Pope Benedict has appointed Melbourne auxiliary bishop Tim Costelloe the new Archbishop of Perth, reports The Age.
The Melbourne-born member of the Salesian order, who has been a bishop fewer than five years, replaces Archbishop Barry Hickey as one of Australia’s seven archbishops.
Archbishop-elect Costelloe, 58, who was ordained in Melbourne in 1986, is also an adjunct professor at the Australian Catholic University and serves on two Australian Catholic Bishops Conference committees – education, and doctrine and morals. He spent four years in Perth in the 1990s.
In a statement, Archbishop Philip Wilson called the appointment good news not only for the people of Perth, but for the Church in Australia. “Bishop Timothy Costelloe is a gifted, highly intelligent pastor who has shown consistent leadership in Melbourne where he has been an Auxiliary Bishop over the past five years”, he said.
“He is a very insightful person who has an excellent pastoral manner and a keen intellect”, he said.
In response to his appointment, Archbishop-elect Costelloe said he admires the
“commitment and strong sense of solidarity among the clergy of the Archdiocese” in Perth.
“I hope that I will be able to foster this spirit of mutual respect and cooperation in my new role as archbishop. I came, too, to value the vibrancy of the faith of the Catholic people of the Archdiocese. We are a very multi-cultural society and, consequently, a very multi-cultural Church. This is a source of strength and hope for us all.”

Morning tea will be co-hosted today by the Youth Group and the Parish and School Leaders. All are welcome to share a cuppa.

This Sunday at 10.30am Mass, teachers, staff, catechists and pastoral associates, together with student leaders will be commissioned in the important mission of bearing witness to the Gospel as they continue their work in 2012. Today’s ceremony focuses on 50th Anniversary of Vatican II.

Workshop available on Friday 2 March from 10.15 to 12.30 at Thomas Carr Centre, 278 Victoria Pde, East Melbourne. Please call 9267 0228 for bookings.

MacKillop Young Adult Community (MacYAC) invites young adults to come & visit significant sites in the life of our first Australian saint here in Melbourne. Meet at St. Francis Church, Cnr. Elizabeth & Lonsdale Streets, Melbourne at 2pm on Saturday, 25th February- visit the birthsite, Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre and the site of the First Providence.
Come and be inspired by the person of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop – Australia’s First Saint in her home town.
If you can’t make it this month, the walks are held on the fourth Saturday of each month.
For bookings phone:  9926 9300 or macyac@sosj.org.au
MacKillop Young Adult Community (MacYAC) – a ministry of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart of the Victorian Province.

Liturgy Lines

(Liturgy Lines are short 500-word essays on liturgical topics written by Elizabeth Harrington, The Liturgical Commission’s education officer. They have been published every week in The Catholic Leader [Brisbane] since 1999. They may be reproduced by parishes for private non-commercial use, provided that the copyright line is retaineDate – 12/02/2012

Communion in the Hand

Last week a priest emailed me this question: “Many conservative young people are telling me that the pope now wants people to receive communion on the tongue only – did I miss something with the new translation?”

I had only just emailed my reply (below), when I read about two Australian priests conducting an online petition calling on Pope Benedict to eliminate receiving the Eucharist in the hand because it “inflicts great spiritual harm on the Catholic faithful”.

This push for receiving communion on the tongue has nothing to do with the implementation of the revised Roman Missal, which involves a change in wording only. The “General Instruction of the Roman Missal” # 161 makes it quite clear that the choice of how to receive communion is the communicant’s. No minister may dictate whether communicants receive in the hand or on the tongue.

Receiving communion on the tongue when the majority receive in the hand disrupts the unity that uniformity of posture and practice at Communion symbolises and builds. It is awkward for ministers to give communion on the tongue to people who are standing, which is the recommended posture for communion in Australia, and it is unhygienic because it is difficult for ministers to avoid passing saliva on to other communicants.

Historical accounts make it quite clear that communion was received in the hand in the early Church.  In the middle of the fourth century Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem gave this instruction to those who were about to join the church: “When you come forward for communion, do not draw near with your hands wide open or with fingers spread apart; instead, with you left hand make a throne for the right hand, which will receive the King.  Receive the body of Christ in the hollow of your hand and give the response: Amen.”  It was only later that over-emphasis on Christ’s divinity and on human sinfulness led to a ban on people receiving communion in the hand. In fact, people seldom received communion at all.

We now understand that Christ is present in several special ways at Mass apart from in the consecrated elements, for example in the assembly which gathers. We “touch” Christ in these other manifestations, so it would be inconsistent not to be able to take Christ under the form of bread in our hands. The bread which becomes the body of Christ is described in the liturgical texts as “work of human hands”. There is nothing unworthy about our hands. After all, we use them to do Christ’s work. As St Teresa said, “Christ has no other hands but yours”.

If, as claimed, “a disturbing number” of communicants do not know how to receive Communion reverently, the best response is to provide formation about the meaning of this sacred action and the appropriate way to participate in it.

The proponents of the petition cite rumours of people taking consecrated hosts to use at “Black Masses” or of visitors at big events at the Vatican slipping consecrated hosts into wallets to keep as souvenirs. It hardly seems appropriate, however, to make rules for the universal Church based on unsubstantiated stories of aberrant behaviour by a few individuals.

copyright: The Liturgical Commission

Monday 13 February 2012 marks the first anniversary of a significant moment in the history of Australia. The Aboriginal Catholic Ministry remember the apology from former Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who apologised to the Aboriginal people for the “Children of the Stolen Generation”- a very sad part of our Australian History. We remember this day, and pray that as we move forward as a nation, that we learn from the mistakes of our past and remember the dignity of all families and all people.

Last Wednesday, 600 people took part in his funeral at St James the Apostle, Greensborough North, including five bishops and seventy priests. The singing by all the people was wonderful. His family described the funeral as “Magnificent”.

I thank you for your expressions of sympathy in the loss of my best friend of nearly
50 years. His parents became friends of my parents.
…Fr Kevin McIntosh