To be a priest, after the pattern of Christ Himself, is to give one’s whole life as a gift for the sake of others, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has said, as more than 200 people gathered at St Augustine’s Church, Rivervale, on Sunday 14 June for the installation of Fr Carmine-John (CJ) Millen as the new Parish Priest.
Archbishop Costelloe was the main celebrant for the 9am Mass, with Fr CJ concelebrating.
The installation of a new Parish Priest marks a new chapter in the life of a community, Archbishop Costelloe said, and gives both the priest and the people an opportunity to reflect on what it means to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, and on the role the Parish Priest plays in the life of the community.
Drawing on the first reading, in which God promises through Moses to make His people “a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation,” Archbishop Costelloe explained that the whole Christian community shares in this priestly identity.
“We are a kingdom of priests because we are all drawn into communion with Jesus who is the one and only priest,” he said.
“He shares everything with us including and especially His priesthood.”
If the whole community is already a priestly people, Archbishop Costelloe asked, why does the Church still need ordained priests?
The answer rests in understanding what it means for Jesus to be a priest.
As a faithful Jew, Jesus knew the role of the priest was to offer sacrifice, and He transformed that tradition when He offered Himself.
“His whole life was a self-offering, a self-giving for the sake of others,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
“It is this self-offering, lived out in every moment of His life, and ultimately in His death, which makes Jesus a priest.”
Because the faithful share in that one priesthood, Archbishop Costelloe continued, the Lord asks the same of every disciple: “to live our lives each day as a gift for the sake of others. This is the heart of a priestly life…it is the essence of Christian discipleship.”
It is a high and demanding vocation, he acknowledged, yet one for which the Lord provides everything needed to respond.
It is here that the role of the ordained priest becomes clear. Priests place themselves entirely at the service of the community in three ways, the Archbishop said: by celebrating the sacraments through which the grace of Christ flows into the faithful; by being living signs of Jesus the Good Shepherd in the daily living of their lives; and by devoting themselves completely to their mission, even to the point of celibate chastity, gospel simplicity and obedience to their bishop.
The Mass also included the commissioning of the parish’s new Pastoral Council, whose members were formally welcomed as close collaborators with Fr CJ in the pastoral planning and mission of Rivervale Parish.
Addressing the new Parish Priest directly, Archbishop Costelloe offered the gratitude of the whole community.
“Thank you, Father CJ, for your own faith, your own generosity, and your willingness to put yourself at our service,” he said, “so that together we can all be the people God is calling us to be.”
