This is the edited text of the homily for the Mass of Ordination to the Episcopate of the Most reverend Tony Percy at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 2 May 2025.
Alexander, the fourth century Bishop of Alexandria, once saw some kids playing by the sea, mimicking the ritual of Baptism. He asked who they were and discovered that the one playing bishop was called Athanasius. After questioning the boy-bishop, Alexander told him his baptisms seemed to be valid in matter, form and intention, but that he must stop baptising other children, as they had not been properly catechised. Alexander then invited the boys to consider clerical vocations so their baptisms would be legitimate in future!
Twenty years later and 1700 years ago this very month, Athanasius attended the first of the great ecumenical councils of the church—in Nicaea—now as a young deacon and secretary to Bishop Alexander. Convoked by Constantine the Great, it was hoped the Council would quell disputes long brewing in Alexandria and now infecting the hurch beyond. The Council legislated for proper catechesis of catechumens, episcopal ordinations by the metropolitan and at least two other bishops, and the holding of synods. It promulgated canons to prevent clerical truancy, usury and self-castration, as well as lay lapsation. It gave us most of what we now call The Nicene Creed, above all clarifying that God the Son was co-eternal, co-equal and consubstantial with the Father.
Athanasius could not have guessed how those disputes and attempted resolutions would define his life. He became the leading voice for the Nicene confession, arguing persuasively for the ὁμοούσιον (homoousios) of the Father and the Son. It pitted him against Arian pastors and politicians. But he knew that getting right who Jesus was mattered: it goes to the heart of our understanding of Christ and the Trinity, obviously, but also beliefs about revelation, redemption, Church, eschatology and more. Only if Jesus was truly “Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father” could He redeem, church and judge us.
Such was the opposition he faced, that Athanasius contra mundum (Athanasius Against the World) became a catchcry. He did not aim to be confrontational but only, as Paul counsels Bishop Timothy in our epistle, to be a courageous and unembarrassed herald of the Gospel (2Tim 1:6-14). But that wasn’t always easy, even for this great Doctor of the Church. Only months after the Council concluded, Bishop Alexander lay dying, and Athanasius fled, fearing election. When the bishops of the province assembled in the cathedral, the faithful surrounded it, raising their hands to heaven and crying out “Give us Athanasius!” He would hold office for the next 45 years. Yet he would be opposed and defamed almost from Day One, spend 17 of those years in exile at the hands of four emperors, and be involved in many other near-lethal incidents. Dear brother bishops, we’ve got it easy by comparison!
What might our saint say to our bishop-elect? Well, for one thing, whatever our preferences or reservations, God’s will and the good of others must come first. Around 355 AD the abbot Drancontius was elected bishop of Hermopolis Parva on the Nile. Like Athanasius this was very much against his will, but unlike his metropolitan he refused to budge. Athanasius wrote to him as a beloved brother, acknowledging his dilemma. Yes, it would be hard to leave the ministry of abbot, the life of a monk, the familiar surroundings and advisers. Yes, the life of a bishop would bring challenges and temptations. But ultimately it is a calling, a grace, God’s plan. We must trust that God knows best—for the Church and for us. Resist His plan and we mess up our lives, set a bad example, and let down the faithful.
What’s more, Athanasius argues, the Church needs bishops. Without bishops there would be no priests, sacraments, or Church. In challenging times good bishops are more crucial than ever. And if good men eschew office, only unfit ones will assume it!
But what of imposter syndrome, the sense that we are unworthy or unable to fulfil the office? Well, of course you are unworthy, this doctor says, as are all bishops, priests, and Christians! But it is the devil’s trick to dress up such foreboding as humility. And it is unmanly to resist great feats out of fear God’s grace and our commitment are insufficient. To say such tasks are distasteful to us is to say the Church deigned by God and its calling are distasteful to us. In that case we’d better cultivate more courage and better taste!
Fourthly, the abbot was said to fear that a bishop’s life of banquets and power would be corrupting. Well, responds Athanasius, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, it is possible, if rare, for a bishop to be abstemious and even holy, just as it is possible, if rare, for a monk! If teaching and governing can be occasions of sin, the lack of them is worse. Someone must take responsibility.
Drancontius was persuaded. He assumed office as bishop and joined Athanasius as an enthusiastic Nicaean. But after another synod was summoned by the next emperor, the semi-Arian Acacius of Caesaria deposed and banished Drancontius, which put him in good company with Sts Athanasius, Basil and Cyril of Jerusalem. I trust our new bishop will have an easier run!
Dear Tony, before he died, Pope Francis chose you, born in Sydney, schooled, universitied and seminaried in Sydney, and for some years seminary rector in Sydney, for the office of Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney. Till then you had been hiding in the Egyptian desert of Queanbeyan. You bring to this great responsibility a profound love of Christ, an Athanasian passion for Church teaching, a concern for the formation of priests and faithful, and the courage to enter contest on behalf of Christ and His Church when necessary, even if (as Athanasius found) that can be lonely.
Like those courageous bishops of the early centuries, you have demonstrated manliness and trust in speaking up for Catholic anthropology, faith and morality in a secularising culture, and for Catholic institutions under threat. Like them, you have undertaken the theological formation necessary for such engagement. And like them, you come with many gifts and experiences, including as a Parish Priest, Rector and Vicar General.
God has now chosen you to abide always in His love by keeping His commandments and giving your life for others, as our Gospel counsels (Jn 15:9-17). Like Peter, you must testify to the kerygma about Christ’s saving incarnation, passion, resurrection and return (Acts 10:37-43). And as Paul counselled in our epistle, you must be ready to give courageous and faithful testimony to the apostolic tradition and its Lord (2Tim 1:6-14).
As a teacher of sacred doctrine, priest of sacred worship, and minister of sacred governance, let your every word and deed proclaim with Athanasius, “God became human so we might become God.”