In a powerful evening of reflection, challenge, and renewal, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB and Catholic Social Services Australia Executive Director Dr Jerry Nockles called on the Church in Australia to embrace the full scope of its social mission with bold faith and humble compassion.
Speaking to an audience of Catholic leaders, religious, and social service professionals at the Duxton Hotel on Thursday 12 June for the 2025 St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Oration, Archbishop Costelloe and Dr Nockles offered complementary messages on the heart of Catholic identity and action in today’s world.
Archbishop Costelloe opened his address with a reflection on the significance of recent papal leadership, drawing inspiration from the transition between Pope Francis and the newly elected Pope Leo, following the Holy Father’s passing on Easter Monday.
Rather than highlighting contrasts between Popes, Archbishop Costelloe invited the audience to consider the spiritual continuity from Pope Benedict through Francis to Pope Leo.
“What I want to suggest tonight,” he said, “is that this reflection has something important to offer us as we celebrate the work of Catholic Social Services Western Australia and as we look forward with enthusiasm, creativity and boldness to the future”.
He noted Pope Benedict’s focus on the “what” and “who” of faith—the intellectual and personal foundations of Christian belief—while Pope Francis turned the Church’s attention to the “how” of Christian discipleship: how we live out our faith in the complexity and suffering of others’ lives.
“Francis invited us, very powerfully by his words and even more powerfully by his actions, to reflect on what it means to live out what we believe in the concrete reality of our daily lives, and in our engagement with others in the challenges, complexities and limitations of their own lives,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
Turning to Pope Francis’s Jubilee Year of Mercy and the warning not to let the Church become “just another NGO,” Archbishop Costelloe reiterated that Catholic social outreach must never lose sight of Christ as its source and goal.
“When we see a need and try to respond to it, we must ask ourselves what responding according to the mind and heart of Jesus looks like,” he said.
Dr Jerry Nockles, delivering a heartfelt address, reflected on his first five months as Executive Director of CSSA, describing it as “not a punishment, as one friend joked, but a profound privilege.”
Drawing on personal encounters across Australia, Dr Nockles spoke movingly about the role of Catholic social service agencies in creating spaces of “transformative encounter.”
“I’ve witnessed our members creating spaces where people meet not as service provider and client, but as human beings recognising the divine spark in one another,” he said, recounting a visit to The Shopfront in Perth and the Parkes SistaCare Group in NSW, where First Nations women crochet blankets for others escaping domestic violence.
Dr Nockles described how one such blanket was given to a woman who had fled an abusive relationship.
“She is no longer alone,” he said. “She knows women have been through this, they understand all she feels, and they have her back.”
He called this act “hope in action”—a visible sign of grace at work. “In a world that can sometimes feel fractured and hopeless, our members stand as beacons of possibility,” he said.
“They embody the belief that things can be different… that no one is beyond the reach of compassion”.
Both Archbishop Costelloe and Dr Nockles pointed to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop as a guiding light in this mission.
“Never see a need without doing something about it,” Dr Nockles quoted, echoing the Saint’s famous line.
Archbishop Costelloe added her lesser known but vital complement: “Never forget who it is you are following”.
In providing a response to Archbishop’s speech, Chair of the Trustees of MercyCare Jennifer Stratton spoke about Pope Francis use of powerful metaphors to inspire us, for example that we should smell like the sheep, or when he likened the Church to a field hospiral.
“This reminded us of the Francis of Assisi notion – preach the gospel – use words only if you must,” Ms Stratton said.
“In my experience Catholic social services is very good at this. It has its challenges, but it is very rewarding dimension of our ministries,” she continued.
Ms Stratton also reinforced the Archbishop’s invitation to those present to commit themselves to ongoing formation as to who Jesus really is.
“I think we know this needs to be both personal – I need to foster my relationship with Jesus. It also needs to be communal – we need to grow in understanding together and support each other,” Ms Stratton emphasised.
“I hope the AB feels assured that the leaders in this room are up for the challenge and have the required faith and the courage,” she said.