Friday 5 July Rome

It is Friday morning in Rome and already the temperature is already nudging the mid 30’s. It has been a marvellous month which began in Kerala in mid-June and finishing here at the Holy City of Rome.

The first stop on my way to the city of the Apostles was Cochin, in Kerala. Bishop Joseph Kariyil is the bishop of the Diocese of Cochin and the bishop of Frs Alex, Jomon and Gasper. Bishop Joseph and the Diocese of Cochin have generously offered to assist us with these good priests. On behalf of all of the Diocese, I thanked him and his senior priests for this generous gift. It was good to meet up with their families and especially the families of Alex, Jomon and Gasper.

With Fr Alex’s family.  

                                   Fr Jomon's family

With Fr Gasper's mother

Cochin is an ancient city. From New Testament times, Jewish traders from Jerusalem followed the trading routes and settled in this part of India and following them were the first Christian apostles. Cochin was the second Diocese erected in India in 1557. The first being Goa erected in 1553 and has had a strong Portuguese influence.  The explorer Vasco de Gama was buried there but his body was later removed to Belem, Lisbon.

 After graciously being hosted by Bishop Joseph, the trip continued to Rome and so began, a week’s retreat in the hills behind Rome at Ariccia. It was a respite from the heat and humidity of Rome. Our retreat director was Ian Cribb sj who led us through some of the Ignatian exercises of discernment. The day started in silence and continued until the late afternoon and then after the evening meal. The retreat provided us all with a chance to stop and reflect and discern…a truly blessed time for us all and prepared us for a marvellous encounter with Francis, the Holy Father, successor of Peter.

Then began the Ad Limina with a two and a half hour session with Pope Francis. It was a profound experience whereby we were able to bring our questions directly to him. Earlier that morning, we celebrated mass at the Tomb of St Peter, below the main altar of St Peter’s Basilica. Pope Francis warmly embraced the Australian Bishops and thanked us for our ministry and asked us to bring greetings to all in our Dioceses.

And then, it was a visit to the various dicasteries (departments of the Vatican administration): Promotion of New Evangelisation, Protection of Minors, Congregation for Bishops, Congregation for Clergy , Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Congregation for Interreligious Dialogue, Laity and Family Life, Catholic Education, Consecrated Life and Secretary of State.

In between these meetings, we made a pilgrimage to the Four Major Basilica’s of Rome and celebrated mass in St Peter’s, St Mary Major, St Paul’s Outside the Walls and St John Lateran. Each has its own significance. St Mary Major is a favourite of Pope Francis and he often visits this Church because of his great devotion to Mary, the Mother of God. St Paul’s Outside the Walls is where Bishop Rush celebrated his first mass after priestly ordination and was assisted by Guilford Young (Longreach and later Archbishop of Hobart) and it is where St Paul was martyred for the faith and his body is now entombed below the main altar. Finally, St John Lateran is the church of the Bishop of Rome (Pope Francis).

 For the Ad Limina visit, we stayed at Domus Australia which was set up by the Sydney Archdiocese for Australian Pilgrims to Rome. The Domus is near the Termini Station. Our transport each day to the Vatican was provided by the L’opera della Chiesa (The work of the Church) and normally took a good 30 minutes through the traffic. We were transported in mini buses and our drivers were priests of the society who normally minister in parishes and retreat work and they offer the transport as a support to the bishops on Ad Limina.

The Ad Limina week ended with mass at St Peter’s for the feast of Sts Peter and Paul with the Holy Father. A fitting conclusion to what was a remarkable week of meetings with the Holy Father and concluding with the Holy Father.

It was great to catch up with Fr Andrew Chase who recently defended his Doctorate in Theology from the Gregorian University. His parents, Chris and Maryanne, were in town and spent a few days with him. He soon returns to Rockhampton. Our congratulations go to him on his achieving his Doctorate after 6 years of study here in Rome.

Fr Andrew Hogan and his parents Bob and Sharon and Aunt Gemma and together with Fr Matthew Moloney and Joy and her mother Joy were all in town this week and it was good to celebrate mass with them last Monday morning in St Peter’s. (bishop 3) Afterwards, we enjoyed a Roman coffee and then it was on to explore the ancient church of St Clemente.

 A final wrap-up of the Ad Limina was a visit to some of the congregations and included the Propagation of the Faith. It was meeting of old friends and Monsignor Ted Nowak omi conducted the tour of meetings with the various people who power the missionary church, assisting many of our near neighbours with projects of evangelisation in PNG, Solomon Islands and the countries that make up the Pacific. I also met up with Monsignor Oliver of the Council for the Protection of Minors. It was good to be in his presence and exchange what is happening with Safeguarding across the Catholic World. He clearly affirmed that safeguarding is the Holy Fathers wish for the whole church.

 And now it is time to say goodbye to the Eternal City until the next Ad Limina and I have remembered you all here during my visit to the city of the Apostles.