22 JUNE 2023
www.therecord.com.au
Edition #438
LIFELINK DAY FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS: JESUS IS UNITED WITH THOSE WHO ARE NOT ABLE TO CARE FOR THEMSELVES, SAYS ARCHBISHOP COSTELLOE
Episcopal Vicar the Very Rev Fr Vincent Glynn, left with CEWA Director Religious Education Deacon Mark Powell and students from Sacred Heart College Sorrento. PHOTO: RON TAN/ARCHDIOCESE OF PERTH.
By Amanda Murthy/CEWA
Not only did God make us, but He loves us and wants to be close to us, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe has said. Archbishop Costelloe was speaking for his 2023 LifeLink Day for Primary Schools Wednesday, 7 June 2023 and to more than 450 students, teachers and principals representing 75 Archdiocesan primary schools at Newman College. The launch was also livestreamed to enable more students and schools to participate and hear directly from Archbishop Timothy and other speakers. Present for the annual occasion was LifeLink Chair, Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton, Episcopal Vicar for
Education and Faith Formation the Very Rev Fr Vincent Glynn, Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) Director of Religious Education Deacon Mark Powell, representing Executive Director Dr Debra Sayce, Floreat/Wembley Parish Priest Fr Kazimierz Stuglik and Doubleview Parish Priest, Fr Peter Hoang OP along with CEWA staff and student representatives. In his keynote address, Archbishop Costelloe offered a reflection on the purpose of LifeLink, and how the Church’s social service agencies supported by LifeLink, respond to our brothers and sisters in need. “…When you produce the projects to raise money for the people who come to The Shopfront, for example, looking for something to eat, you
are doing something to give food to Jesus himself, because He is united with those hungry people,” Archbishop Costelloe said. “When you spend time with your friends, at school, planning projects that will raise money for those people who have disabilities that are looked after by Identitywa or by the Emmanuel Centre, you are doing something for Jesus,” he said. Jesus is united, continued Archbishop Costelloe, with those people who for one reason or another are not able to care for themselves. “…We know that every single person, no matter how lost, or lonely, or poor, or struggling or sick or hurting he or she might be, is deeply loved by God as well. “The best way that we can show our love for God, and our desire to respond to God, as he speaks to us, in the words of Jesus, is to show our love for the people that God loves and letting people and especially those in need,” he said. During his presentation, Archbishop Costelloe explained that LifeLink was established by Emeritus Archbishop Barry Hickey in 1994, highlighting that LifeLink would be a focal point as the fundraising and promotional arm for the Church’s social welfare agencies in this Archdiocese. At that time, explained Archbishop Costelloe, many Church welfare agencies had served the community for more than 20 or 30 years and were well known, while many others were not so well known. Full Text available at
www.therecord.com.au 1