Mass for the for the Installation of Father Nhan Le

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Thomas More’s Church, Belgrave,
on Saturday, 1st October, 2005, at 6.00pm

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am delighted to be at Saint Thomas More’s for the installation of Father Nhan Le as your Parish Priest, to encourage you in faith and to entrust you to each other, as you live and serve the community in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

In today’s Gospel Jesus, the stone rejected by his brethren, is our Lord because of his love for the Father and for us.

We are challenged to nurture that love through prayer, to express it through service, and throughout this Mass we remember the special service given by the priests in our midst.

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We come in love for the Universal Catholic Church, for Pope Benedict and for our Diocese, as here in Saint Thomas More’s we seek to live fully the Catholic faith in union with and faithfulness to the Universal Church.

I, as Bishop, come aware of the limitless love of God for each of us and as a sign of that love and care for you. I emphasise the importance of prayer and adoration in our church as a truly holy place and I invite you all, priest and people, because of the oneness with God found in prayer, to reach out to serve others in the community.

It is for this reason that I have come to induct Father Nhan Le as your Parish Priest.

In this special parish, which I entrust to the care of Father Nhan Le, I ask for all of you to be caught up into the mystery, which is God’s love shown clearly and demonstrated clearly by prayer, word and deed in the lives of each and every one of you in the parish.

Father Nhan has worked at in North Melbourne and Maidstone and for some weeks has been with you as Administrator. We respect his ability to lead and his generosity in coming to be with you. I pray that you will welcome him, support him in the leadership which he must give in all aspects of parish life – worship, teaching, school, management of parish resources, so that Saint Thomas More’s will be a place of faith and strong Christian living. I hope that his presence among you will be a constant reminder that God in his wonder goes beyond all that we might hope for and that it is him whom we search to see revealed in the transforming of your hearts.

Together with Pope John Paul and his Archbishop, Father Nhan will strive to serve you faithfully and generously. I urge you to welcome him and to remember of course the larger areas of responsibilities, which he now has.

I want to reflect particularly on the work of your parish priest. Jesus himself said, ‘I am the gate’. A priest is invited into a mysterious gift of self to Jesus Christ. When Father Nhan received ordination as a deacon and as a priest, his personal and public consecration in celibacy and service of his people assumed a new dimension.

At Easter we celebrate the death and resurrection of the Saviour. Each priest dies to himself and places his words and personality at the Lord’s service as he rises to offer the new life that only the Lord can give to us. Through his celebration of the Eucharist the saving action of Jesus Christ in the cross comes to us. The Eucharist celebrated, adored and brought to the sick is Christ present among us.

A priest is another Christ. The Eucharist is tremendously important because here our human lives are directed to God, who fills them with meaning.

In a few moments Father Nhan will open the tabernacle and adore the Blessed Sacrament. He will be taken to the baptismal font to show that through his ministry new members will be given to God’s Church to be filled with his life.

I will take him to the Confessional where he is invited to be the minister of peace and forgiveness in the beautiful Sacrament of Reconciliation. I urge you all to use it well.

We will become before an image of Our Lady and the Saints to remind us that we are brothers and sisters in the family of God’s Church and Father Nhan will renew his promise of obedience made on the day of his ordination.

We cannot underestimate the praise of God and the service of people given by one who dedicates his whole life to us and to bringing us to God.

The words of Saint John in his Gospel, “The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep” (John 10:11), are a reminder that all that Father Nhan does is for your welfare. In visiting the sick, in leading you in love of God and strength, Father Nhan will make present the love and concern for you, which I have as a bishop and a successor of the apostles.

I know he will draw into the service of God and His Church, those who will work in pastoral activities, those who will visit and console their brothers and sisters, those who make Saint Thomas More’s Parish such a living and vibrant organism. I thank you for all that you do and for the support and welcome, which you give to Father Nhan on this most important night.

Father Nhan is a priest of God to lead us to Him. He is a teacher of the entire faith, which Jesus Christ entrusted to the Church, even those matters which are challenging and difficult to accept.

He is a shepherd and guide of God’s people charged with drawing people to Jesus Christ. He involves them in the work of the apostolate and supports them in the faith of the Church. On your behalf I thank him for accepting this challenge.

May the grace of the Holy Spirit accompany him in the special gift of ministerial priesthood, which he exercises in your midst.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.