Homilies and Addresses 2007
JPII Institute for Marriage and Family Graduation

Celebrated By Archbishop Denis Hart
at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
on Friday, 2nd March, 2007 at 4.30pm

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Saint James correctly reminds us of the signal importance of confession and forgiveness in our spiritual life.  In this first week of our Lenten journey we celebrate the Graduation of the John Paul II Institute and the scripture of today is a telling reminder of the spiritual and sacramental base upon which the whole of the Institute’s formation is founded.

Pope John Paul rightly wanted spiritual and practical knowledge and living of deep family life to be an animating and life -giving instrument in the ongoing renewal of the Catholic community.

He did this because there is “a crisis of vocations” to marriage and parenthood with fewer people choosing to marry or staying together; people having fewer if any children; and those children more and more likely to grow up in broken families, at the same time human life at all stages from conception onwards is commonly treated with disrespect.

These are sad facts of the pragmatism, which has infected our country in recent years.  We know there will be further onslaughts on the sacredness of life and on the weaker members of the community. 

Those of you who have come to Melbourne from other cities and other countries, I pray, will go away profoundly enriched by the teaching of the Institute and the ability of the truth to liberate and inspire our communities.

Those who are trained here at John Paul Institute are being readily equipped for apostolates in dioceses and in regions and communities of a deeper understanding of the nature of marriage, of its dignity, of its spiritual and human fruitfulness, so that we will be able to address this great cancer tearing away at the heart of our societies and community.

Saint James highlights the realisation of sin and weakness in our communities.  This must always be met with forgiveness and compassion.  Absolutely vital in the equation is the leadership, which our faculty members under Monsignor Elliott, our lecturers and staff and those who graduate at the Institute will continue to provide.

Pope John Paul intended that the Institute should be a focal point for the region and I am grateful that little by little this service is being extended so that we are training people capable of leadership in marriage and family.  I am delighted to have students from all over Australia and beyond.

May I speak also of my esteem on the superb body of expertise on marriage, family and bio-ethics, which is available from the Institute in a manner not presented previously. 

May this moment of graduation be a time of commitment to truth, of compassionate service to those who are struggling and of gifted articulation of God’s purposes and the human understanding which must underpin marriage as the fundamental unit of our society and which it would neglect to its peril.

My sincere congratulations to the graduands, to all who have been associated with this year at the John Paul II Institute and to those who are looking to the future in the magnificent contribution under God and with the prayers of Mary, our Mother, which you will make.  May God bless you all.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.