CATH NEWS REPORT:
NSW bishop-elect, Father Peter Comensoli
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Pope Benedict has hand-picked a 47-year-old priest from Wollongong in NSW for the role of auxiliary bishop to Sydney's Cardinal George Pell, said the Illawarra Mercury and ACBC media releases.
"Being a bishop is not something you get a hankering [for]... you can't just live a quiet little life in the parish and take it fairly easily."It's a daunting appointment," admitted Father Peter Comensoli, who will become Australia's youngest bishop.
"You have to be a figure in the life of the church and be an example to others."
Wollongong-born and bred, the surf-loving Fr Comensoli will join two other auxiliary bishops in helping Archbishop Pell carry out his duties in the archdiocese.
Educated at St Paul's College Bellambi (now Holy Spirit) and the University of Wollongong, where he studied commerce, Fr Comensoli began studying for the priesthood in 1986.
He has spent 19 years in parishes across the Illawarra, peppered with trips to Rome and Scotland to further his theological studies.
"I'm a bit sad leaving Wollongong. I've had all my life here, except when I was away studying, but in the church you get called to all sorts of things," he told the Mercury.
Fr Comensoli first knew change was afoot when he received a phone call two weeks ago from the Pope's Australian representative, Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Lazzarotto, who wanted to meet him.
Suspecting he would be offered the post of bishop, Fr Comensoli thought and prayed hard before deciding he was up to the task.
"[I wondered] whether my own faith is strong enough to be an example to others, and whether I was willing to take up a more penitential life and whether I am worthy of taking on this role," he said.
"It is confronting when you are faced with that question."
Fr Comensoli will be ordained at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney on June 8.
President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Archbishop Philip Wilson has expressed a
warm welcome to Fr Comensoli.
"Having been the bishop of Wollongong myself I know and have worked with Father Peter, and I can
attest to how well suited to this ministry he is," Archbishop Wilson said in a statement.
"He will bring many gifts of grace and intelligence to the role of Sydney Auxiliary Bishop and my
brother Bishops and I will, in a special way, hold him up in prayer during Holy Week."
Wollongong's Bishop Peter Ingham said in a statement: "We rejoice with this thoroughly Wollongong citizen in his new appointment and assure him of our prayerful support. Wollongong's loss is certainly Sydney's gain."
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