Papal Visit Australia Sydney Opera House 1986

ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II
TO THE RELIGIOUS PEOPLE
GATHERED IN THE SYDNEY'S OPERA HOUSE
Sydney (Australia), 26 November 1986
"I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus...".
Dear Brothers and Sisters, men and women Religious of Australia,
1. I have greatly looked forward to this meeting. And now with joy in my heart I see you here, representing the whole of religious life in this land. As I speak to you in this magnificent concert hall of Sydney’s Opera House, I am very much aware of being with dedicated men and women living out their consecrated lives in every corner of Australia. I greet each one of you in Christ, in whom you lack no spiritual gift.

In the name of the whole Church, I wish to honour the tradition of religious life which you represent. From the beginning, consecrated men and women have been a vital part of the very fabric of the Church’s life in this country, and have made a contribution to the Christian and human development of Australia which is beyond calculation.

2. The first ecclesiastical administration of this region was entrusted to the English Benedictines. In 1834, John Bede Polding was appointed Vicar Apostolic of New Holland and in 1842 was named first Archbishop of this city. In 1838 the Irish Sisters of Charity came here to begin an apostolate among women convicts, orphans, the sick and others in need. In the footsteps of these pioneer men and women, others too numerous to mention here have lived their religious consecration and given of themselves totally and unceasingly. They have served a growing society with its many needs.

Particular mention should be made of the role of religious in implementing the inspired decision of the bishops in the latter part of the nineteenth century to establish a comprehensive school system of Catholic education. In cities as well as in smaller communities, men and women religious have been the support not only of this educational system but also of health care and social works, which are an integral part of the development of Australia.

The presence of dedicated religious serving the needs of the Catholic population in both town and country has led to a remarkable closeness between the religious and the Catholic laity. There is a relationship of deep trust, love and mutual respect between you and the people you serve, a relationship which I am confident you will maintain and continue to deserve.

I wish to pay tribute to all the religious who have lived and served in this country during the past hundred and fifty years. I thank God for his gift of such outstanding witnesses to the beauty and strength of the Gospel. I give thanks for so many lives lived according to the grace of God given in Christ Jesus. One outstanding witness known to me, because her cause has been introduced, is Mary MacKillop, Mother Mary of the Cross, Foundress of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. With you I share the hope that before long all the requirements for her beatification will be fulfilled, thus setting a special seal of approval on religious life in Australia.

3. Today there are approximately eleven thousand women religious, one thousand six hundred brothers and two thousand religious priests in Australia. There is so much to thank God for, including the rich variety of charisms in religious life which he has raised up in Australia.

I wish to say a special word to the contemplatives among you. Dear religious: you will always have an important part to play in building up Christ’s Mystical Body. Its members do not all have the same function. You offer God an excellent sacrifice of praise; you gladden the community of God’s people with your witness of holiness and you increase it through a hidden apostolic fruitfulness. I commend to your prayers and sacrifices the needs of the Church in Australia and in the whole world, and I assure you of the Church’s gratitude for the gift of your lives.

To the sisters and brothers and priests engaged in the many forms of the active apostolate I offer my encouragement and express my esteem. I thank you for your love of the Church and for your sharing in her saving mission. It is indeed hard to imagine what the Church in Australia would be like today without the contribution of your congregations in every field of her activity. I am pleased to know that in more recent years there has been an increased presence of religious in the ethnic communities. There is also an important missionary movement of Australian religious, in Papua New Guinea, the Pacific, Asia, Africa and South America. We can only rejoice at the power of God’s love at work in Australia through the witness of your religious consecration and, beyond your borders, through your missionaries.