My dear people

A lot has happened in the last couple of months and travel requirements have kept me out of the office for quite a bit.

While in the Central West I met with the two priests working in solidum out there, Father Shaiju and Father Raj, and installed them as the Pastors for the region and met with the newly appointed Pastoral Coordinator, Loretta McKeering.  The three meet regularly and work in a team across all of the Parishes of the Central West. We met with the Regional Pastoral Council at the same time to begin their work for the year.  The first item on the agenda was the new Mass roster, which commenced the beginning of March, so the priests could fulfill the ministries across all the communities.  I congratulate the Central West Regional Pastoral Council, under the chairing of Mr Andrew Wachtel, as it has formed and is now setting the example in working together across the large region and working for all the communities out there.  I thank them for their openness and support for this process.  While there I also visited the parish communities of Blackall and Tambo.  It was wonderful to see the country so beautiful and green once again, ready to support the cattle industry of our Diocese.  While in Blackall we had the blessing of St Joseph’s School Early Learning Precinct and refurbished classrooms and it was great to be welcomed by Principal, Jo Davison and her staff.

I had the opportunity to travel around the Diocese with Catholic Education for the Bishop’s Inservice Days during February.  These were started by my predecessor Bishop Wallace many, many years ago as a way of gathering the teachers and for a day to give them some very good theology to assist them in the teaching of the Catholic faith. These gatherings have continued and I am indeed very fortunate to inherit such a wonderful tradition from my predecessor. It is a week of extraordinary organisation with guest speakers and many of the Catholic Education staff facilitating workshops.  This year Dr Dan White was the keynote speaker and outlined Pope Francis' Encyclical “On the call to Holiness”.  It is a great privilege to gather with all of our school people together and to spend some quality time with them and I appreciate the great gift that Leesa Jeffcoat is to our Diocese ensuring that the very best of education is offered to our young people.   Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation – Gaudete et Exsultate: Rejoice and Exult – A call to holiness in today’s world - is a very down to earth and easy to read document and I would encourage everyone to have a look.  It can be accessed online for free.

We welcomed Mr Michael Otto to the Diocese as our Executive Office – Vocations, Youth and Family Life.  Michael has worked with NET Ministries in the past and is married with a young family.  His main focus will be on vocations for priesthood and religious life and walking with people through that discernment.  If you know anyone who may be considering a vocation, or would like Michael to speak to someone or a group about vocations please let him know.  Michael will also provide guidance and support in the youth and family life space, and is currently coordinating a Couples Retreat for April which is open to all couples across the Diocese - no matter what age or where you are in your relationship.  We have some very renown facilitators arranged and this is an exceptional opportunity for our Diocese to support those in their vocation of marriage.

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD, the Provincial for the Society of Divine Word (SVD) Missionary Fathers visited Rockhampton, Blackwater and Emerald as a familiarisation and preparation for the arrival of the two new SVD priests to our Diocese.  The communities were very welcoming of Fr Rass and appreciated the time he took to find out more about them.  I thank the communities for welcoming both of us as we set-up this ministry.   I  welcome the two new priests, Father Truc and Father Yon, to the parishes of the Central Highlands.

We are all well aware of the current impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the changes it is creating.  The health and safety of our parishioners is paramount and as such we have implemented temporary changes to our liturgy to minimise the risk of spreading this, or any, virus.  While there is no need to panic, this is a serious matter and I appreciate your support in making these changes to help the overall effort to contain the spread of this virus. I am regularly meeting with my leaders and liaising with Queensland Health to assess our response and stay up to date as things change.  You can find material about the recent changes in this newsletter.

Finally I would like to say thank you to Father Ronaldo Rodriguez SVD and Father Sathish Peddakotla HGN who have been serving our Diocese for a number of years.  Father Ronaldo will be transferring to a new mission and Father Sathish will be returning to India to take on ministry there with his Order.  We appreciate the time they have both spent in the Diocese and ministering to our communities and will continue to pray for them in their new ministries.

God bless