“To be chosen and commissioned to become living images of the Son of God, of the Saviour, as tonight’s first reading reminds us, we all are, is both an enormous privilege.”
Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB put that to some 200 people at St Simon Peter Catholic Church, Ocean Reef, on Tuesday 8 September, at a Mass marking three Salvatorian anniversaries at once.
The Society of the Divine Saviour, known everywhere as the Salvatorians, this year celebrates 145 years; its ministry in Australia celebrates 65 years; and its pastoral care of Ocean Reef Parish celebrates 25 years.
The evening also carried a fourth marker, the 108th anniversary of the death of founder, Blessed Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan, who died on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1918.
With one exception, every Salvatorian priest in the sanctuary was also keeping the anniversary of his first profession.
Concelebrating with Archbishop Costelloe were Port Pirie Bishop Karol Kulczycki SDS and Bunbury Bishop George Kolodziej SDS, both Salvatorians, together with Geraldton Bishop Emeritus Justin Bianchini.
They were also joined by Vicar General the Very Rev Fr Vincent Glynn VG, Australian Salvatorian Regional Provincial Fr Greg Skulski SDS, Provincial of the Polish Province Fr Mikołaj Markiewicz SDS, Ocean Reef Parish Priest Fr Leonard Macionczyk SDS and some 20 Salvatorian priests from across Perth.
Parishioners, Principals and teachers from Perth Catholic schools and lay members of the Salvatorian family filled out the congregation.
Speaking about the first reading from St Paul’s Letter to the Romans, written to Christians in what was then a pagan city, Archbishop Costelloe described them as a minority, as misunderstood, and at times viciously persecuted.
St Paul wanted them to know God had not abandoned them, and that their identity lay in being transformed into the image of Christ, the Salvator Mundi, “the one whose name, title, and mission the Salvatorian family, through their life and ministry, proudly give witness to, for the sake of the whole Church”.
Being chosen, Archbishop Costelloe said, is a privilege and something harder as well.
“We might even say an enormous vote of divine confidence in each one of us, but also, of course, a daunting challenge.”
Emphasising Jesus’ words that He comes among us as one who serves, then kneels to wash His disciples’ feet, Archbishop Costelloe explained Jesus said to come and follow me, then sets out for Jerusalem knowing what waits there.
“Do this in memory of me, He says, as He breaks the bread and shares the wine at the Last Supper, and then shows that the broken bread is His body broken on the cross, and the shared wine is His blood poured out on the cross so that others might have life, and we are called and chosen to be His living images,” Archbishop Costelloe explained.
“When we reflect on this, we might be forgiven for wondering how we could ever hope to be living images of Jesus, our Saviour, because we are weak and sinful, struggling so often to be faithful to all that God is asking of us,” he said.
The answer, he offered, came from Paul again, that he can do all things in the one who strengthens him.
So we must continue to make room for Him in our lives,” Archbishop Costelloe said, “and let the church help us to do precisely that. For this is the task of the church.”
Archbishiop Costelloe continued by calling the Salvatorian contribution to the Church in Australia remarkable, pointing to Salvatorian bishops George Kolodziej and Karol Kulczycki seated in front of him as proof that Blessed Francis Jordan’s charism was never meant to enrich a small group within the Church.
“Through Blessed Francis Mary Jordan, who allowed himself to be led by the Holy Spirit to found the Salvatorian congregation, we continue to be enriched by the energy, the witness, and the fidelity of his sons and those who gather round them, including, of course, you who are members of this parish or friends of the Salvatorian family.”
On the Feast of the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Archbishop Costelloe closed with her words at the marriage feast in Cana.
“On this feast of Mary, we’re reminded that, like all faithful Christians, the Salvatorians seek to take to the heart, to their hearts, the words of Mary to the stewards in the village of Cana, at the time when the wine ran out at the wedding feast, you’ll recall the story well, and I’m sure you’ll recall the words which Mary spoke.”
“You do whatever He, Jesus, tells you to do.”
The history of the Salvatorians in Perth started following then Perth Archbishop Redmond Prendiville’s letter to then Congregation Leader in Rome, Fr Bonaventura Schweizer SDS.
Following his arrival in 1961, Fr Paul Keyte took over the pastoral care of the new parish of Bellevue, later Greenmount, with the Polish Province later assuming responsibility from the British Province in 1987.
Salvatorians have since served parishes including Balcatta, Nollamara, Clarkson and Ocean Reef, along with regional Western Australia.
In his word of thanks, Parish Priest Fr Leonard Macionczyk SDS thanked Archbishop Costelloe, Bishops Kolodziej and Kulczycki SDS, Vicar General Fr Vincent Glynn, his fellow clergy and the parish community who contributed to the occasion.
Also speaking for the occasion, Provincial of the Polish Province, Fr Mikołaj Markiewicz SDS told the parish that the first Salvatorians left their homeland and families, learned a new language and carried out their ministry across vast distances.
Twenty-five years at Ocean Reef, he said, means thousands of Masses, sacraments, conversations and moments of prayer, and that history has not been written by priests alone.
“A jubilee is not only an opportunity to look back; it is also a question about the future,” he said. “May every person who crosses the threshold of this church experience that they are awaited, welcomed, and loved.”