About 300 people gathered to celebrate Fr Ken Keating’s Golden Jubilee of Ordination on June 29 at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in North Beach.
The church that Fr Ken served as parish priest for more than 25 years was filled to capacity with past and present parishioners in attendance.
Fr Ken’s cousin, Mgr Michael Keating, Bishop Don Sproxton, Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey, and about 20 other priests from around the Archdiocese joined in concelebrating the Mass.
The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, associated with the parish since 1957, also attended.
Friends of Fr Ken came from as far as Canada and Bendigo, and Bishop Justin Bianchini of Geraldton delivered the homily at the Mass.
He said Fr Ken, who retired in 2007 and is now a resident at an aged care facility in Duncraig, was a great example to his fellow priests.
“As a shepherd he’s offered his suffering for the people of God and for the Church,” he said.
Instead of distributing Golden Jubilee cards, Fr Ken gave out prayer cards to St Anne, and he encouraged all present to pray to the mother of Mary for families.
He said he was pleased to see many past friends present for the occasion.
“It’s wonderful,” he said. “I was so nervous I was forgetting everything.” Fr Ken was ordained by Bishop Myles McKeon on June 29, 1963, along with Fr Paul Carey SSC and Fr John McCarthy.