St Stephen’s Cathedral, Brisbane
You might be aware that I’m not from around here … That was brought home to me very concretely on the evening when my appointment as archbishop was announced. My flight was delayed and I arrived at the Archbishop’s Residence around 9.30pm, a bit later than anticipated. I had naively presumed that the biggest news in town that night would be the announcement, and that my arrival would be a point of some interest for the small group gathered at Wynberg. However, I was completely ignorant of the real news that evening, which was actually the state of play in the second match of the State of Origin series – that’s rugby league for those of you visiting from places where other football codes get more attention. Queensland had lost the first match of the series and had started strongly, but New South Wales was catching up, which could have given them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. It was immediately clear that my arrival was not going to get any attention until the result was clear. Fortunately, Queensland held on to win, and I’m pleased to say that the Maroons haven’t lost a game since I was appointed!
So I come here from another place, and I am very aware how much I have to learn about the people, the history and the culture of this place – as well as tips for how to survive the summers without going too cranky! But while I come from somewhere else, I don’t come as an outsider. I was in Europe last month, and spent time in four different countries – and I wasn’t an outsider in the churches there either. Whenever we gather as Christians, we gather as part of the one Church of Jesus Christ, as parts of his body, into which each of us is baptised, and as which we have together been entrusted with his mission. That’s particularly evident at a celebration like today, when so many have travelled great distances to be here, making visible by their presence with us the connection that the Church of Brisbane has with the whole Church – especially with the other dioceses of Australia, but also with the Church more broadly. One of the main focuses for a bishop’s ministry is to strengthen and make visible our participation in that broader communion of the Church, thereby building up the way we together belong to the Body of Christ.
So the Church of Brisbane has a foundational connection with the whole Church and contributes to it. But it does that in a particular and distinctive way, and there is certainly much about that distinctiveness that I am not yet part of or familiar with. Today is first of all an event for the local Church of Brisbane, and I am delighted that the people, the communities and the activities of the Archdiocese are so well represented in those who are here today, along with leaders of other Churches and of the broader civil community. Together, the parishes, schools, agencies and other activities of the Archdiocese make a wonderful contribution to the long and distinguished history of the Archdiocese, and to South-East Queensland more generally. We are also enriched by the inspiring presence of the indigenous communities of this area, whose ancient history and spirituality goes back many thousands of years before the first texts of the bible. I particularly thank the indigenous leaders who honoured me by welcoming me to this country at the beginning of the ceremony. I am pleased to see that the first of the commitments made by last year’s Archdiocese Synod is “to develop and implement a … plan that provides opportunities … to come to a deeper recognition, appreciation and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, cultures and spiritualities.”
While the Archdiocese was formally established nearly one hundred and seventy years ago, I am most aware personally of the legacy of the last fifty or sixty years. From my earliest years in the seminary, I have been conscious of the gifts of the Church of Brisbane that have been shared with the broader Australian Church, in well-developed pastoral and catechetical resources, and in the people who have been nurtured and formed in this Archdiocese, who then brought their gifts and experience with them to other parts of the country. Archbishop Frank Rush was in office in those days, and by happy coincidence today is the one hundred and ninth anniversary of his birth. I value highly the legacy of Archbishop Rush and the six other bishops who, along with him, have preceded me in leading this diocese. I’m very pleased that in my brief contacts with the Archdiocese over the last few months, it is clear that there is an ongoing commitment to continuing to build on the formation and outreach that have been so much a part of the Archdiocese’s history. This is a vibrant community of faith that lives out its commitment to carrying on in our own time the mission that Jesus entrusted to us.
I am particularly aware of and grateful for the contribution of Archbishop Mark, who has served here for over thirteen years, at the same time as undertaking significant national and international responsibilities in the Church. I have known Archbishop Mark for forty years, since I was fortunate to be in the first class that he taught after returning to Melbourne from his scripture studies. He has always been insightful, wise, passionate and inspiring – as a teacher, an academic leader and a bishop. I am honoured to be following after him, and enormously grateful for the initiatives and undertakings that he has fostered here, which I look forward to taking up and carrying forwards. Last Saturday, at his farewell Mass here in St Stephen’s, Archbishop Mark suggested that he might be remembered as a teacher, a synodal leader and a man of hospitality who has helped to recognise the importance for the Church of recognising the contribution of our indigenous people and new cultural communities. I can already see that rings true here in Brisbane, as I have seen it for many years in his national roles. I am personally grateful for the warm and generous welcome that Archbishop Mark has extended to me over the last few months, and I look forward to his continuing involvement in the life of the Archdiocese from what he has been describing as his ‘bayside bungalow’. Personally, I’m struggling to imagine Archbishop Mark in a bungalow, so I’m looking forward to seeing it in person!
