The reality of the COVID–19 crisis crashed home for Perth Catholics at this, the holiest time of the year, with Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB and Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton concelebrating the Easter Sunday Mass in front of an empty St Mary’s Cathedral for the first time in living history.

This year’s Holy Thursday Mass, broadcast live from an empty St Mary’s Cathedral on Thursday 9 April, provided Perth Catholics with the opportunity and time, now more than ever, to reflect on the question by Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB: “What it is God is asking of us in Australia at this time?”.

Thousands of Perth Catholics have this year honoured the life and death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday by virtually attending the celebration of the Passion of the Lord, streamed live from St Mary’s Cathedral on 10 April.

More than 1,300,000 people across Australia watched the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services broadcast live via the Seven Network, making this the most watched program nationally in their respective timeslots.

Easter Sunday is God’s answer to the despair Jesus’ first disciples faced and it is God’s answer to the deafening silence and distressing void which fills our lives now, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has said in his 2020 Easter message.

Thousands of Catholics from across the Archdiocese of Perth have virtually attended this year’s Palm Sunday Mass online on 5 April, streamed live from St Mary’s Cathedral.

On Easter Sunday last year, more than 250 were killed and at least 450 were injured in vicious bombings at three Christian churches, four hotels, and a housing complex in Sri Lanka.