Adelaide -70th Anniversary

We are very privileged to have present today, Eileen Fahey of Parkside, who is 96 years of age and was one of the formation members of the Legion of Mary in Adelaide.

I welcome Eileen, a great Legionary and a friend of many of us. She is a special friend of mine. I met her often during the twenty years I was Archbishop and I thank Eileen for her great witness to Christ as an active Legionary of Mary during that time.

This morning I visited and took Holy Communion to a man who is very ill with cancer. I told him I was coming to Rosary Church to celebrate the seventy years of the Legion of Mary .He replied, "The Legion of Mary has been a great organisation".

Many people would agree with my friend. Today we celebrate the visitation of people in Hospitals, in their houses, in Nursing Homes and Hostels and the work done by the Legionaries in Parishes and in the Archdiocese of Adelaide. I thank you for your faith, charity and loyalty.

I have been associated with the Legion for more than fifty years. Frank Duff visited us when I was a student at the Urban College in Rome in about 1948. We started two Praesidia of the Legion among the Seminarians and helped to establish the Legion in Parishes around Rome.

On my return to Australia after Ordination, I was Spiritual Director of the Legion in Woodville Parish and, later, at the Cathedral.

The Legion of Mary is based on a solid teaching and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary .I recommend that we appreciate the great gifts of Pope John Paul II. In 1987, he gave us the Encyclical Letter "Redemptoris Mater" -"The Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of the Pilgrim Church". This is a beautiful and clear teaching on Mary in the life of the church.

In October of the year 2002, Pope John Paul sent out an Apostolic Letter "On the Most Holy Rosary" This letter leads us even more deeply into the Mystery of Christ -"Contemplating Christ with Mary".

I pray the Rosary every day, but I have always found it difficult to really contemplate the mysteries. This letter has helped me -and many others to pray the Rosary.

As you know, the Pope introduced the "Mysteries of Light" into the Rosary .These enable us to pray the public life of Christ and also to contemplate the Eucharist as the fifth Mystery of Light.

As I commend these two letters of the Holy Father to you, I shall offer this Mass of Thanksgiving for the seventy years and ask God to bless us all in the years ahead

There were about forty Legionaries from the Vietnamese Community present at the Mass. Archbishop Faulkner thanked them for their great faith and their courage. Many of them came to Australia as ‘Boat People’. Fr Minh Tam translated into Vietnamese.