In the stream of Grace: 50 years of priesthood
By Catherine Sheehan
As Archbishop Julian Porteous marked 50 years of priesthood on 7 September, he reflected upon his many and varied experiences over five decades, keenly aware of the work of God’s abundant grace and mercy in his life.
“There’s a phrase from the Letter to the Ephesians, which I think summarises my life and my priesthood and my role as bishop,” Archbishop Julian said.
“It simply says, ‘It is by grace you are saved through faith’. I’m just very conscious of grace. I’m very aware that I need salvation and I want to place myself under the mercy of God, under the grace of God.”
His understanding of the nature of the priesthood has deepened and matured over the years.
“Now after 50 years a priest, I think that, more than anything else, the priest is one who stands in the presence of God for the people and really with the people. And invokes God’s grace and mercy upon the community of believers, but more broadly the world.”
Born in Sydney in 1949, the eldest of five children in his family, he first sensed a call to priesthood as a young boy in grade five or six at school.
“I distinctly remember one morning going into the chapel and kneeling down at the altar, really just to say a brief prayer. And the words came into my head very simply, very clearly, ‘One day you will be a priest’. And those words just stayed with me … I accepted them and had no resistance to them.
“Now, subsequently, I can look back and understand this was the moment when God did actually call me.”
He entered the seminary in 1969, fresh out of secondary school, studying first at St Columba’s College in Springwood, and later at St Patrick’s College, Manly.
It was during his time at Manly that the young Julian Porteous had a profound spiritual experience that changed his faith life forever.
As he was walking in the grounds of St Patrick’s College one evening before Vespers he was overwhelmed by an awareness of God’s presence.
“I can only describe it as a moment when I sensed God’s presence in a very, very real and immediate way… I felt the direct love of God for me.
“Immediately I just felt this enormous joy… I found myself breaking out in praise of God. And particularly, I found myself moving in what they call the Gift of Tongues.”
“That was the moment that God in His mercy towards me touched my life with His grace, through the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit.”
He was ordained on 7 September 1974 by Cardinal James Freeman at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney. He remembers little of the actual day other than a sense of being overwhelmed by the momentous occasion.
“As I look back, I’m deeply conscious that it changed my being,” he said. “I am now a priest and I’m conscious of that identity that is now absolutely integral to who I am.”
The young Fr Julian relished parish life, serving at Kingsgrove, Manly, Mona Vale, The Entrance, Woy Woy, Annandale, and Dulwich Hill.
One of his particular interests was youth ministry and his desire to evangelise the young was further ignited after reading Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Evangelii nuntiandi, which states, “the Church exists in order to evangelise”.
Fr Julian set about organising missions and rallies for youth which proved highly successful. In 1983 while serving in the parish at Manly he organised a mission called ‘Jesus Christ at Manly Oval’ which attracted thousands of young people.
In 1998, after 25 years as a priest, Fr Julian decided to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain, to reflect on his ministry and seek God’s will for his future. He walked 800km in 30 days from France, through the Pyrenees, to Santiago in Spain.
“I came away with a sense, ‘Okay, I’m going to be a parish priest’.”
“I just carried a simple prayer in my heart: ‘Lord, what’s next? Where do you want me to go? If you want me to be a parish priest for the rest of my life, that’s fine. I’m very happy with that.
However, soon after returning to Sydney he was asked by Cardinal George Pell to take up the role of rector at the seminary, which he did in 2002.
In 2003 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as an auxiliary bishop for Sydney, something which came as “a complete surprise”.
“I remember going into the chapel afterwards and just kneeling down and saying, ‘Lord, what have you done?’,” Archbishop Julian said, laughing.
He was ordained a bishop on 3 September 2003, adopting the episcopal motto of ‘Grace and Truth’, and served under Cardinal Pell for ten years.
“I really learnt how to be a bishop from Cardinal Pell, and I consider it really a great privilege to have been so closely associated with him during those years.”
During his time as Auxiliary Bishop in Sydney he founded the Walk with Christ procession for the feast of Corpus Christi, and took part in World Youth Day in 2008, which he describes as “a watershed moment for the Church in Australia”.
In 2013, Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Hobart and on 17 September that year he was installed at St Mary’s Cathedral in Hobart.
“I have always felt very strongly the call to evangelise,” Archbishop Julian said. “That was very much in my mind coming down here, the sense of exercising a role of evangelisation in Tasmania.”
Over the past 11 years he has established many evangelising initiatives, including the annual Walk with Christ procession in Hobart, the St Patrick’s Pilgrimage, Light a Candle for Christmas, Carols on the Hill, and the Evangelium Project.
Archbishop Julian has also worked hard to build up the number of priests in Tasmania, bringing many from overseas to ensure parishes would not close and that parishioners would not be deprived of the sacraments.
As shepherd of his flock, Archbishop Julian has also been known to speak out in defence of moral truths and freedom of religion, even when such a stance puts him at odds with the prevailing secular culture.
He ruffled feathers in 2015 after distributing a booklet produced by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference titled ‘Don’t Mess with Marriage’ to Catholic parishes and schools around Tasmania. The booklet outlined the Church’s teaching on marriage. As a consequence, a complaint against Archbishop Julian was lodged with the Anti-Discrimination Commission, which was later dropped.
“I thought this booklet was very balanced and clear in its presentation,” Archbishop Julian said.
“I believe that a bishop has a role of teaching the Catholic faith. I think it’s a solemn duty that’s given to a bishop in particular.”
In May this year he distributed a pastoral letter, ‘We are Salt to the Earth’, expressing his concern about religious freedom, particularly for Catholic Schools, in light of proposed changes by the Government to anti-discrimination laws. Once again, there was some backlash in the secular media for his defence of religious freedom and Catholic teaching.
“We do need to be able to preserve the integrity of our schools and our Catholic schools need to be able to be grounded in Catholic teaching. And so, I decided to write a letter just alerting people to the potential of this legislation not enabling Catholic schools to continue to exercise their mission.
“I did receive a lot of emails critical of the stance that I’d taken, but I got more emails from people thanking me for speaking out.”
On 5 June this year, his 75th birthday, Archbishop Julian submitted his resignation, as is required of all bishops under canon law. His resignation was accepted by the Holy Father and he will remain in office until his replacement is installed.
“I still believe I have energy and desire to serve the Church and its mission here in Tasmania. Moving to retirement is a little bit of a challenge for me,” Archbishop Julian said.
“If anything, I want to keep praying for the Church here in Tasmania, interceding for God to come with His grace upon Tasmania.”
As a priest, Archbishop Julian considers celebrating the Mass to be the most important thing he does each day.
“The most important moment for me is standing at the altar as a priest,” he said.
“I’m just grateful for the call. I’m very content to have served as a priest and grateful to God for His presence and guidance and somehow getting me there.”
Watch Archbishop Julian’s exclusive interview here: