AUSTRALIA : 2 ARCHBISHOPS OBTAIN PALLIUM

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese REPORT
1 Jul 2012


Archbishop Mark Coleridge before the ceremony
in Rome
Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane and Perth's Archbishop Tim Costelloe were among 44 archbishops who had a woollen band placed around their shoulders when they knelt before him Pope Benedict XV1 at St Peter's Basilica for the pallium ceremony before the Solemnity Mass of SS. Peter and Paul.
Pope Benedict XV1 told each one of the archbishops the ceremony was a reminder of their ties to heaven and earth and also of their loyalty to Christ and the successor of Peter.
Presented every year to new archbishops or those who have been assigned to a new archdiocese, the pallium ceremony is attended by many archdiocesan representatives and pilgrims from around the world. Before celebrating Mass, Pope Benedict gave the archbishops from 23 countries the woollen palliums as a sign of their sharing with him authority over the faithful in their archdioceses. This represented a significant change in the ceremony which was to avoid interrupting the flow of the Mass or seeming to suggest that the bestowal of the pallium has the status of a sacrament.

Archbishops in St Peter's Basilica for the ceremony
and the Mass of SS. Peter and Paul
The pallium is a band of fabric made of white lamb's wool, that circles the neck and hangs down in the front and back. On the Feast of St Agnes in February each year, two lambs are blessed by the Pope, and the wool from these lambs are made by a group of nuns into the pallium.
Present also for the ceremony and Mass was the Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell and Auxiliary Bishop Peter A.Comensoli.
Archbishop Coleridge also brought 30 pilgrims from his archdiocese and he said he hoped the ceremony would be a boost to re-evangelising Australia.

The archbishop noted that the pallium "is a call not just to me as the archbishop who wears it but it is a call to whole Church to be more apostolic and you can only become more apostolic by entering into deeper communion with the See of Peter."

Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia:
" Pope Benedict actually confirmed me, kin faith and also
in my work as archbishop, when he placed the pallium
on my shoulders today.
it means a lot in this difficult moment in our local church."
"If you separate yourself from the See of Peter then it becomes impossible to fulfill the apostolic task entrusted to the Church by Jesus."
During the homily the Pope said to the archbishops;" You have been constituted in and for the great mystery of communion that is the church, the spiritual edifice built upon Christ as the cornerstone, while in its earthly and historical dimension, it is built on the rock of St Peter."
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY

Comments