Archbishop of Sydney

Good Shepherd Sunday

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney
Jn 10:27-30

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
2 May 2004

Over the last couple of days I have been on visitation in the youngest parish in the Sydney Archdiocese. You will be pleased to know that we have a fine large site on a hill, where the new church will be visible for a great distance. At the moment we have only a few demountables for the primary school, (which goes up to year four) and we hope to start building a new school and church any day now. We have been waiting for well over a year for the necessary permissions.

Recently I asked the young parish priest to go to Rome for further study, leaving on Pentecost Sunday. His imminent departure has provoked much disappointment and sadness among the parishioners. During my visitation I went along to the beautiful retirement village and was asked to pose for photos with a number of groups. One elderly lady asked me if that was all right.  I replied that there was no problem at all, because I have learnt on visitation to do as I am asked. I explained “I will do whatever I am told”.  “Do you really mean that?” she asked.  I repeated “I will do whatever I am told”. “Well then” she added quickly, “if that is true stop Father Danny going to Rome.” Being a man of principle I immediately abandoned my promise and said that I could not do that!

There is a special bond and pride among the priest and people who build a new Church (or a school). I know this from the number of people, often descendants, who speak to me at anniversary celebrations. But beyond that, these Catholic people in a new area knew that they had a good shepherd and were very sad to see him go. I have promised to send another priest of comparable energy, enthusiasm and capacity to build on these foundations and take the community building forward.

The image of Christ as the Good Shepherd is basic to Catholic life. The Church uses a multiplicity of images and also speaks of Christ as the sacrificial Lamb of God, but we are used to that, and for the purposes of understanding we keep the images separate.

If Christ was beginning to teach today he might not use the good shepherd as an image. Sheep are now numbered in hundreds or thousands, often left to pasture in huge paddocks, where they are rounded up for shearing by motorbikes and dogs. The days where a shepherd would look after 30 or 50 sheep for the day, know each of them and lead them back to be locked up for the night are long gone for us in Australia.

Shepherds were part of the Jewish tradition. The patriarchs, Moses and David, had all been shepherds, on the move with their flocks. But Our Lord’s use of the image was thought provoking because the shepherds had a mixed reputation. With time on their hands they often made trouble, stealing from passers-by and neglecting their flocks for their own purposes. In the Middle East it would also have been difficult work with the extreme heat of summer and the snows and bitter cold of winter. Everyone knew that there were many bad shepherds, and Jesus was not recommending this.

He wanted to emphasise that he was like the good shepherd who knew each one of his flock, led them to good feed, left the majority secure while he searched for the one that was lost, and defended the sheep against robbers and wolves. Parents have to be like good shepherds with their children and certainly priests and bishops must strive to imitate Christ the Good Shepherd in their care for their people.

Last night I promised the mass-goers at this new parish that while I am Archbishop their new community (and others like it) would always have a resident priest. But I added that priests do not appear from under cabbage leaves. They answer God’s call and come from local families and communities.

In every generation God calls men and women to leadership roles in the Church as teachers, members of religious orders and the new movements, nurses, social workers and as priests. Orders and movements wax and wane, come and go, but the ministerial priesthood is a constant in Catholic life.

And, as I say regularly to young adults, the situation is simple. If a sufficient number of young Catholics do not answer the call to leadership and service, and especially in the priesthood, then the Catholic community will weaken and fall over. So we pray that those called to be good shepherds in many different ways, men and women, will be able to hear their call amidst all the static and hostile tunes and then have the courage to answer the call.

May you pray for and support all those who are your shepherds in the Church today and may you pray for other shepherds to join them and support them.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.