Photo credit @ smensah
by Bro Stephen Mensah SDB
Archbishop Tim Costelloe’s Visit to London
As the “Flame” vibes intensify and logistics proliferate the Wembley Arena, the Salesians of the GBR Province were privileged to host His Grace Timothy Costelloe SDB, the Archbishop of Perth and president of the Bishop Conference of Australia. He is the first president of the Bishops Conference from Western Australia and the first member of a religious order to be elected president.
Archbishop Tim, who was a distinguished speaker at Flame alongside Cardinal Tagle, was ordained Priest Salesian on 25 October 1986 and consecrated Bishop on 15 June 2007. He became the Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne Diocese, where he was born. Appointment by Pope Benedict XVI, Bishop Tim was installed Archbishop of Perth on 21 March 2012. He found his love for education as a student at the Salesian College, Chadstone, and even as he gave up his teacher training to embrace his Salesian Vocation, he soon came to rediscover it as a Salesian. As a Bishop, he continued to lecture theological courses (especially Systematic Theology) and contributed at different levels in Salesian formation.
Archbishop Tim arrived in London on Monday 25 February 2023. He resided at the Salesian House, Battersea. A great pastoral leader as he is, accepted to administer the Ministry of Reader to three Salesian students of theology – Bros. Augustine Alfred, Martin Pushparaj, and Stephen Teye – in the Salesian Community Chapel, Battersea on Monday 27 February.
With great enthusiasm, Archbishop Tim hastened in the early morning hours to the Wembley Arena on Saturday 4 March 2023 to meet 8000+ young people at the Flame event for which he came. He gave an inspirational speech which shows his deep insight into the situation of the young people of today and entreat them to “rise up,” to be active in the world, and to build the Church of Christ as St. Francis of Assisi did and Pope Francis is doing.
Despite the fatigue of the Flame event, on the next day Sunday 5 March, Archbishop Tim accepted to preside over both Masses of the Sacred Heart Parish. In his homily, the Archbishop did not hide his exhaustion from the previous event but the joy he experiences from the Salesian Community in Battersea and the Flame event, he said, outweighed his tiredness. In his homily, he reflected on the word “listen”. He invited the Sacred Heart Parish community to listen to God in the scriptures, to listen to the unfolding of God’s mystery in the Church, and to listen to the reality of the world in which we find ourselves. At the end of each Mass, the Archbishop made himself available to talk to everyone who came to him. He lowered to the level of children in the presence of their parents to talk and bless them. He even made time to do an interview and leave a message for the young people of our parish. Indeed, his presence was a blessing to the Salesian Community, the Parish community, the Salesian School at Battersea, and to the 8000+ young people present at Flame. Fulfilling his mission successfully, he departed after the Sunday Masses to travel to Rome.
We can access pictures of the event from the Flickr album of the Parish courtesy of Bro Stephen Mensah SDB.
The livestreaming of the mass presided by Archbishop Tim is available on the parish Facebook page.
Photo credit @ aebrahim & abulat