THE Redemptoris Mater Arch-diocesan Missionary Seminary in Morley is appealing for help to send 16 of their seminarians to World Youth Day in Madrid in August.
With no regular source of income – the seminary relies on Divine Providence – Rector Fr Michael Moore SM is seeking help for future Perth priests to join Pope Benedict XVI and an estimated two million fellow pilgrims.
Since Redemptoris Mater opened its doors in 1991, it has continued to educate, feed and prepare future priests for the Archdiocese on the basis of ongoing donations from friends, supporters and even complete strangers. Fr Moore is hoping to raise the estimated $4,000 per seminarian needed for the pilgrimage.
Twenty seven priests have been ordained since Redemptoris Mater commenced; three more -Antonio Scala, Wilson Donizetti and Marcello Parra – will be ordained to the diaconate on 26 May at St Mary’s Cathedral.
Before going to Spain, the seminarians will first travel to Oxford in the UK to spend a week announcing the Gospel, a common exercise among Neocatechumenal communities. Fr Moore is also hoping seminarians will be able to visit the Benedictine Abbey of Downside, near Bath.
Downside has numerous connections with the Church in Australia. Fr, later Bishop, William Ullathorne, who was educated at Downside, was based in New South Wales from 1833 to 1836 and was one of the main individuals responsible for persuading Pope Gregory XVI to establish the hierarchy in Australia. While a student at Downside, he had also been under the direction of John Bede Polding who later became the first Archbishop of Sydney.
In WA, the late Abbot of New Norcia monastery, Placid Spearitt OSB, was previously a monk of Downside.
Priests ordained from Redemptoris Mater are incardinated in the Archdiocese of Perth but, under an agreement with Archbishop Barry Hickey, may be released for missionary work anywhere in the world.
Several priests of the Archdiocese are now working as missionaries throughout the world including Finland, the Northern Territory, remote locations in Papua New Guinea and various Australian dioceses.
Fr Moore can be contacted on (08) 9275 7411.