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A remarkable journey will reach a new stage on 15 July when Br Robert Krishna OP will be ordained a priest by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at St Benedict’s, Broadway.
Br Robert’s journey began in Bangalore, India. Originally a Hindu, he became an atheist at the age of 10, and in his late teens considered himself an agnostic.
When he was almost 18 he arrived in Australia and began a science degree at the University of Sydney, hoping to major in physics.
In 2001, about three years into his degree, he decided that mathematics was not his forte. At this time, he also began to suffer from depression.
The philosophical side to this depression was a worry about whether his own life, and judgements, human life and human judgements, and the world in general had any transcendent value at all, or if they were mere “sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
It seemed to him that the only alternative was that the world and human beings had value because they were valued by someone not transient – God.
And the only reasonable historical claimant to divine status was Jesus Christ.
He was not mythological but really existed. So he began attending an Anglican Church and was baptised in September 2002.
He now realised that Christ is not merely a figure of history but a person to whom we can reach out.
Around this time, Br Robert encountered some Catholics at Sydney University.
One thing which impressed him was the fact that there were many young Catholics who were happy in living what the Church teaches.
“I was converted through their example and conversations, rather than through their arguments” he said.
Of the latter, one which sticks out was the exasperated comment of the chaplaincy convenor at the time, Robert Haddad: “You’re never going to get all the answers to all your objections, and at some stage, you need to make a leap of faith.”
It was a throwaway line, but it contains a truth which bothered Br Robert until it ended up convincing him.
He was received into the Church in 2003 and confirmed a year later by then-Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, who had just been ordained a Bishop. Continue reading
- Image: Catholic Weekly
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