The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has welcomed the ordination and installation of George Kolodziej SDS as the fifth Bishop of Bunbury.
Bishop Kolodziej was ordained and installed at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Bunbury, on 19 March, which the Church marks as the Solemnity of St Joseph.
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President and Archbishop of Perth Timothy Costelloe SDB noted in his homily that Bishop Kolodziej’s middle name is Joseph.
‘St Joseph was certainly close to God, open and attentive to all that God asked of him, no matter how confusing or daunting God’s plan for him seemed to be,’ Archbishop Costelloe said.
‘When he awoke from his troubling dreams, the Scriptures tell us, he did what the angel told him, acting decisively and courageously.
‘Bishop George has done the very same: when he “awoke”—that is when he recovered from the shock of [Apostolic Nuncio] Archbishop Balvo’s phone call—he did what the Lord was asking, through the request of Pope Francis. He said yes to the Pope’s invitation to become your bishop.’
Bishop Kolodziej, 56, was born in Dobra, Poland, and has been the Superior of the Salvatorians in Australia since October 2018.
He directed the Salvatorian Spirituality Centre in Perth and is a member of the Council of Catholic Religious Australia, as well as serving as a chaplain for Catholic Education Western Australia.
Ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, Archbishop of Krakow, in 1994, he was sent to the Australian region of the Salvatorians, where he undertook pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Perth and the Diocese of Bunbury.
Having served in the Parish of Greenmount and at Chisholm Catholic College, he was elected Vice Superior of the Salvatorian Region of Australia in December 1999.
In December 2000, Fr Kolodziej began ministry in the Diocese of Broken Bay in New South Wales, serving as school chaplain at St Leo’s Catholic College (2001–2008), assistant priest at Pymble Parish (2001–2003), East Gosford Parish (2003–2008) and later parish priest of Pittwater Parish (2008–2018).
‘We pray that the “fatherliness” of St Joseph, expressed through tenderness and compassion, but also through courage and fidelity, will be a source of inspiration and hope as he begins this new ministry as father and brother to the Church in this Diocese of Bunbury,’ Archbishop Costelloe concluded in his homily.
‘May God, who has begun the good work in him, bring it to fulfilment.’
The Diocese of Bunbury, which covers the south-western parts of Western Australia, spans an area one and half times that of England.
Banner image: The new bishop greets the congregation. (Photo by Michelle Tan.)
