The Seminary of the Good Shepherd in Homebush has welcomed its new students and staff at a Mass to open the seminary year.
Held on 8 February and principally celebrated by Bishop Anthony Percy, the seminary welcomed 13 new entrants who join 33 other students. All but one are from Australia, with the other new seminarian hailing from Vietnam.
In his homily, Bishop Percy said the seminary’s intake was “fantastic” and called on the seminarians to become good priests, delving into the important role of a priest as outlined by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI.
“The primary role of a priest, that is the very first thing a priest must do is to preach the Gospel, and the principal thing – so the distinction between primary and principal thing – that a priest should do is celebrate the mysteries,” he said.
“How can you celebrate the mysteries unless you have gathered people and informed them in terms of faith?”
Bishop Percy said the four main aspects of Catholicism were “the Creed, the code, the cult, and the Communion” and urged the seminarians to hone their communication skills to best be able to impart their knowledge onto others.
“Most of the time we’re involved in ‘hatch, match, dispatch’: baptisms, marriages, and funerals,” he said.
“We’re involved in people’s lives during their most extraordinary times, you go into schools and you’re always teaching, the kids are asking questions, and then you’re standing up every day trying to communicate.”
Seminary rector Fr Michael de Stoop commended the families of the new seminarians who had played a vital part in their formation.
“Long before your sons learned how to chant the psalms or wrestle with philosophy, they learnt far more foundational things at home: how to keep their word; how to persevere when things are difficult; how to show compassion; and how to trust God,” he said.
“You also nurtured their faith, perhaps through family prayer, perhaps by getting everyone to Mass when it would’ve been much easier to stay home, or perhaps simply by teaching your sons that God is worth taking seriously.”
Fr de Stoop said the seminarians are being taught to “serve real people with real needs” and the impact they will have on the communities they will serve will be “significant and lasting.”
“We honour not only their generosity in responding to God’s call, but yours as well.”
The seminary welcomed four new staff members: Fr Daniele Sollazzo FMDV as director of spiritual formation; Fr Daniele Russo as vice rector and pastoral coordinator; Natalie Moujalli as director of counselling services; and Christian Stephens of director of human development.
