Last Sunday, newly ordained Patrick Bradford celebrated a thanksgiving Mass in St Joseph’s church in Waitara.
Bradford, who is 29, grew up in St Joseph’s Parish.
He studied for the priesthood at a seminary in Melbourne and was ordained in Melbourne on 12 September.
After leaving Francis Douglas Memorial College, Bradford majored in accounting at Victoria University before moving to Melbourne.
At that stage he had no interest becoming a priest, he said.
“I always thought being a priest was a last resort, something you try when you’d given everything else a go and nothing works.”
But then brothers from Francis Douglas sent him on a trip around Australia just before Pope Benedict visited in 2008.
There was a preparation process that went on, he said.
“There is a cross that goes all around the world to prepare people for the event and it was on that trip that I felt very strongly the call to be a priest.”
“The bishop was talking about his life and he said it was the greatest opportunity he had ever been given.”
“And I thought, this is actually something really worthwhile in it’s own right.”
So I thought, what have I got to lose? I’ll give it a go and if I don’t like it I can always leave.”
He spent seven years in the seminary, which is a long time to think about whether he was making the right choice and one obstacle to get around was having to give up the right to have a wife and children, he said.
“That hits at different times. Not sort of straight away, but at various time when you are trying to work out what you want to do that becomes a real gnawing. Especially when you are around families and you see the happiness and the joy that can be, it can be really tough.”
But he had different mentors and a spiritual director to talk things through with, he said.
“And it’s a long time to think about things.”
Bradford has been been appointed to a parish in Mordialloc in Melbourne, which has 1000 parishioners and two schools, which combined have about 1000 pupils, he said.
Source
- stuff.co.nz
- Image: stuff.co.nz
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