Each month Bishop Manning writes a Letter to the Catholic Community of Parramatta Diocese, which is published in 'Catholic Outlook', the official diocesan newspaper.
To review previous letters from the Bishop visit the archive.
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Each month Bishop Manning writes a Letter to the Catholic Community of Parramatta Diocese, which is published in 'Catholic Outlook', the official diocesan newspaper. To review previous letters from the Bishop visit the archive. |
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February 2010
From Bishop Kevin Manning, Catholic Outlook, February 2010
My Dear People,
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On Friday 8 January 2010, the Diocese received the wonderful news that Bishop Anthony Fisher OP had been appointed as the third Bishop of Parramatta. The Diocese was established in 1986.
Bishop Anthony is a very prominent public figure with great gifts: an outstanding teacher, preacher, leader, and administrator. We welcome him to the Diocese with prayer, great joy, and open hearts.
The installation of a new bishop is a momentous occasion for a diocese, which you will see when he is installed in St Patrick's Cathedral on 4 March in a ceremony that testifies to the history, tradition and mystery of the Catholic Church.
The appointment of a bishop to a diocese touches into the very heart of Catholicism, and apostolic succession, which is a reality that secular society finds difficult to understand and to cope with.
The secular mind will always baulk at the thought that a Catholic bishop inherits, in a direct line from Christ and the apostles, the duties and character of their apostolic office. The bishop himself, the shepherd, must exemplify Christian service and self-sacrifice.
Teaching role
Like the priesthood, the bishop's office is central to the preservation and
continuation of Church teaching despite opposition and societal change.
The teaching office of a bishop - and our new bishop has superb gifts in this area - is crucial to Catholic identity in a culture that is increasingly secular and worldly.
This requires clear and strong Episcopal teaching, especially about life issues from conception to birth, the meaning and indissolubility of marriage, the meaning of human sexuality, and a deep concern for the dignity of our fellow human beings.
Few will deny that strong leadership is needed at this time.
St Ignatius of Antioch wrote that we should follow our bishop even as Jesus Christ follows His Father. This is the type of faith that the Church has fostered and the faith which, in turn, nurtures the Church itself.
The connection between us and the Heavenly Father must be very real. It was Jesus Himself who was sent by the Father to establish Peter as Head of the Church.
It has been His Holy Spirit who has chosen the successors of Peter down through the ages. And it is the successor of St Peter who has chosen our new bishop.
About Bishop Anthony
Bishop Anthony is a well-known Dominican ethicist, who co-ordinated World
Youth Day 2008 in Sydney. For the past seven years he has been parish priest
of Watsons Bay and an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney.
Bishop Anthony was born in south-west Sydney and educated in several Sydney schools, going on to study history and law at the University of Sydney before practising in a city law firm.
In 1985 he entered the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), a religious order dedicated to preaching the Catholic faith in the context of a life of study, prayer and community.
He studied theology in Melbourne, was ordained a priest in 1991, and completed a doctorate in bioethics at the University of Oxford in 1995.
Bishop Anthony's academic life has included lecturing in several countries and publishing widely on bioethics and moral philosophy. He lectured from 1995 to 2000 at the Australian Catholic University.
From 2000-2003 he was a Foundation Director of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne, where he is still a professor.
He is also an adjunct professor in the University of Notre Dame, Australia, and Deputy Chancellor of the Catholic Institute of Sydney.
Until now he has also been Episcopal Vicar for Life and Health, and Chairman of the Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Board. Bishop Anthony holds the Chair of the NSW Catholic Education Commission and is a member of the Australian Catholic Bishops Commission for Doctrine and Morals and for Health and Community Services. He is also a member of the Vatican Pontifical Academy for Life.
Importance of prayer
I ask you to welcome Bishop Anthony with your prayers. When we pray for
him our hearts grow in love for him and prayer opens our hearts to Christ
teaching through him.
At the present time we need courageous leaders, but we also need people who pray for those in leadership, those who are called to speak with the voice and authority of Jesus Christ.
Never underestimate the power of your prayer in helping your bishop, for your prayers give him encouragement, hope, courage, and generosity, and fill him with wisdom and energy. Your prayers protect him from his own weaknesses.
When we pray for our bishop we also pray for ourselves and our families. The Lord hears the cries of the poor; the more we pray for our leadership, the more we experience unity in our Church, for prayer unites us with our leader and with one another.
Christ prayed that there would be one flock and one shepherd. There is no limit to what God can do in our midst when we pray for our bishop.
As I conclude this letter, I want to say how grateful I am for your co-operation over the 12 years I have spent in this Diocese. I believe we have one of the best dioceses in Australia with dedicated, prayerful people, generous people who involve themselves in supporting their bishop, helping him to carry out his work.
With thanks
My special thanks go to my brother priests who have been wonderfully
supportive, and to my office staff who have so loyally collaborated with me in
every way.
My role as the Bishop of Parramatta came to an end on 8 January 2010 when I was appointed the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese until the installation of Bishop Anthony in St Patrick's Cathedral at 7.30pm on Thursday 4 March 2010.
I sign off this letter grateful for the wonderful people I have met in my time in the Diocese but with a certain sorrow to be retiring from the role of your leader. However, I do so with the certainty that I am handing over to a most talented bishop - do treasure him!
I ask you to pray for me as I retire to Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains with the intention of helping out, when required, in parishes.
Bishop Kevin Manning,
Bishop of Parramatta.
