By Centre for Faith Enrichment Staff writers
The 2025 BJ Hickey Scholarship reception was a joyful celebration held on Friday, 21 February at the St Mary’s Cathedral parish centre.
The reception saw nine Scripture-related scholarships awarded to recipients on the day, with another three awarded in absentia.
The ceremony was aptly held just weeks after the Catholic Church marked the sixth Word of God Sunday.
In her welcome, Scholarship Reception emcee, Sr Luka M Junemann of the Centre for Faith Enrichment, quoted part of Pope Francis’ homily of Word of God Sunday.
In it he emphasised that ‘the word of God always amazes us … enters our hearts and always renews us’, because when we read Scripture ‘we do not simply receive information about God; we receive his Spirit, who reminds us of all that Jesus said and did (cf. Jn 14:26). In this way, our hearts, inflamed by faith, wait in hope for the coming of God.”
This was followed by a moving message by Applecross Parish Priest Rev Fr Nelson Po.
Fr Nelson spoke of how his grandmother led him as a child to know Jesus through Bible stories, and how she connected Christ in these stories to the reality of their everyday lives in a remote village in the Philippines.
These stories he then revisited 20 years later in his Seminary Bible studies, and they continue to enrich his priestly ministry and pastoral service in our Archdiocese.
He stated, ‘the scriptures are the channels through which we know God in Jesus, and the truth remains that the more we know Jesus, the more we can love him, and the more we love him, the more we know who we are.’
He continued to explain that in the Mass our hunger for God is filled by the Liturgy of the Word, whom we then receive in the Eucharist. As our hunger for God is filled, we can then share Him with a world that is hungering also. Fr Po then presented the happy recipients with their BJ Hickey Scholarship awards.
The ceremony continued with two-time scholarship recipient, Patrick Barry, delivering a speech, upon receiving a 2025 Scholarship to study The Old Testament course at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle this year.
Mr Barry told of how receiving the BJ Hickey Scholarship in 2024 helped him continue with his Pathway Program* theology studies, and enter his first University Scripture course, The Writings of St Paul, where he grew in a more intimate understanding of St Paul and of the great efforts St Paul made to spread the faith that transformed him, which Mr Barry found inspirational.
Mr Barry thanked the Centre for Faith Enrichment and the administrators of the BJ Hickey Scholarship for the exciting opportunity to continue studying the Scriptures that has enriched his academic and faith-life.
2024 scholarship recipient Sandra Wibawanta then encouraged this year’s scholarship recipients in her address.
Ms Wibawanta recounted her experience of re-entering university studies with peers the same age as her son, to study the Introduction to the New Testament course at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Fremantle, which was enabled by her BJ Hickey scholarship.
Sandra explained how this gave her not only an opportunity to be academically enriched, but more so, how learning about Scripture was a Divine journey, which provided her moments of encountering God, knowing that ‘God is real and near’, which deepened her faith, was transforming her life and is helping her proclaim the Kingdom of God.
Emeritus Archbishop Barry Hickey was unable to attend the reception, however, sent his greetings and congratulations to the scholarship recipients in a special message.
The Emeritus Archbishop continues to play a central and fundamental role in the BJ Hickey Scholarship Biblical Foundation committee, maintaining his passion for offering the lay faithful of the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth the opportunity to undertake Biblical studies locally and overseas, so that we continue to grow in our knowledge and love of Christ.
The 2025 BJ Hickey Scholarship recipients are:
- Receiving a Scholarship to study the books of the major and minor prophets at the Catholic Institute of Sydney: Kenneth Phua
- Receiving a Scholarship to study Johannine Literature at the University of Notre Dame, and a Biblical unit as part of the Centre for Faith Enrichment’s Pathway Program: Maureen Kay
- Receiving a Scholarship to help cover the fees for Scriptural units at the Acts 2 College of Mission and Evangelisation: Jasmine Deib
- Receiving a Scholarship to study Johannine Literature and Synoptic Gospels at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle: Michelle Morey
- Receiving a Scholarship to study The New Testament at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle: Grace Kurniawan
- Receiving a Scholarship to study The Old Testament at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle: Thalia Kurniawan
- Receiving a Scholarship to study to help cover the fees for Scriptural units at the Acts 2 College of Mission and Evangelisation: Rachel Harris
- Receiving a Scholarship to study The Old Testament at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle: Patrick Barry
- Receiving a Scholarship to study Johannine Literature and Psalms and Wisdom at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle: Peter Cox
IN ABSENTIA:
- Receiving a Scholarship to study the Introduction to New Testament at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle: Jean Francine Goonting
- Receiving a Scholarship to attend the Institute of Pastoral Studies Scripture conference in Chicago, Illinois, in July 2025: Christian Thompson
- Receiving a Scholarship to cover travel costs for Biblical studies at the Katholische Hochschule International Theological Institute, Austria: Esther Sumich
* The Pathway Program is a collaboration between the Centre for Faith Enrichment and The University of Notre Dame Australia aimed at allowing students to obtain formal recognition of theological studies.
For more information about the Pathway Program please visit https://cfe.org.au/pathway-program/.