One of the newest religious congregations in the Parramatta Diocese, the Somascan Fathers, had originally not planned to minister in that Diocese at all, reports Catholic Outlook.
The congregation, which recently took over the parish of St Padre Pio, Glenmore Park, first established a presence in Australia 20 years ago when the then-Archbishop of Perth asked them to set up a community in the city. Then in 2020, they were asked to take over two parishes in the Archdiocese of Sydney, St Joseph’s Moorebank, and St Christopher’s Holsworthy. But the way they arrived in the Diocese of Parramatta was a little different.
Fr Johnson Joseph CRS with Parramatta Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv following Fr Johnson’s installation as parish priest of Glenmore Park Parish. PHOTO: Catholic Outlook.
“As I always say, God works mysteriously,” says Fr Johnson Joseph CRS, the Parish Priest at Glenmore Park, and one of the founders of the Somascan community in Australia. “We never planned to come to the Parramatta Diocese.”
He recalls that their unlikely road to Parramatta began when their fellow congregation, the Somascan Sisters, were looking to establish a community in Sydney, after being given a house in the Diocese of Parramatta. On hearing of their intentions, Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Bishop of Parramatta, invited the sisters to work in the Diocese, but also asked if the Somascan Fathers would also come.
“It is God who brought us here because the sisters explored the possibility…[and] they did not continue,” Fr Johnson says.
“But then, because of them, we were introduced to the Diocese…and now we are here.”
A ‘community of faith and love’
That act of providence is proving a huge boon for the parish at Glenmore Park, which has responded enthusiastically to the Somascan Fathers since they arrived about 12 months ago. As well as Fr Johnson, the other Somascan Priest in the Parish is Fr Sheldon Burke CRS, the Assistant Priest. Attendance at all masses is strong and parishioners are eager to join in parish life.
Fr Johnson is reluctant to claim any credit for this, but he says that as Somascans, their main motivation is to devote themselves to parishioners “and love them as fathers in spirit” in order to create a “community of faith and love”.
“It is not about being administrators of a parish, but being part and parcel of everyone’s family here, being there for them … which also means giving them a lot of time, being available to visit them, and journey with them,” he says.
“It also means being fully human, not trying to pretend as if we are different from them or we are holier than them. That is the Somascan style. We mingle with the people as if they are part of our family.”
Fr Johnson says this notion of family also extends outwards to the rest of the Diocese, and means that as Somascans they always “look up to the Diocese and to the Bishop’s instructions” as a way of bringing forth this “community of faith and love”.
Fr Sheldon Burke CRS, assistant priest at Glenmore Park Parish. PHOTO: Catholic Outlook.
So, in the Glenmore Park Parish, Fr Johnson and Fr Sheldon are acting in the spirit of the recent Diocesan Synod by involving more lay people in the running of the parish and especially bringing more of them into leadership roles.
They already have a strong youth group and are planning to set up groups for families, mothers and men. Another thing they’re hoping to set up is a chapel for Perpetual Adoration.
“When a person is genuinely devoted to the Eucharistic Lord, his relationship in the family will become genuine,” Fr Johnson says.
“His relationship with others will become genuine, because the Eucharist cannot help but transform people into real Christians.”
Working for reformation of the Church
The Somascan Fathers were founded in Venice in1532 by a nobleman St Jerome Emiliani as a company of men devoted to helping the poor and homeless, especially children who had no family. About 30 years after St Jerome’s death, the Vatican added them to the list of Clerics Regular and they became a congregation in 1568.
“It evolved from our founder’s openness to God and his willing service to the poor, out of love for God,” Fr Johnson said.
Their charism is still very much devoted to “living the paternity of God with special attention to the needy youth and orphaned”, he says, as well as working towards the reformation of the Church.
“If you ask me, the reformation of the Church is our goal, the reformation of Christians is our goal.”
Providence also played a big part in Fr Johnson’s road to becoming a Somascan Father.
“God chose me for this congregation,” he says, “and I love the spirit of obedience which is in our congregation.”
“Sometimes you do not know what really is God’s will. But for me, being a Somascan is very easy. I rely on my superiors. I know it’s God’s will.
“And another thing I love about being a Somascan is the emphasis on the reformation of Christians.
“At the end of the day, whatever the charitable works that you do, whether you are interested in education of the poor, or caring for the upliftment of the poor or women or the sick, the final goal is that all should reach Heaven, which happens when we are all reformed Christians,” he says.
“Our congregation puts all its emphasis on working for the reformation of Christians.”
But it’s not a one-way street. Fr Johnson says in order for him and his fellow Somascans to be successful, they also need to be reformed.
“The congregation keeps reminding me through this mission to reform myself every day.”
And the teachings of St Jerome and those priests who have come after him “give you concrete steps for you to take towards one’s own sanctification, and to work for the sanctification of others”, Fr Johnson says.
“Once you know – not just with your head but deep down – that God is your Father, your life changes.”
This article by Anthony Lawes was published in Catholic Outlook, the publicatoin of the Diocese of Parramatta.