Mother of Good Counsel Parish

Pastor’s Pen

I am often asked, “how is the bishop going?” and from my perspective, he seems to be happy in his new role, having relocated from a big Archdiocese in the south, with the responsibility for 190 Clergy and now adjusting to lead his own Diocese in the far north.

Since his Ordination on August 15th, he has hit the ‘ground running’; visiting Port Moresby for the Pope’s visit, then to Rome to join other newly ordained bishops for the ‘baby bishops’ course’. Once back He travelled overland with Fr Dariusz on ministry to Weipa, then followed a flight to Thursday Island and surrounds with Fr Laurie visiting parishioners.

In early November he flew to Sydney for the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and was pleased provision was made to have a break from meetings to run a Sweep and watch the running of the Melbourne Cup. He left last Thursday with Deacon Peter for ministry in the Gulf Savanah, planning to be away for 5 days with two overnights at Station Properties. That does not consider the many operational/formal meetings he has dealt with at the Bishop’s House.

Conscious of his commitments and his desire to get out into the country to meet his people, I plan to formalize visits in 2025.

Fr Kerry