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23 October, 2024

Archbishop heaps praise on Good Shepherd parish during visit

The Catholic Church leader was the guest at the annual Bishop's Dinner last week.

By Troy Rowling

Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge said the Good Shepherd Catholic Parish was unique for the modern Church.
Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge said the Good Shepherd Catholic Parish was unique for the modern Church.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge was ordained into the priesthood one year after Mount Isa’s Father Mick Lowcock in 1974 and the two men have followed almost polar opposite missions ever since.

The Sixth Archbishop of Brisbane, who has served in the position for 13 years, Coleridge was formally a biblical scholar who rose to become a speech writer for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.

However, Archbishop Coleridge admits there were times while working within the hallowed walls of the Holy See that he longed for the simple human connections of the parish priest.

One day while wandering through the Vatican gardens, he recalls hearing distant laughter.

Passing into an open greenery, he came across a group of children kicking around a football.

“I had not heard children laugh for a long time,” he said.

“I couldn’t believe how refreshing it felt to hear the sounds of real human life – in a parish you hear families at play all the time – but it is a sound that the Vatican sorely lacks.”

Archbishop Coleridge travelled to Mount Isa for the first time last week for the Good Shepherd Catholic Parish Bishop’s Dinner at the Irish Club.

He told North West Weekly he has long admired the discreet work of Father Mick and the community that has been built around his Mount Isa parish.

Archbishop Coleridge said Mount Isa and the North West were in a very unique situation – with Father Mick putting down roots in the city for three decades and establishing a parish network of social services that is unparalleled in other remote areas.

“Mick Lowcock is rare – he has been able to adapt to a changing scene in Mount Isa,” he said.

“Talking to him, you can hear how the human story has changed in this city.

“Once upon a time a priest was sent to a parish, and it was like a marriage – he stayed there for the rest of his life. It was only comparatively recently that our Church introduced six-year terms for parish appointments.

“In a city such as Brisbane, people now can jump in their car and get their spiritual needs met anywhere – so in metropolitan areas, the territorial parish is over – but that is not true in Mount Isa.

“If the leadership in the parish is poor, then people don’t have anywhere else to go.

“The Church has to maintain a degree of stability, and we have been able to do that in Mount Isa with Mick Lowcock, but we also need to adapt to fast changing environments in rural settings.”

Archbishop Coleridge said he particularly admired the work of the Good Shepherd parish to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.

“I can see how the Church in Mount Isa is trying to do things differently,” he said.

“It is not paternalistic – it is about respecting Indigenous people and engaging with them in a way that respects their dignity and listens to them in the belief we can learn from them.

“In every country town that I have known, collaboration is not an option, it is a necessity.

“The Church has to work with local government and emergency services and anyone really that can help serve the community; everyone has to pitch in.”

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