Rector's Report
Greetings to you all!
We are now moving into the Fifth Sunday of Eastertide in Year C. This week's Gospel reading is from John focusing on Jesus' new commandment to love. Love is a word that can be used cheaply and meaninglessly in our modern world. Jesus’ vision for love is to “love one another as I have loved you.” In this vision we are reminded of his selfless, life-giving love every time we pray the Sign of the Cross. In his first address to the world Pope Leo XIV also addressed this theme by appealing to world leaders for a just and lasting peace and love in our world by repeatedly stating, “Never again war.”
In one of the shortest Conclaves in Church history Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected the bishop of Rome, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City on May 8, 2025, following the death and funeral of Pope Francis. Cardinal Prevost took the name Pope Leo XIV. He took the name ‘Leo’ in response to the mission of Pope Leo XIII who had a deep commitment to social justice especially the rights of workers and respecting the personal dignity of each human being.
Pope Leo XIV
The first Augustinian Pope, Leo XIV is the second Roman Pontiff - after Pope Francis - from the Americas. Unlike Jorge Mario Bergoglio, however, the 69-year-old Robert Francis Prevost is from the northern part of the continent, though he spent many years as a missionary in Peru before being elected head of the Augustinians for two consecutive terms.
First Augustinian Pope
The new Bishop of Rome was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, to Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martínez, of Spanish descent. He has two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph.
He spent his childhood and adolescence with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where in 1977 he earned a Degree in Mathematics and studied Philosophy. On September 1 of the same year, Prevost entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.) in Saint Louis, in the Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicago and made his first profession on September 2, 1978. On August 29, 1981, he made his solemn vows. The future Pontiff received his theological education at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. At the age of 27, he was sent by his superiors to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum).
In Rome, he was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College of Saint Monica by Archbishop Jean Jadot, then pro-president of the Secretariat for Non-Christians, which later became the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and then the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Prevost obtained his licentiate in 1984 and the following year, while preparing his doctoral thesis, was sent to the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas, Piura, Peru (1985–1986).
Missionary in Peru
He served as prior of the community (1988–1992), formation director (1988–1998), and instructor for professed members (1992–1998), and in the Archdiocese of Trujillo as judicial vicar (1989–1998) and professor of Canon Law, Patristics, and Moral Theology at the Major Seminary “San Carlos y San Marcelo.” At the same time, he was also entrusted with the pastoral care of Our Lady Mother of the Church, later established as the parish of Saint Rita (1988–1999), in a poor suburb of the city, and was parish administrator of Our Lady of Monserrat from 1992 to 1999.
In 1999, he was elected Provincial Prior of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” in Chicago, and two and a half years later, the ordinary General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine, elected him as Prior General, confirming him in 2007 for a second term.
In October 2013, he returned to his Augustinian Province in Chicago, serving as director of formation at the Saint Augustine Convent, first councillor, and provincial vicar—roles he held until Pope Francis appointed him on November 3, 2014, as Apostolic Administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Chiclayo, elevating him to the episcopal dignity as Titular Bishop of Sufar.
He entered the Diocese on November 7, in the presence of Apostolic Nuncio James Patrick Green, who ordained him Bishop just over a month later, on December 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the Cathedral of Saint Mary.
His episcopal motto is “In Illo uno unum”—words pronounced by Saint Augustine in a sermon on Psalm 127 to explain that “although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one.”
Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, from 2015 to 2023
On September 26, 2015, he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo by Pope Francis. In March 2018, he was elected second vice-president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, where he also served as a member of the Economic Council and president of the Commission for Culture and Education.
In 2019, Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Clergy (July 13, 2019), and in 2020, a member of the Congregation for Bishops (November 21). Meanwhile, on April 15, 2020, he was also appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Callao.
On January 30, 2023, the Pope called him to Rome as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, promoting him to the rank of Archbishop. Pope Francis created him Cardinal in the Consistory of September 30 that year. The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate have two links with Pope Leo XIV as he follows in line with Pope Leo XII who officially approved the new Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Congregation on the 17th February 1826 and he can also trace his apostolic ordination as Bishop in the lineage of St Eugene de Mazenod.
Together let us pray for our new Vicar of Christ, Pope Leo XIV, that the Lord will grace him with all the necessary gifts and blessings he will need in his life and ministry as he shepherds each one of us together the 1.4billion strong members of the Catholic Church throughout the world.
The inauguration of Pope Leo XIV in his Petrine Ministry will be celebrated on Sunday May 18 in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City. On May 25 Pope Leo XIV will be installed as the Bishop of Rome in the Basilica of St John Lateran.
Mazenod Mother’s Day
On Thursday May 8 a record crowd of over 500 mums and their sons gathered in the Provence Centre for the celebration of our Mother’s Day Mass followed by breakfast. The morning proved to be a prayerful and enjoyable community event for our college highlighting the love and respect we have for our mums and the special females in our lives. It is also a timely reminder to pray for our mums who have entered eternal life and who continue to pray and look after us, their children. The theme of the homily was about the role of our mothers and the way they must juggle many aspects of their lives to accommodate their family’s needs. Beach balls were bounced around the gathered community symbolizing this everyday juggling of their love, resilience, perseverance, careers, households, the list goes on.
The following evening, Friday May 9 130 mums gathered at the Mulgrave Country Club for a relaxing and enjoyable evening where they didn’t have to worry about cooking but just sit, be served and enjoy each other’s company.
The Magpie family are certainly a very faithful bunch with their morning prayer as you can see from this recent photo taken by Joshua Hunter on his way to class one morning.
Those were the days!
Yours in Jesus Christ and Mary Immaculate
Fr Harry Dyer OMI