Farewell Address for Archbishop Randazzo – 28 May 2026

Your Grace, Fathers and Deacons, Friends

I have long reflected on the power of the imagination and its significance not only for our ordinary life but also for our life of faith. The images we carry shape our character and our behaviour; they also capture the sense of our self and others. And, indeed, certainly our experience of others leaves us with an impression which translates into an image, and that image holds our memory of the other. 

There may be many images of Archbishop Anthony that we carry this evening, and may we not embarrass him by calling them forth!  Yet, there is one particular image that is uppermost for me. This is the image of His Grace alone on a forecourt – not because no one dare approach him, but, conversely, because he has been the last to leave the site after a celebration, whether it be for the diocese or a parish. 

For me, it has demonstrated consistently over the last six and a half years, Your Grace’s immersion amongst us.  Without exception, you have made yourself available to all those entrusted to your care. You have often reflected with me your abiding desire to live out your priesthood in the ordinary round of parish engagement. Though the Spirit has led you through your priestly life in a very different way, this foundational pastoral heart has been unmistakably evidenced on every forecourt of every church in our diocese, on many playgrounds of our schools, and in our Catholic care Centres of Mary Macs in Woy Woy and Dom’s place in Hornsby on many different occasions. Events, liturgies and school openings may have acted as catalyst for the exercise of this heart. Yet, they certainly have not only equated with its light. We have seen your pastoral heart evidenced, too, by such instances as your companionship with our young people on the World Youth Day Pilgrimage to Lisbon of 2023, your accompaniment of our school system leaders Jubilee pilgrimage of 2025, and through your unswerving accompaniment of our students for the priesthood for which you have ordained eight for our own diocese over this relatively short time with us, and which has resulted in a culture of vocations that may result in a further 8 students in the seminary in 2027.  Your availability to our clergy has been a special dimension of your pastoral availability, and I can personally testify to how you have been present to us with encouragement, with challenge, and with consolation as situations have called. On behalf of our clergy, especially, thank you for being our brother and our father; on behalf of the entire People of God of Broken Bay thank you for loving us in these years you have been our Shepherd.  

You have exercised this hospitality of character notwithstanding the added responsibilities with the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross and the Federation of Bishops Conferences of Oceania, not to mention the responsibilities you have exercised with the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, and numerous, and not insignificant requests, from the Holy See.

So much has occurred over these last years. In some senses when we start to list what you have established, occasioned, and facilitated, the image comes not of a lone figure on a church courtyard, but rather of the dynamo, a whirlwind!  Notwithstanding that your ministry as Shepherd through 2020-2021 began with the navigation of COVID, we bring to mind particularly the following:

• The diocesan vision occasioned by the release of your first Pastoral Letter to us in 2020, your Pastoral Letter on the Eucharist in 2025 which has received both national and international attention, and, most recently, your vision of the diocese in the ecclesial charter, Witnesses to the Resurrection.
• The revisioning of Catholic Schools Broken Bay through the development of two 5 year strategic plans and most especially your commitment to special needs education in Catholic Schools Broken Bay through the establishment of the Eileen O’Connor school – a development of such enormous significance. Your leadership in Catholic Education has enabled Catholic Schools Broken Bay to assume undoubtable leadership in NSW through these years.
• The reform the Diocesan Chancery in 2024 with a clear orientation to mission, and the subsequent development of its Areas of Mission.
• The processes of Regional Discernments through 2022-2024 at the service of the preparation for a Diocesan Synod which have resulted in such initiatives as the establishment of the Ambrose Centre at The Entrance, and the implementation of structures such as the Council for Pastoral Mission, and the Deanery Leaders-in-Council, all of which have been informed by your own personal participation at the Synod of Bishops through 2023 and 2024.
• The establishment of Joseph House for Vocational Discernment in Willoughby, the implementation of the Orders and Ministries Commission, the Diocesan Awards Committee, the Diocesan Liturgical Commission, the Priests Retirement Fund, the reform of the Clergy Remuneration and Sick Fund – all of these form parts of your legacy.
• The introduction of the annual Ignite Conference for young people and the promulgation of opportunities for grace of the Jubilee year of 2025.
• The oversight of our first external Safeguarding audit in 2024, the implementation of our annual Safeguarding Awareness theme, and the revisioning of our Safeguarding Charter.
• Most recently, the initiation of a review into the strategic opportunities for our CatholicCare Broken Bay so that it may truly exercise its mandate to reach with Christ’s love to the peripheries.

This is not a full list. It is simply representative, and I know – and hope – many will say, but what about this? Or what about that? It all adds to our awe at the energy and vitality you have brought to the Church in Broken Bay which, without doubt, is stronger, more vital, given your leadership of us over the last six and a half years. You have enabled us to have great pride in our Diocese, as I know personally you have had in us.

Whilst you were held in Dubai during March of this year en route to Rome at which time the Holy Father invited you into your new appointment, I related a story to Matthew French and Victor Atuhura at the time, respectively, of their admission to candidacy and institution to ministry, and I thought to share it again this evening:

There was once an ancient tribe whose leader was approaching the end of his life. Knowing that the future of his people depended on wise leadership, he summoned three young members of the community. “When I die,” he told them, “one of you must succeed me. Go out into the world and bring back something beautiful. The one whose gift is most outstanding will become the leader of our people.” The three set out across the countryside and through the city where their people lived. Some days later they returned. The first brought a rare and delicate flower from the parklands—beautiful and fragile, something that required great care. The second brought a stone from the river that flowed through the city—smooth and colourful, polished by rain and sand and time. The third returned with empty hands. “Wise leader,” he said, “I have brought nothing back. I stood on the hill overlooking our countryside and I marvelled at the beauty around us. I breathed the fresh air. I listened to the birds. I watched the sun set and the pale moon rise. When I walked through our city, I saw our people—rich and poor, young and old. Some were laughing with friends; others sat alone. And as I looked at all this, I began to imagine what could be for our people. I was so overwhelmed by the vision of what might be that I returned with nothing.” The old leader smiled and said, “You shall lead our people, because you have brought back the greatest gift of all: a vision for the future.”

That story speaks about something profoundly important in the life of faith and of leadership: the ability to see possibility.  I share again the story this evening because your own leadership has been marked with such vision of the future. From the outset you changed our understanding of the great Hawkesbury River as something not dividing us but uniting us. You have constantly challenged us to deepen our truly ecclesial understanding, and you have consistently raised our gaze in the beauty and dignity you have brought to our liturgical celebrations.  And most importantly, ultimately, you have lifted our eyes to the possibility of an iconic cathedral with remarkable steps to its realisation. It will be your special legacy to us as we continue to work to realise such an extraordinary vision not only of inculturated beauty but of diocesan identity and mission.

Your Grace, it has been my personal privilege to serve you over these years. Thank you for your trust in me and for the way in which we have worked as collaboratively sharing both opportunity and challenge so closely.  

But even more so, thank you from all of us for your belief in us, for your love of us, and for your ministry for us.  And though we do not expect it of you this night, thank you for being the last to leave; thank you for your unmistakable commitment to us all. In so doing you have shaped our hearts and our lives. We hope that we too have shaped your own heart and life so that you go forward in your service of the Church with confidence and possibility.