austraLasia #1969

Fr Brian Ahern - Bishop's first ordination and the Australia-Pacific's great joy

MELBOURNE: 28th October 2007: -- On Saturday, October 27, a memorable event took place for the Salesian Province of Australia-Pacific.  The Salesian Deacon Brian Ahern was ordained to the Priesthood by the Salesian Bishop Tim Costelloe.  In a very moving ceremony, Bishop Costelloe created a wonderful occasion for the Province by delivering a powerful homily on the challenge of the Ordination to the Priesthood in the light of the Salesian Constitutions.  The new Priest, accompanied by his family, friends and about 50 Salesian Priests and Brothers, had every reason to rejoice in the gift of God that is every ordination.
    On Sunday, October 28, Fr Ahern celebrated his Mass of Thanksgiving at the Parish of St. Margaret Mary’s, North Brunswick.  The churched was filled to capacity and beyond by Australians, Italians, Samoans and Vietnamese.  Fr Ahern preached movingly – on the text of the day, the Pharisee and the Tax Collector at prayer – about the need to transcend what the world believes is sufficient for success with a love that reflects the love of God, made known through Jesus Christ.  At the end of Mass the Provincial, Fr Frank Moloney, spoke to Brian about the challenge of a Salesian Priesthood in an age of multiculturalism and high social and intellectual mobility.  Brian has always been one to suggest that we need to “think out of the box.”  That, said Fr Moloney, is exactly what he must do to render Don Bosco’s spirituality of the Preventive System relevant among Australia’s contemporary young people. Fr Ahern will take up ministry in Dominic College, a large secondary school for boys and girls in one of the poorer regions of Tasmania in January, 2008.
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