Emeritus Bishop Peter Ingham

Emeritus Bishop Peter Ingham awarded Member of the Order of Australia

June 13, 2022

We are so proud of our dear Emeritus Bishop Peter Ingham AM DD on being named today a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the Catholic Church in today’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

As Marilyn Rodriquez writes in the Catholic Weekly:

He said he was “so surprised” to receive the honour and wanted to dedicate it to the people of the Diocese of Wollongong.

“I usually think of myself as a very ordinary horse in this human race, I didn’t see that I did anything spectacular but I’ve basically just tried to be there for people,” he said, adding that a lot of his work as a bishop was “loitering with intent”.

“The loitering is the hanging around after Masses and school functions, Confirmations and whatever. And the intent is the witness to the Gospel; getting to know people and mixing with them and treating them as equals so that when they did have something they wanted to talk to you about they didn’t have an inhibition about approaching you.

“Basically what I’ve tried to do is to put ‘fresh heart’ into people and to encourage them to persevere in their faith in Jesus Christ and the consequent goodness then that flows from that so as to make a positive social contribution to the common good of everybody.

“If we have positive values to live by we strengthen the moral fabric of our nation. Particularly among our Catholic people if they really try to live our faith they’re a great force for good in the community.”

“There’s an old French proverb that says’ Gratitude is the memory of the heart’ and in a sense I’m grateful for the goodness of so many people across the Illawarra, the Shoalhaven, the Macarthur, in the parishes, schools, CatholicCare, our Bishop Brian Mascord and clergy, religious congregations and the wonderful volunteers and co-workers.

We are so proud of you Bishop Peter!!

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