Prayers in Latin and Greek were offered on the fifth anniversary of the passing of Father Gerard Beeson in a moving ceremony in the Lady Chapel of St Mary’s Cathedral.
Fr Beeson was the first convener of the Catholic Archdiocesen Taskforce for Catholic-Orthodox Bridge-building under the patronage of The Very Reverend Robert Healy (dec), former Auxiliary Bishop of Perth.
It was established in 2001, the same year Pope John Paul II travelled to Greece to meet the Greek Orthodox Primate of Greece, His Beatitude Christodoulos.
‘One of Fr Beeson’s fondest memories was welcoming the Greek students to St Charles on the now well-estabished exchange program between Perth and Athens’, remarked Ms Dimitrakos.
Wishes and prayers were sent from Hilton Parish, Father’s last parish and as far away as Greece from former participants in the exchange program.
Former seminarians who were on placement in his parish prior to ordination and now priests, offered Masses for his repose.