| Two priests and deacon ordained for MGL |
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Canberra Archbishop Mark Coleridge has ordained two new charismatic priests and a deacon for the Australian founded Missionaries of God's Love congregation.Daniel Strickland and David Callaghan, both originally from Western Australia, were ordained into the priesthood, an MGL statement says. Joseph Neonbasu was ordained into the deaconate and is the first non-Australian MGL brother to take this significant step. In his homily, Archbishop Mark Coleridge reminded the ordinands that they are to imitate Christ whose mystery they celebrate. They are called to be truly human, truly men of Calvary, dying with Christ in the giving of themselves for the Church and its missions and they are to encounter him as the Risen Christ, able to bring his joy, peace and hope to the suffering world. The MGLs are an emerging congregation founded by Fr Ken Barker in 1986. As well as working with the poor and marginalised, the MGLs have a particular calling to youth ministry. The MGLs are radically committed to living the Gospel and have already had a great deal of success attracting young people to vocations. The MGLs now have 15 priests with the promise of many more as there are twenty five young men at various stages of formation. The congregation has actually outgrown their existing facilities in Melbourne and urgently need to build an additional seminary house, the MGL statement says. During his formation David Callaghan spent a year of mission experience in Darwin at St Martin de Porres community which is the base for the aboriginal chaplaincy conducted by the MGLs, with a number of indigenous people making the long journey from Darwin for his ordination. Daniel Strickland spent a year of mission experience in an MGL parish with the urban poor in Manila, Philippines. Following his ordination, Fr Strickland said: "The journey to priesthood encompassed a growing realisation of two main things for me. "Firstly, a deepening understanding of my own total need for Jesus, and of the way that he works to make this need felt through the experience of weakness and brokenness, so that we are almost forced, as it were, to grow in our trust of him; and secondly that as a person and a priest how indebted I am to so many people who have prayed and supported me over many years." The ordination of Joseph Neonbasu, the first non-Australian MGL, to the deaconate is a significant milestone says Fr Ken Barker. "Joseph came originally from West Timor, Indonesia. After spending some time in a Society of Divine Word (SVD) seminary in Flores, Joseph was introduced to the MGL by his priest brother, who was studying at the Australian National University. When Joseph arrived in Australia in 2003 he had minimal English, and little knowledge of Aussie culture. In the last five years, he has worked hard on his communication skills with amazing results. At the time of his ordination Joseph's six brothers and sisters, and their families, gathered together in a house in West Timor to pray for their brother, and to rejoice with him in the Spirit," Fr Barker said. |