The other local Church that is very present here today is the Diocese of Sandhurst – both a considerable number in person and others also joining with us online. If you see a priest here today that you don’t recognise, there’s every chance that he’s visiting from Sandhurst. At my own farewell Mass last Sunday, I commented that over my six years in Sandhurst, I have not only come to know and appreciate the people, priests and communities of the Diocese, but that with their help I have also received rich insights into the many different aspects of a bishop’s ministry. I am deeply grateful for the welcome that I received in Sandhurst. I am sad to be leaving the Diocese, but confident that there is great commitment and momentum supporting the various projects that are underway there. I will bring all that I have learnt and experienced in Sandhurst to my ministry here. As much as I have left my mark on Sandhurst, my involvement and relationships there have shaped and formed who I am, first of all as a person and therefore also as a bishop. I will carry a very tangible reminder of that as I travel around the Archdiocese in the beautiful crosier that was presented to me on Monday by the Sandhurst priests.
The second reading and the gospel we have heard, which are the ones that happen to be set for today in the lectionary, both speak of Christian love. St Paul exhorts us to put on love to keep together and complete everything else for which we strive and, by doing that, to let Christ make a home in us. Then, in the gospel, Jesus reminds us that Christian love is not just affection for our friends but is a radical commitment to respect and care for all people, even our enemies. That radical love is a profound challenge to our human tendency to think first of our own immediate needs and inclinations, calling us instead to look beyond ourselves to those we are least likely to notice. That is precisely what we see in Jesus’ own life and ministry, and it was what made those in power determined to kill him. As Christians, we are called to strive to make Jesus’ radical commitment real in our world today, which is never easy, but is even more important at a time when the trend in so many communities is to turn inwards and withdraw from concern for the broader human family. That is one of the many reasons that so many people today are feeling more anxious and less hopeful. A study earlier this year found that only 19% of Australians feel hopeful about the next few years, compared with 24% who felt hopeful twelve months ago. Interestingly, that study also found that the three most significant factors in improving people’s sense of hope are religious faith, connection to others, and being involved in shared action.
Those three factors correspond almost exactly to the three-fold relationship we each enter at baptism: first, united to Christ in faith as part of his body; second, connected to others through entering into communion with one another; and, third, commissioned to carry on his mission in the world through our shared action. It is in those three dimensions of our Christian identity that we are called to show the radical love we see in Jesus and to carry on his mission of service in the world that is evoked in my episcopal motto: ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’. Pope Francis, and now Pope Leo, are asking us to do this by becoming more synodal: discerning together where the Holy Spirit is leading us, and how we might build up structures of collaboration and involvement that enhance our capacity to live out Jesus’ mission. Here in Brisbane the response to that invitation has taken a very concrete form, in the fifty action plans that were developed by last year’s Archdiocese Synod as ways of implementing the decrees of the Australian Plenary Council, drawing on the insights of the Synod for a Synodal Church. They are very concrete ways of strengthening our faith, our connection to one another, and our capacity to engage in the shared action that is needed to build hope and possibility in our world. One of the ongoing challenges that we face in doing that is the need to continue working for justice, care and healing for those affected by abuse in the Church. I am pleased to see that this is one of the priorities addressed in the action plans, and I look forward to taking up these and the other action plans over the years ahead. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the particular contribution of Bishop Tim Norton to the synod process. Bishop Tim wanted very much to join us for today’s celebration but had already committed to spend this week with his priests in their annual retreat.
Bishop Tim would be the first to point out that he was only one of many who contributed to the synod process. That is also true for Archbishop Mark, and it will be no less true for me as I undertake my ministry here. Leaders matter, of course, but it is only together, as a community, that we can live out the mission that has been entrusted to us. God’s word continues to be proclaimed amongst us and, as we heard in the first reading, God promises that his word will not return without succeeding in what it was sent to do – bringing life and nourishment in our world. I look forward to serving the Church of Brisbane as we develop our response to God’s word in our place and time, taking the next steps on our journey as God’s people by living out Jesus’ example of radical love and placing our hope in what God continues to do amongst us.