NEARLY 2,000 people packed St Patrick’s Cathdral in Parramatta as Bishop Anthony Fisher OP was installed as the diocese’s third Bishop on 4 March.
Bishop Anthony was welcomed by local indigenous elders before entering the church’s small chapel to pray before processing to the new church for the installation Mass, streamed live in the World Youth Day social website xt3.com.
The installation of Bishop Anthony is the first time the installation of a Bishop has taken place at the newly rebuilt St Patrick’s Cathedral.
Destroyed by fire in February 1996, the Cathedral was rebuilt on the site and reopened in November 2003.
At 49, Bishop Anthony is the youngest bishop in Australia and was 42 when appointed as an Auxiliary Bishop to the Archdiocese of Sydney by Pope John Paul II in 2003.
He served in this role until January 8 this year, when Pope Benedict XVI named him as the third Bishop of Parramatta and successor to Bishop Kevin Manning who was installed as the second Bishop of the Parramatta diocese in 1997 and is now retiring.
Members of the Sydney Youth Orchestra together with the choir and schola of St Patrick’s Cathedral were part of the service along with soprano Amelia Farrugia; alto Nicole Seulders; tenor Andrei Laptev; and bass, David Russell.
A Dominican friar, renowned scholar, university lecturer, former lawyer and Doctor of philosophy and bioethics, Bishop Anthony is well known to thousands of the world’s youth as the approachable and popular organiser and co-ordinator of Sydney’s successful World Youth Day 2008.
The eldest of five, Bishop Anthony found himself torn between a career in law or serving God in the priesthood.
He chose the latter, joining the Dominicans – the Religious congregation also known as the Order of Preachers dedicated to preaching the Catholic faith in the context of a life of study, prayer and community – in 1985.
After his ordination he completed a Doctorate in bioethics at Oxford University, where he would return as a lecturer. He also lectured at Australian Catholic University and is Deputy Chancellor of the Catholic Institute of Sydney and Adjunct Professor at the University of Notre Dame Australia.