Silver Jubilee of Priestly Ordination of Bishop Christopher Prowse

Homily Preached by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Kevin’s Church, Ormond,
on Saturday, 27th August, 2005, at 6.30pm

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am delighted and honoured to be with you as we celebrate the Silver Jubilee of priestly ordination of Bishop Christopher Prowse, which occurred on 16th August twenty-five years ago.

The Christian concept of priesthood is above all one of a man being given as a victim for Christ, as Christ was given for the salvation of souls. He is one who is called to make us holy, to teach us the faith and to shepherd us as a brother and leader in our journey to God’s kingdom.

Today’s liturgy challenges us, that because of our love of God, our faith will be increased and the goodness we have received will be protected.

There is no need for me to tell you that Bishop Christopher has been a good and faithful servant. Yet, today as priests and bishops, we come to thank God for the gift of priesthood given him. One embraced always humbly and with wonder because the call of Christ responded to in the human heart is at ordination recognised by the Church as a public consecration to Christ. Priesthood is living in the Lord’s way, in his presence as the Psalm describes us, constantly thanking God for all that he has provided.

The challenge given in the second Reading, “Accept and submit to the Word which has been planted in you and can save your souls”, has been Bishop Christopher’s watchword from the day of his ordination. As a seminarian I knew him as a gifted and faith-filled student, committed to the truth of the Gospel, humble in its acceptance, joyful in the challenge which it offers.

Above all, in these twenty-five years, he has been a man of God. The words of the Directive of the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops, highlight particularly the gifts which Bishop Christopher possesses. “The rapport between a bishop and his presbyterate need to be inspired and nourished by charity and by a vision of faith, such that their bonds deriving from the divine nature of the Church appear as a natural consequence of the spiritual communion each one has with God.”

Today, while recognising that Bishop Christopher is possessed of the fullness of the priesthood, we wish to concentrate on the role of a priest in everyday life. It is in this way that our souls will be nourished and our gifts will develop.

In 1961 I purchased Henry Cardinal Manning’s book on the Eternal Priesthood. With a particularly Pauline emphasis, he says, “All I want to know is Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death. That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have become perfect yet: I have not yet won, but I am still running trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me. All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come. I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus.” ( Philippians 3:10-13 )

Priesthood is always a following of Christ, being a victim, where our own will and desires are laid aside, so that we might fulfil Christ’s desire that all people might be saved. Our priesthood in the Catholic Church is a sacrificing priesthood. Just as Jesus was given as victim at the Last Supper and on the Cross and rose to new life through the resurrection, so the priest, day by day, when he says the words, “This is my Body”, “This is my Blood”, gives himself totally to God for us, as Christ did. He is an intercessor between God and man, bringing the concerns of God to man and man to God. He is a bridge. Despite his human weakness he reaches out from the human condition by the grace of God to bring us to our eternal destiny in Christ Jesus.

I have known Bishop Christopher since his days as a seminarian; as an exemplary student, a prayerful seminarian, one gifted with the search for holiness. These twenty-five years have been a continuation of that search.

Tonight we thank God for that and we support him with the prayer of the Mass, which is powerful, to gather up his human weakness and to bring him face to face with God, to stand as our advocate. Humbly, sincerely and in gifted generosity he brings us to God, reminding us that it is our contact with Christ, which is the watchword of all that we do.

I join the people of Geelong, Moonee Ponds, East Thornbury and Ormond in thanking him for his work. As well I recognise the long time spent in studies in Rome, lecturing in Catholic Theological College and in his work for the Catholic Pastoral Formation Centre. Similarly, I am deeply grateful for all that he has done as a member of the College of Consultors, as Assistant when I was Administrator of the Archdiocese, as Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop.

Christopher Prowse is a gifted searcher for the holiness that comes from Christ and enjoys the Pauline gift of working for us that Christ may be formed in us. With much joy, united with his mother, Marion, his sisters and all of his family, we thank God for the gift of priesthood, as humbly and with wonder we go forward. He has placed his considerable gifts at the service of the Church and he has enriched them always with integrity and goodness.

The priesthood is a great mystery. Priests are not human social workers. They are men of God, called to lead God’s people in love, nourish them by his Word and sanctify them by his Sacraments, so that our human inadequacies may be brought face to face with the loving mercy of God in whom we live and move and are. We are indeed the first fruits of God’s creation and it is in God’s love and truth that we are formed. Today, as together we gather with much joy to thank God for Christopher Prowse and for his gifts, let us remember the mystery of his call to priesthood and to episcopate, where he is father of priests, teacher of the faith and unifier of God’s holy people.

Congratulations Bishop Christopher! Ad multos annos! And may the Lord whom you love so much use you as a gifted and fruitful instrument in the extension of your kingdom in our hearts and in the love with which he has touched us through you.

Congratulations! Ad multos annos!

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.