Sunday, November 18, 2007

"Terry, Terry, Terry... Oi, Oi, Oi": In Sydney, Pell Ordains Beloved Bishop

Two weeks ago, Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral drew a respectable crowd for Cardinal George Pell's celebration of a Saturday morning Mass in the Extraordinary Rite.

But Friday night, Pell's Headquarters -- one of Australia's largest churches -- didn't even have a standing-room spot to spare as the cardinal ordained his newest auxiliary bishop, Terry Brady, whose arrival in the nave was greeted with what one witness termed "hollering."

With his first pastor and first curate as his chaplains, the new bishop was similarly cheered on at multiple other points during the liturgy; even his parish site referred to the prominence of "spontaneous loud cheers."

The Ozzies often pride themselves on being a "sports-mad" people, but the enthusiasm of Friday's "church-mad" crowd was said to be without precedent.

Pastor of three parishes in the city's northern harbor, B16 named Brady the third auxiliary for the archdiocese of 2 million on St Francis' Day. His raucous faithful will reunite next August as the new bishop -- ordained a priest at 36 -- marks his silver jubilee.

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