“I have just completed three years as Archbishop and in that time I have come to see many things.“ Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Canberra, has said.

“One of the things I’ve come to see is that without the so-called ‘retired’ priests we would be in deep trouble.

“The priests who lay down the burden of responsibility as parish priests continue to be a vital part of the life of the Archdiocese. They have borne the burden in parishes for many years, and you might say that they are entitled now to sit back and take a rest.

“But the priesthood is not like that. The very fact that priests retire has perhaps encouraged the sense that the priesthood is a job like many others. But the priesthood is not just a job. It’s a job and a marriage rolled into one, with an extra bit thrown in – by which I mean the ceaseless engagement with the unseen supernatural without which the priesthood becomes one-dimensional and in the end soul-destroying.

“You can’t retire from a marriage; you can’t retire from a family. Even if you retire from a job, the deeper engagements remain. That’s why the ‘retired’ priests are at the heart of what we are as the Church. “

Archbishop Mark Coleridge