LIFELINK DAY FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS: JESUS IS UNITED WITH THOSE WHO ARE NOT ABLE TO CARE FOR THEMSELVES, SAYS ARCHBISHOP COSTELLOE
By Amanda Murthy/CEWA
Not only did God make us, but He loves us and wants to be close to us, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe has said.
Archbishop Costelloe was speaking for his 2023 LifeLink Day for Primary Schools Wednesday, 7 June 2023 and to more than 450 students, teachers and principals representing 75 Archdiocesan primary schools at Newman College.
The launch was also livestreamed to enable more students and schools to participate and hear directly from Archbishop Timothy and other speakers.
Present for the annual occasion was LifeLink Chair, Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton, Episcopal Vicar for
Education and Faith Formation the Very Rev Fr Vincent Glynn, Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) Director of Religious Education Deacon Mark Powell, representing Executive Director Dr Debra Sayce, Floreat/Wembley Parish Priest Fr Kazimierz Stuglik and Doubleview Parish Priest, Fr Peter Hoang OP along with CEWA staff and student representatives.
In his keynote address, Archbishop Costelloe offered a reflection on the purpose of LifeLink, and how the Church’s social service agencies supported by LifeLink, respond to our brothers and sisters in need.
“…When you produce the projects to raise money for the people who come to The Shopfront, for example, looking for something to eat, you
are doing something to give food to Jesus himself, because He is united with those hungry people,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
“When you spend time with your friends, at school, planning projects that will raise money for those people who have disabilities that are looked after by Identitywa or by the Emmanuel Centre, you are doing something for Jesus,” he said. Jesus is united, continued Archbishop Costelloe, with those people who for one reason or another are not able to care for themselves.
“…We know that every single person, no matter how lost, or lonely, or poor, or struggling or sick or hurting he or she might be, is deeply loved by God as well.
“The best way that we can show our love for God, and our desire to respond to God, as he speaks to us, in the words of Jesus, is to show our love for the people that God loves and letting people and especially those in need,” he said.
During his presentation, Archbishop Costelloe explained that LifeLink was established by Emeritus Archbishop Barry Hickey in 1994, highlighting that LifeLink would be a focal point as the fundraising and promotional arm for the Church’s social welfare agencies in this Archdiocese.
At that time, explained Archbishop Costelloe, many Church welfare agencies had served the community for more than 20 or 30 years and were well known, while many others were not so well known.
Episcopal Vicar the Very Rev Fr Vincent Glynn, left with CEWA Director Religious Education Deacon Mark Powell and students from Sacred Heart College Sorrento. PHOTO: RON TAN/ARCHDIOCESE OF PERTH.
TO BE A CHRISTIAN IS TO LIVE AS A DISCIPLE, IN A RELATIONSHIP OF FIDELITY, COMMITMENT AND LOVE WITH CHRIST, SAYS ARCHBISHOP COSTELLOE
By Jamie O'Brien
Only God can make sense of our weakness and our foolishness and through them bring strength and wisdom to people’s lives, said Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB in ordaining Perth boy and Somascan Rev Deacon Sheldon Burke CRS.
The ordination to the priesthood on Saturday 17 June at St Mary’s Cathedral, was attended by more than 850 people with Archbishop Costelloe joined by concelebrants, Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton, Vicar General the Very Rev Fr Peter Whitely VG, Episcopal Vicar Education and Faith Formation, the Very Rev Fr Vincent Glynn, Somascan Provincial Fr Joseph Kakumanu CRS, (PP of York and also Congregational Leader) Frs Nicholas Diedler and Wilson DonizettiMartins as MC, and assisted by Deacon Jason Yeap.
Livestreamed to family and friends across Australia and the world, the Ordination Mass was also attended by former Somascan Vicar Provincial and former Parish Priest of Spearwood, Fr Johnson Malayil CRS, who was also Fr Sheldon’s Postulancy Master, as well as Fr
Beniamino Mino Arsieni CRS, who travelled from Rome, who was Fr Sheldon’s former Novice Master. Our Catholic tradition, emphasised Archbishop Costelloe, has always recognised that Jesus, the living presence of God among us as one of us, is absolutely at the centre of our faith.
“To be a Christian is to live as a disciple, in a relationship of fidelity, commitment and love with Christ,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
The youngest of three boys, Fr Sheldon is the son of Burmese (Myanmar) migrants Desmond and Shirley Burke.
After graduating high school at Lumen Christi College in 2009, Fr Sheldon explained to The Record he went on to study a degree in Biomedical Science at Murdoch University, graduating in 2012. By this time however, the significant imprint from a trip to World Youth Day Sydney in 2008 at the age of 16 could not be ignored for much longer.
Fr Sheldon noted meeting and feeling inspired by the numerous priests and seminarians present during the WYD journey, but not really understanding much about what their vocation meant.
“It was during the meeting with (then) Pope Benedict XVI, where he invited the young people to say a prayer to the Holy Spirit, everyone was holding candles and I knew in my heart God was speaking to me,”
Deacon Sheldon said.
Growing up under the spiritual care and catechesis of the Vincentian Fathers at Maddington Parish, 31-year-old Sheldon Burke came to eventually know the Somascan Fathers through the friendship and guidance of the now Fr Chris de Sousa CRS, who also hails from Perth.
