15 JUNE 2023
www.therecord.com.au
Edition #437
PERTH GAINS ANOTHER PRIEST CALLED TO PRAYER, COURAGE AND HUMBLE SERVICE
The newly ordained Fr Felipe Fernandez thanks the congregation for their support, speaking also to his family and friends in Colombia who watched the Mass via livestream. PHOTO: RON TAN/ARCHDIOCESE OF PERTH.
By Jamie O'Brien
New priest Fr Felipe Fernandez was called to be a man of prayer, a man of courage and a man of humble service to God's people during his recent ordination to the priesthood. Ordained by Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton, Friday 2 June 2023 at St Mary’s Cathedral, Fr Felipe is the second priest to be ordained this year, in addition to two diaconate ordinations. J oining B ish o p S p rox to n as concelebrants for the ordination was Vicar General, the Vry Rev Fr Peter Whitely VG, Redemptoris Mater Seminary Rector, Fr Michael Moore SM, Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey, assisted by Deacon Jason Yeap. Some 20 priests from across the Archdiocese were also present for the occasion, with the Mass also
livestreamed for Felipe’s family and friends in Colombia to be able to join in the celebration. His parents, Maria-Rocio and Diego, travelled to Perth from Colombia for the occasion, together with his sisters, Isabel and Ana-Lucia and brother Diego, who is a seminarian of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in in Amsterdam. Also attending from Colombia was Felipe’s Parish Priest Fr Yormen Rua from Popoyan Colombia, in addition to Felipe’s uncle and other friends. Continuing his homily, Bishop Sproxton said that the priesthood asks of those who are called to go on a pilgrimage with God. “This journey is one of discovery and learning, growth in faith, and it's lifelong. From that first moment of feeling a call, God draws close to us in a very special way,” Bishop Sproxton said. “The mystery which is ourself, is
gradually open to us at the same time as the mystery of God is revealed to us. This is the experience and has been the experience of people of faith. It must happen for each of us, so that we can take up the Ministry of teaching, sanctifying and shepherding,” he said. Hailing originally from the town of Popayán, Colombia, 30-year-old Felipe trained at Perth’s Redemptoris Mater Seminary, arriving in 2012 at the age of 19. At the age of 13, he listened to a catechesis of the Neocatechumenal Way in his parish of Iglesia Espíritu Santo, Popayán. “I joined [the Neocatechumenal community] at the time because my mother said it would be good for my life,” Felipe explained, in a special interview for The Record. It was dur ing his reb ellious teenage years that Felipe recalled he experienced a moment of enlightenment, asking God to intervene. God certainly intervened, with Felipe “standing up” to offer himself for the priesthood during a vocation call in 2008 at a youth pilgrimage for the Neocatechumenal Way in Bogota. He then went on to stand up again at a national meeting of the Neocatechumenal Way in 2010. Felipe says he quickly dismissed the call and didn’t think about it too much at the time. Felipe went on to complete secondary school and was looking to become a forensic scientist or chemical engineer, completing one year of university in the town of Cali, some 140kms from Popayán. Full Text available at
www.therecord.com.au 1