Rector's letters

The April, 2018, issue of the Southern Sentinel includes a photograph of the 2018 Holy Cross community and the Seminary's new and improved driveway, as well as a report on the January priests' retreat and the taking of the cassock by six seminarians on Low Sunday.

This December, 2017, issue of the Southern Sentinel includes photos from the ordination to the diaconate, the priests' meeting held at Holy Cross Seminary, and the ceremony for the conclusion of the Vocations' Crusade on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. In his rector's letter, Fr Themann speaks of the graces of Christmas, the graces of the diaconate ordination, and the very ungraceful drive down the Seminary's rut-filled driveway.

People often remark that life is a pilgrimage. During this month of the poor souls, this comparison seems particularly appropriate.

During this month of August, we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This year’s feast is especially significant in the context of the 100th anniversary of Our Lady's apparitions at Fatima where she revealed herself under this beautiful title.

The happy occasion of the ordination of three new priests on 15 December was a great grace for the many faithful who made the journey to the Seminary for this beautiful ceremony. 

“To suffer generously, I once believed, was to suffer with a courage that never winces. I thought it meant to go to meet suffering, to hold out my arms to it. Now I understand that we can suffer just as generously, yet suffer with sorrow, fear, worry, repugnance, that we can suffer miserably… 

As we approach the close of the Paschal season, we see stretched out before our eyes a long expanse of liturgical time which is not, one might say, as dramatic as the time through which we have just passed.

The Seminary is currently enjoying a few days of quiet after the exciting days of the priestly ordinations and first Masses and the beautiful feast of Christmas but before the commencement of three weeks of retreats – for men, for women, and for the priests of the Australian District. These retreats will continue the flow of graces which has been so abundant over the past two weeks.

Please excuse this delay in the publication of the Southern Sentinel. Although I was blessed to spend three weeks with Fr. Griego learning my new duties before he left us for his new apostolate in Ireland, some time will be required before I perform them as efficiently as he did.