Nuncio Paul Gallagher
The Vatican’s Ambassador to Australia, the Apostolic Nuncio, His Excellency the Most Reverend Paul Gallagher will celebrate the 9am mass at St Patrick’s Catholic Parish, East Gosford, on Sunday, October 26.
The Reverend Gallagher will also speak to those present directly after the mass on the topic of the current Synod of Bishop’s meeting in Rome on family relationships. Archbishop Gallagher was born in Liverpool, England, and his own vocation was formed in his teenage years and inspired by the words of Jesus, “what greater love has a man than to give his life for his friends”. “I thought if I give my life to the priesthood, to the Church, I would be doing that as an act of love to my friends. “That was really the root of my becoming a priest,” he said. He contemplated joining the Jesuits or Benedictines, but settled on becoming a diocesan priest after participating in a vocations program. Archbishop Gallagher’s voyage into diplomacy came a few years after he had been ordained when he was asked to study diplomacy. At the time, there was no one from Britain in the papal diplomatic service. “I’d always been interested in politics as a kid, so I thought maybe it could be something useful,” he said. “Papal nuncios have a double role. “The first is that you’re an ambassador to the Commonwealth of Australia in this case. “The second is you’re representing the Holy Father to the local Catholic community-to the diocese, to the local bishops and also to all the faithful. “The most important thing we do for the Holy Father is to guide the process by which bishops are selected,” he said. This was accomplished once again, when on September 18, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Anthony the ninth Archbishop of Sydney.
Email, 13 Oct 2014
Colleen Kirk,
St Patrick’s Parish