Pope Francis has appointed Fr Tony Percy, currently the parish priest of St Gregory’s parish, Queanbeyan, as the next auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney.
Fr Percy, 62, was born in Sydney but relocated to Cooma with his family soon after. He is well acquainted with Sydney, however, having studied a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of New South Wales and, more recently, serving as the rector of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd from 2009-2014.
Following his ordination to the priesthood in December 1990, Fr Percy served at the parishes of Young, Queanbeyan, Ariah Park, Ardlethan and Barrellan before heading to the United States for further studies, obtaining his Licentiate and Doctorate in Sacred Theology.
After his return from studies, he served as parish priest in Goulburn before being invited by Cardinal George Pell to head the seminary.
Following his term as seminary rector, Fr Percy returned to Canberra and served as the archdiocesan Vicar General from 2015-2023. During that time he also served as parish priest at Wanniassa and then—until this appointment—as the parish priest of St Gregory’s, Queanbeyan.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP welcomed the announcement of Fr Percy’s appointment, and said he is eagerly anticipating the priest’s arrival in Sydney for consecration as a bishop.
“I’ve known Fr Tony for many years and know him to be a man of deep faith, joy and courage,” Archbishop Fisher said.
“He also led the seminary in the immediate aftermath of World Youth Day 2008 and formed many of the young priests who are now serving us so wonderfully.
“I’m grateful to the Holy Father for choosing another good and faith-filled priest to serve as a bishop in our archdiocese and to work alongside me in the vineyard of Sydney. There will certainly be a lot of work for him to do.”
Fr Percy told The Catholic Weekly he had “very much” enjoyed his time ministering in Sydney as the seminary rector.
“Cardinal Pell, who I didn’t really know that well, placed a lot of trust in me and in the formation team,” he said.
“We had a great seminary and we had some really great young students who then became great priests. That was a very good thing to do and fascinating thing to do and I enjoyed that very much,” he said.
Fr Percy said he would miss his current parish and parishioners, and he is obviously well-loved amongst his flock.
Weekly Mass attendance doubled in the two short years since Fr Percy arrived at the parish, and 15 people were received into the church last Easter with a similar cohort preparing to be received at this year’s Easter vigil.
“The parish life has been terrific, so I’ll miss the direct parish involvement. That’s been great; there’s so many good people here, so many cultures,” he said.
Significantly, many of those demonstrating a renewed interest in the Catholic faith were young.
“I haven’t really seen it like this in my 35 years of the priesthood,” Fr Percy said.
“There’s a real renewal happening among young people and so we keep seeing a tremendous rise of interest in faith by young people. I mean people who are in late high school, Years 11 and 12 and then in their late teens to early 20s. There’s a tremendous interest in faith.”
Fr Percy was well known for his public advocacy following the ACT Government’s 2023 takeover of Calvary Hospital.
His “Save Calvary” petition garnered more than 50,000 signatures, with signatories provided with regular video updates about the progress of the campaign.
“Religious freedom and property rights are fundamental to a free and fair society and what we had with Calvary was the denial and abuse of those, and so that was a very, very important issue,” he explained.
Reflecting on being at the forefront of that campaign and the legislative and regulatory challenges he will likely face as a bishop, Fr Percy explained that part of the role of a bishop is to be a public figure.
“I think a bishop should speak out and speak out with clarity; not so much politically but about the defence and the promotion of fundamental human values”, he said.
“I think it’s most important. I’ve always had a deep admiration for St Ambrose for that very reason; he was a man of deep faith and he was a very fine civic figure, a great uniter of people and I think that’s what a bishop should be.”
Demonstrating his commitment to parish life, Fr Percy described the flourishing of the faith community in Sydney as “obvious” and said he looked forward to supporting its priests and parishes.
“It’ll be good to work with the archbishop and all the priests and the other bishops in the parishes,” he said.
“I imagine I’ll be having a lot of involvement in the parish communities through confirmation and different ways of supporting the parishes and the priests. I’m looking forward to that.”
Fr Percy also spoke of his prayer life, saying that time in prayer was something he looked forward to each day.
“I look forward every day to praying,” he shared. “I’ve always had a very strong prayer life. I like it. I’m glad that the best decision I’ve ever made was to pray every morning of my life as a young man before I even decided to become a priest, so I really enjoy the spiritual life.
“I like communicating the Gospel and really like communicating the truth of the Gospel and the love of the Gospel, especially in this Jubilee Year of Hope.”
Looking ahead to the International Eucharistic Congress to be held in Sydney in 2028, Fr Percy said he hoped it would renew our love for Christ present in the Eucharist and Christ present in the poor.
“Since the time of Christ, the church has understood that we find the presence of Christ in two main modes, that is the Real Presence of Christ under the form of bread and wine in the Eucharist, and the presence of Christ under the form of the poor and the needy.
“A great tradition in the church is to connect those two things together. The love you have for the Eucharist drives you want to go out and serve people who are less fortunate than we are. One would hope that the Eucharistic Congress will really release that sort of grace in the church once again,” he explained.
Fr Percy’s episcopal consecration will be on Friday, 2 May 2025 at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.