Joining the Somascan Fathers in 2014, Fr Sheldon underwent his first period of formation in the parishes of Spearwood and Rockingham, before heading to Italy for his year of novitiate and a further two years of study in philosophy at Rome’s Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
Following his solemn profession in November 2020, Fr Sheldon relocated to the Somascan community in Sydney, New South Wales, where he served at the parishes of Moorebank and Holsworthy as a brother and later a deacon, while completing his studies at the Catholic Institute of Sydney.
Speaking about the ministry of the priesthood, Archbishop Costelloe reflected on the words of Jesus when he said, “You did not choose me – no I chose you”.
“And in remembering those words I hope Sheldon will also remember the words of St Paul: “God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27),” he said. Sheldon will grow into the good and faithful priest we need him to be, noted Archbishop Costelloe, if he does remember these things: that it is all God’s doing, all God’s grace.
The youngest of three boys, Fr Sheldon is the son of Burmese (Myanmar) migrants Desmond and Shirley Burke. PHOTO:RON TAN/ARCHDIOCESE OF PERTH.
MATTHEW GIBNEY STUDENTS WORK TOGETHER TO BUILD FAITH, PLACE, JOURNEY MURAL
By Karen Keddie
During Term One 2023, the students from Matthew Gibney Catholic Primary School, worked with talented visual artist, Carolyn White, to create a mosaic mural that represents many different aspects of the school’s location and faith heritage.
Every student from Kindergarten to Year 6, worked with Carolyn and her team, to cut and place the mosaic tiles.
The main feature of the mosaic is an illustration of the school’s patron, former Perth Bishop Matthew Gibney.
Bishop Matthew Gibney, the third Bishop of Perth, was a driving force in the new Swan River Colony, being instrumental in the growth and development of the Catholic community, including the establishment of the Diocese of Geraldton, The Record Newspaper, Clontarf College, St John of God Hospital, and numerous Catholic
Schools.
The project was funded by the school’s Parents and Friends Association and was completed over several weeks.
Working with the school’s First Nation families, several symbols were incorporated into the mural, to represent the school’s proximity to Munday Swamp, which is a place of Noongar cultural significance.
Each of the symbols in the mural speaks to the story of the school; the gathering of people beside Munday Swamp; the flora and fauna of the local area; the open book representing education; and the Holy Spirit – which has continuously guided the school across the past 32 years.
Looking back across the mural, is the figure of Bishop Matthew Gibney, a man who was a visionary in Catholic Education.
The different elements of the mural are connected by water – the water of the wetlands, so important to the indigenous people, and the ocean
that Matthew Gibney crossed from Ireland to begin his priestly life here in Perth.
Central to the mural is a cross made in 2011, by a long-standing member of the school community, Mr Steve Vajas. The cross represents the school’s fundamental purpose, which is Christ-centred education.
Matthew Gibney Principal Therese Hussey and P&F President Stephanie Kuciuba, together with the whole school community witnessed the revealing of the 10-metre-long mural on Wednesday 3 May.
Entitled FAITH, PLACE, JOURNEY, the mural was blessed by Maida Vale Parish Priest Fr Joseph Rathnaraj, who reminded those gathered of the great privilege of receiving an education, in such a faithful and welcoming community, and prayed that the school would continue to uphold the vision of Matthew Gibney.
The main feature of the mosaic is an illustration of the school’s patron, former Perth Bishop Matthew Gibney. PHOTO: SUPPLIED/MATTHEW GIBNEY CATHOLIC PRIMARY.
FUTURE SCIENTISTS GIVE PHYSICS GEAR A NEW LIFE
The University of Notre Dame Australia has donated its excess physics equipment to Western Australian primary schools, helping to encourage more students to embrace and pursue a career in science.
A recent renovation and spring clean of the science labs in Fremantle uncovered physics equipment that was no longer needed for the Bachelor of Science program. Among the excess equipment was Bunsen burners, weights and a pulley set for motion and friction experiments, equipment for lessons in electronics and lenses for exploring light.
The physics equipment was given to the Science Teachers’ Association of Western Australia (STAWA) so it could be recycled and given a new
life with primary school students.
The STAWA will use some of the equipment for its workshops and has donated the remainder to teachers from across Perth who attended their recent Open Lab afternoons in the northern and southern suburbs.
Associate Professor Dylan Korczynskyj from the School of Arts and Sciences said Notre Dame was proud to help the STAWA - a small not-for-profit that promotes and supports science teaching across the State.
“Part of what STAWA does is enable science teaching by providing curriculum, workshops and even the supply of gear,” he said.
“Because of this they were the natural choice to turn to when we have equipment that was unused. The equipment was in good shape
and had plenty more to give, but it would have been relatively expensive to buy new.”
STAWA Chief Executive Officer
John Clarke said the teachers who came to the Open Lab afternoons were “very appreciative” of the free extra resources that they could take back to their schools.
Associate Professor Korczynskyj also recently took some science gear to La Grange Remote Community School in the Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community, about 180km south of Broome.
He and his wife, an early childhood teacher, spent two days at the school helping out in the classrooms and passing on resources that can be used to investigate renewable energy.
A recent renovation and spring clean of the science labs at UNDA in Fremantle uncovered physics equipment that was no longer needed for the Bachelor of Science program. PHOTO: SUPPLIED/UNDA.