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Faith Under the Spotlight
Rob galea & matt king ...82
spotlight
FRANKLY caught up with two men who love their God and have been inspired to stand out.
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Faith under the
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Reaching hearts with music Celebrity
Fr Rob Galea
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Before every rehearsal and concert Fr Rob Galea gathers his band and any other musicians and dancers to pray. He did this as a contestant on The X-Factor reality TV show too, praying with his competitors in the green room and answering requests for a personal word or blessing before they went onstage. “At first because I wore my collar they thought I was in dress-up as a priest, and when the judges realised I wasn’t, they told me it was wonderful to be able to talk to a priest.”
Fr Rob is an assistant parish priest at St Kilian’s parish in the Sandhurst diocese. In addition his youth ministry work involves performing with his band at 80 secondary schools a year, and to large audiences around Australia and overseas. He began playing guitar as a teenager with his local parish youth group in his native Malta. His first recorded song, written for his friend who died of muscular dystrophy, was a number one bestseller in Malta and scored him his first international record deal. At that time he was also studying for the priesthood.
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He sang the official World Youth Day 2008 song Receive the Power with Guy Sebastian and other artists. In 2015, by then a priest working for the Sandhurst diocese, Fr Rob was a popular contestant on The X-Factor (Australia). He left the show voluntarily after its ‘boot camp’ stage to return to the regular priestly and music commitments he loves. He also declined an invitation to perform on the US version of The Voice because of his commitments. He’s a bit uncomfortable with the level of fame he’s attained in some countries and is disinclined to encourage more fame just for the sake of it.
In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald he said:
“My role is to make God famous, I am the instrument, the face of it. I have always known that music is part of my ministry, but I see myself first as a priest, teacher, and evangelist.”
Photo Credit: Christian Barkla © Whites + Woods Creative
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To FRANKLY he explains, “My vocation as a priest is to share God’s love and God’s presence through words and through the Sacraments. That is my primary role. And I also think there’s no better way to share God’s word than through the language of the heart, and that is music.
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“When I am preaching, people will listen, but when I sing a song while I am preaching, all of a sudden the tears roll, or the joy is evident.
“Music allows them to be less defensive, more ready to receive a message in their hearts.”
Fr Rob believes all kind of work, whether performing music for thousands of people, or cleaning a bathroom for one, can bring dignity to people and honour to God: “My brother is an architect. He loves God with all his heart and he says to me, ‘I really want to serve God. Maybe I should be a missionary and go to Africa and build houses there.’ “I tell him, ‘Joe, this is fantastic, but you have to understand that you are an artist and you are bringing God through your art to the world’. This is what people have to understand.
“But I also believe that we can use beauty and we can use work to turn away from God. It’s about where we direct our hearts.”
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“We can clean toilets and do the job well for God because God is always present to us. We can decide to be the hands and feet of God. “In my case it is more explicit. I am an evangelist. But we can each be an instrument of God no matter what work we do.”
“All beauty belongs to God, all work belongs to God, so I believe we have to give glory to God with everything we are and do.”
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Blipp to watch Fr Rob on X Factor or visit FRANKLYmag.org
“Music somehow reaches the heart when words fail.” Photo Credit: Christian Barkla © Whites + Woods Creative
“When they are doctors they are the hands of God in the operating theatre, when they are cleaning the streets they are bringing God’s order, God’s beauty into the streets.
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Connecting with the
Big Fella Matt King, former first-grade rugby league player and the development coach for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, credits a life-long commitment to weekly Mass for much of his success and positive attitude.
Photo credit: By Mark Evans Š Newspix
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His mother, a devout Catholic, took his family to Mass every Saturday night. He says this is where he was inspired to be the best person he could be, on and off the field. “Even if we were away from home, we’d follow her off to wherever the local Mass was. That habit has stayed with me my whole life.
“Once I was old enough to decide for myself how to use my time on the weekends I made a conscious decision to keep going to Mass.” Even when travelling or living in different parts of the world Matt would try to get to Mass on the weekend and linger afterwards for a chat with the priest outside. “They’re always pretty chuffed to hear that a high-level sportsperson will make time to go to church, but it was just always important for me no matter what else was going on to make time to do that,” he says.
In his current role as a development coach, Matt is mindful of the enormous influence he has as a mentor not just of great future rugby players but good men. But there are limits to his professional role in this regard and in his case he credits his faith for much of his own formation. “My coaches had a big influence on shaping me as a person, but my faith has shaped me, too. In church as a young kid I just got example after example of what it is to be a good person, and what makes for a good life. “I learnt that the better person you are, the better sports person you are, or doctor or parent, or whatever it is you do in life. “To be a good person has always been very important to me and that was instilled in me through my faith influences from a young age. “Those lessons you learn as a young person really form you and help you later in life when money and fame and other temptations come into it.”
“I’m not saying I never let my hair down, I definitely did, but I tried to never make a mistake twice.”
“It’s my morning ritual when I see that view to make the Sign of the Cross.
“Even as first-grade rugby player it was very important to my footy to pray every night before a game; first for everyone’s health and second for the win that we’d worked so hard for.”
“Gratitude is very important.
Matt believes one of the most important attitudes for success in life is a grateful attitude. “I know that the Big Fella’s been looking out for me and when anything good happens to me, and they can be even little things, I will always say thank you.”
“I’ve always slept with rosary beads under my pillow. Now that we live near the beach, every morning when I leave my house for work at one point I get an awesome view of the Pacific Ocean and, in summertime, the sunrise.”
“I still connect in some way with the Big Fella every day.”
Photo credit: The Catholic Weekly
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“It’s my way to thank God for a pretty amazing start to my day, and for the blessing of being able to live and raise my family in such a beautiful part of the world.”
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ONE MINUTE CATHOLIC
ROAD outRAGE Don’t you hate it when someone cuts you off in traffic or you get stuck behind someone who is driving really slow? Do you blare your horn, curse the driver, swear under your breath, as you frantically look for a way to get around him or her? It’s so common for us to go raging around our roads, glaring at other drivers who are too slow, irresponsible or selfish and losing our peace in the process. We arrive at our destination, flustered, grumpy and even more stressed. It’s actually a bit dopey when you think about it... why would we give up our peace to the stranger in the next car?
So ditch the rage and do something radically counteractive: send a silent blessing the other driver’s way.
“A person of blessing will be enriched”. Proverb 11:25
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One Minute Cathoic