My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this first day of Advent 2008, as we prepare a “way for the Lord” and commit ourselves to genuine preparation for the celebration of Christmas, let us also prepare ourselves for the Jubilee Year of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of this diocese of Brisbane.
Here in this place and throughout the State of Queensland, God’s holy people have gathered as the Church, although the Church was present here for many years prior to 1859. Before that, God’s Holy Spirit has hovered over this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit. This same Spirit has guided the indigenous people of this Land for centuries and encouraged their living.
Now, in the presence of representatives of all the Parishes of this Archdiocese, I declare the year 2009 – beginning from this day of the new liturgical year, to be a year of Jubilee – of recalling God’s abundant blessings upon the local church of Brisbane for 150 years.
In this new year of grace - through the rhythms of times and seasons let us celebrate the mysteries of salvation.
Let us recall the year’s culmination, the Easter Triduum of the Lord: his last supper, his crucifixion, his burial, and his rising, celebrated between the evening of the ninth of April and the evening of the twelfth of April.
Each Easter - as on each Sunday - the Holy Church makes present the great and saving deed by which Christ has for ever conquered sin and death. From Easter are reckoned all the days we keep holy.
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, will occur on the twenty fifth of February. Pentecost, the joyful conclusion of the season of Easter, will be celebrated on the thirty first of May.
Let other days be also marked out as days of special solemnity within the Archdiocese. On the twenty ninth of June, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, we recall the 150th anniversary of the consecration of James Quinn as Bishop of Brisbane. On the thirtieth of July, people from across the length and breath of this Archdiocese will gather to celebrate a Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving for the manifold blessings of the past 150 years. The Chrism Mass on the second of April will again mark the unity of this local Church gathering around its bishop, priests and people.
On the eighth of August, with the Sisters of St Joseph, and the Church across this Land, we will commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the death of Mary MacKillop, our own Australian blessed.
We look forward to the days of prayer with other Christians, especially our prayer with the Anglican Communion on the twenty ninth of May.
Through Word and sacrament, symbol and joy, and united with Mary, mother of the Church, let the Church through this Archdiocese resound with praise of God.
May our every deed and act, our prayer and thanksgiving, give glory to Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who is to come, Lord of time and history, for ever and ever. Amen.
+ John A. Bathersby DD – Archbishop
