is looking forward to working with young people following his ordination.
Felipe, as he will be known, will be ordained to the (transitional) diaconate, Thursday 18 August by Perth Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton, at St Mary’s Cathedral.
The service will be livestreamed to Felipe’s family and friends in Colombia via St Mary’s Cathedral YouTube and Facebook platforms. Originally from the town of Popayán, Colombia, 29-year-old Felipe was trained at Perth’s Redemptoris Mater Seminary, arriving in 2012 at the age of 19.
Felipe’s vocation to the priesthood commenced after he listed to a catechesis of the Neocatechumenal Way at the age of 13, in his parish church of Iglesia Espíritu Santo, Popayán.
“I joined [the Neocatechumenal community] at the time because my mother said it would be good
for my life,” Felipe explained, in a special interview for The Record. It was during his rebellious teenage years that Felipe recalled he experienced a moment of enlightenment, asking God to intervene.
God intervened, with Felipe “standing up” during a vocation call in 2008 at a youth pilgrimage for the Neocatechumenal Way in Bogota. He then went on to stand up again at a national meeting of the Neocatechumenal Way in 2010.
Felipe says he quickly dismissed the call and didn’t think about it too much at the time.
Felipe went on to complete secondary school and was looking to become a forensic scientist or chemical engineer, completing one year of university in the town of Cali, some 140kms from Popayán.
“I never thought to become a priest,” Felipe exclaimed.
“I was concentrating on everything else around me – friends, parties, my studies,” he said.
A conversation with his catechists of Cali from the Neocatechumenal
Way in 2011, shortly before World Youth Day in 2011, had a profound impact.
They had invited him to a meeting with young men who were thinking about a vocation to the priesthood. This was followed by a meeting with seminary formators in Medellin, where he commenced his first year of training at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Medellin.
Several months later, Felipe arrived in Perth, after being chosen - together with a number of others - among a group of 30 others to undertake their formation overseas; Felipe was sent to Australia.
For Felipe, the parable of the prodigal son particularly resonates with his life.
“God really protected me, guided me, and showed me a much greater plan for my life than I could have ever created,” he said.
“I am really so very grateful, and I hope that through him I can be a sign of his love and mercy to other young people.”
Felipe, second from left, with the national catechist team of the Neocatechumenal Way of Colombia. PHOTO: SUPPLIED.
FR FRANCIS LY VAN CA REMEMBERED FOR GENEROSITY,
DEDICATION AND ENTHUSIASM TO ASSIST THOSE IN NEED
The Perth Catholic community has recently paid tribute to Fr Francis Ly Van Ca, who passed away 26 July 2022.
Ordained 4 September 1984 by then Archbishop William Foley, Fr Francis Ly was known as a genuine boat person, arriving in Perth after the fall of Saigon, sailing silently at night in a small boat, through the Mekong Delta into open waters to safety.
He took shelter on an island till the UNHCR cleared him to go to Perth. Already a Deacon, he approached Archbishop Foley who placed him under the care of Fr Pat Russell in Maida Vale.
He was the first Vietnamese Priest in the Archdiocese of Perth. His appointments included
1984 - 1985 Assistant Priest at Greenwood Parish
1985 - 1989 Assistant Priest at Maida Vale Parish
1989 - 1992 Assistant Priest at Leederville Parish
1992 - 2000 Chaplain for Vietnamese
Catholic Community WA
2000 - 2001 Parish Priest at Broadmeadows Deanery, Melbourne
2001 - 2004 Parish Priest at Bentley Parish
2004 - 2008 Parish Priest at Maddington Parish
2008 - 2015 Parish Priest at Lockridge Parish
2015 - 2019 Parish Priest at Maida Vale Parish
2019 - 2020 Parish Priest at Embleton Parish
Below is an edited version of the Eulogy by Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey of Fr Francis.
Today, as we commend the soul of Fr Francis Ly to his merciful Lord, our sympathy goes out to his two sisters, his other family members, to the Vietnamese Community, and to all his parishioners and friends whom he served for many years.
As one of those priests who remained close to him from the time he arrived, I consider it a privilege to say a few words as we pray for the repose of his soul.
Fr Francis was always grateful to Archbishop William Foley for accepting him and ordaining him as a priest.
When he escaped from the new Communist regime, he did not know whether his dream, shared by his mother, that he be a priest, would ever happen.
Archbishop Foley placed him as a Deacon in the Parish of Maida Vale with Fr Pat Russell, to help him with the English language and the roles of Deacon and priest in the Australian context.
Fr Francis was always grateful to Fr Pat Russell and very sad when he died while in Jerusalem on a Pilgrimage.
Others were close to him as well. He had a particular love for Sr Patricia Byrne RNDM, whom I appointed to work with the Vietnamese Community.
Fr Francis Ly Van C was Assistant Parish Priest at Maida Vale from 1985 to 1989. PHOTO: THE RECORD.
JAMIE
BIBIANA KWARAMBA