An ex-student of Mercy College in Koondoola who became a convert in his final year at the school now heads the Australian arm of one of the newest religious orders in the world.
Fr Sharbel Hayward FI (pictured) must also be one of the youngest heads of a religious order in Australia.
The 38-year-old is a past student of Mercy College who, after a decade or so overseas in formation and preparation for the priesthood, returned Australia where he now heads the Perth-based Australian mission of the Friars.
He is also a convert. The experience of personally meeting Pope John Paul II in 1986 when the late Pope visited Perth – he shook hands with the individual who is expected to be beatified in the near future – was one of several events that had a profound influence in his life.
Although a student at a Catholic college he wasn’t baptised until the end of high school.
The discovery of the presence of God in his life led him to begin the process of discerning his vocation, leading him eventually to the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, a new branch of the Franciscan family within the Church which was formed in 1973. The spirituality of the order, which has both men’s and women’s branches, is strongly Marian and it is named after Mary’s title honouring her as the Immaculate Conception, reflecting the Church’s belief that Mary was unstained by Original Sin from the very moment her life began.
– Peter Rosengren