Advancing years may gradually bring more infirmity—but they bring the gift of time as an opportunity to draw closer to God, older deacons and priests from across NSW heard at a special gathering a couple of weeks ago.
Spirituality and men’s health were the focus when more than 50 priests and deacons gathered from across six New South Wales dioceses at the Good Shepherd Seminary in Homebush on 13 April for a conference focused on their stage of life and the needs and issues peculiar to growing older. The Diocese of Parramatta was represented by ten active and retired priests and permanent deacons.
The conference was the first in what is planned to be an annual event.
Broken Bay emeritus Bishop David Walker, who led the diocese for 17 years and is 85, gave a presentation on a spirituality of ageing before one of his successors, current Broken Bay Bishop Anthony Randazzo, led the celebration of a healing Mass.
Broken Bay emeritus Bishop David Walker presents during the interdiocesan senior clergy gathering at the Good Shepherd Seminary, Homebush. Image: Alphonsus Fok/The Catholic Weekly/Supplied
Men’s health, focusing on depression, cognitive impairment and dementia were also on the agenda in a presentation by Sydney GP Dr Ashley Morgan.
Bishop Walker said that while life’s later years often come with major life changes and challenges, they are also an invitation to foster, deepen and express one’s relationship with Jesus.
“The ageing years can be a time in which this relationship is recognised anew for its importance and a time to focus on bringing it to a new intimacy,” he said.
While they may be retired from active ministry, clergy remain “priests forever” and a ministry of prayer and thanksgiving will always be an important and urgent need, he added.
Ageing is also time of acceptance of God’s will, including the certainty of death which is “not something that just happens, but a positive meeting with the Lord”, the bishop said.
“We might not age as we would like to. Even if we have aged well, the future is yet to come, and we need to prepare ourselves to accept what the Lord will bring in our future.”
Clergy including bishops, priests and permanent deacons are seen during the interdiocesan senior clergy gathering at the Good Shepherd Seminary, Homebush. Image: Alphonsus Fok/The Catholic Weekly/Supplied
Head of Clergy Health and Wellbeing in the Diocese of Parramatta, Mark Buhagiar, who was part of the organising committee and was a facilitator on the day, explained that the clergy conference was an “opportunity for communal fellowship and prayer with relevant and meaningful content.”
“The idea stemmed from the NSW Clergy Care Coordinators network and we saw it as an opportunity for clergy to recharge, reconnect and make new connections, which we hoped would be beneficial for them both individually and collectively,” he said.
Alongside the quarterly Diocesan clergy gatherings, our priests and deacons have the opportunity to come together for meals with Bishop Vincent, promoting vocations to the priesthood as part of the City2Surf fundraising campaign and honouring their deceased brothers at a Diocesan Mass in November.
Mark hopes the interdiocesan conference will become an annual event and will complement the range of activities in the Diocese of Parramatta that show our support and appreciation of our clergy “from the seminary to the cemetery and beyond.”
This article contains material reproduced with permission from The Catholic Weekly, the news publication of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney.
