By Jackson Saunders
Fr Dean Bongat was the main celebrant at the newly ordained priests Mass and annual dinner at Corpus Christi College on Wednesday, October 31.
The occasion provided an opportunity to celebrate the ordinations to the priesthood of Corpus Christi College students in 2018. These ordinations so far include Fr Fidelis Udousoro of the Hobart Archdiocese, Fr Tho Tran of the Melbourne Archdiocese and Fr Dean of the mighty Diocese of Sandhurst (as it is referred to down here at the seminary by Sandhurst seminarians and other students alike).
Mass was celebrated in the Corpus Christi College chapel with guests of the newly ordained priests in attendance. Seminary Rector, Fr Denis Stanley, and the formation staff concelebrated the Mass with the newly ordained priests.
After the Mass a dinner was held in the dining room at the seminary named after the Cluny Sisters, who cooked for seminarians of our College when the seminary was previously situated at Werribee, Glen Waverley and most recently in Clayton. When the current seminary was opened in 2000 in Carlton the dining room was named in honour of the Cluny Sisters.
Fr Dean, who as a seminarian was once the Cluny Dining Room coordinator, enjoyed a meal after Mass with the newly ordained priests, staff of the College, seminarians and guests.
A gift from the Catholic War Veterans was presented to each of the newly ordained priests as well as a card from the seminary community.
Speeches were given as a way to acknowledge the contribution of each of the newly ordained to the life of Corpus Christi College.
Special mention was also made to acknowledge the priestly ordination of Fr Hau Le in May this year, who because of commitments as a nearly ordained priest in the Diocese of Port Pirie, was unable to make it back to the seminary for the occasion.
Now as our Rector Fr Denis Stanley explained, the newly ordained have been sent out on mission: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)
Pictures: Jaycee Napoles (Melbourne Archdiocese) and DJ Suguitan (Sandhurst Diocese).