The Catholic Weekly 31 May 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 7 31, May, 2020 Serving the Sydney community since 1892 Our experienced Funeral Directors are committed to providing a personalised and meaningful service for your loved one. Newtown | Chatswood | Parramatta | Miranda 9519 5344 | wnbull.com.au Bishop appointed toWagga POPE FRANCIS has ap- pointed Bishop Mark Ed- wards OMI the sixth Bish- op of Wagga Wagga. Bishop Edwards, who will turn 61 next month, was born in Indonesia and grew up in Adelaide, Darwin and Melbourne’s southeast, attending St Leonard’s Primary School and Mazenod College. \ Mazenod was founded by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the or- der he would eventually join. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1986 and has held leadership posi- tions within the Austral- ian Province of the Ob- lates of Mary Immaculate. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Mel- bourne on 7 November 2014 and ordained bish- op the following month. FATHER WILLIAM Creede CSsR, one of eight siblings who all pursued religious life, has passed away aged 93. The last surviving member of the family who produced three priests, four Presenta- tion sisters and one Mercy sister, died at the Redemp- torist Community, Kogarah, recently after a short illness. Incredibly, not only were the siblings rich in vocations, their father William snr was about to enter the Francis- cans following the death of his wife when he died and was buried in his habit. Born in Ireland in 1927, Fr William emigrated to Aus- tralia just 18 months later on the good ship Ballarat which brought his mother, two brothers and five sisters to Newcastle where he met his father for the first time, as he had emigrated two years be- forehand. His youngest sister Berna- dette was born a few years later. The family settled in Bris- bane, where the two eldest girls, Aina (Sr Mary Clem- ent) and Moira (Sr Canice) joined the Presentation Sis- ters in Longreach before the family moved to Sydney where Thomas and William Jr joined the Redemptorists, and a third brother became a Vincentian. Therese (Sr Alphonsus) and Bernadette joined the Presentation Sisters in Wag- ga. Breidha (Sr Christina) joined the Sisters of Mercy at Parramatta, where the Chris- tina Creede Music Centre at Our Lady of Mercy College is named in her honour. Fr William said his old- er siblings leaving home to become religious “was the Last vocation dies All Fr WilliamCreede CSsR’s siblings entered religious life. Even his father did too Father William Creede CSsR holds a family photo. All his brothers and sisters became religious. turning point” in his life and admitted that while their vo- cation sparked a huge inter- est in following God’s path, a meeting with Redemptorists Fathers Lionel Carroll CSsR and Talty CSsR sealed it. At just eight years of age, a young William had decided his future. He became a Juvenist in 1943 at Galong, a Novice in 1946 at Pennant Hills, was professed at Ballarat in 1947 and ordained in 1952. He said his father was very proud to have witnessed all eight of his children entering religious life. “We said the rosary every night, and we used to say it in Irish sometimes,” Fr William was quoted as saying. “Daddy was at Mass and Holy Communion every morning. “The three younger chil- dren, Bernadette, Therese and myself, if we were very good through the week our reward was that Mummy would take us back for a sec- ond Mass on Sunday. “That was our reward, and we looked forward to it. “Fancy saying that to kids today!” Although saddened at be- ing the last of the children, Fr William was comforted by his family’s extraordinary story and their lifelong com- mitment to religious life. In his 68 years professed, he preached well over 500 missions and conducted more than 600 retreats. He carried out his min- istry throughout Australia and in the Philippines, Thai- land, China, Korea, Malay- sia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, England, Ireland, Singapore, Pakistan, Japan, Burma, Laos and Russia. As he committed to his or- der and travelled to missions around the world, Fr William often wrote to his siblings but they rarely reunited. When Therese died, the three Fr Creedes concelebrat- ed the Requiem Mass and the three Sr Creedes carried the offertory. In his final years, Fr Wil- liamoften spoke about finding himself without a next gen- eration to carry on the family name in Australia. “I’m the only one left, it’s a terrible feeling,” he said. “It’s tragic. I’ve got not a soul out here belonging to me, they are all in Ireland. “However, all of us are made for eternity. Indeed we will need eternity to thank God for our family, for our par- ents, our fidelity and our faith.” A Mass of Christian Buri- al was celebrated in the Re- demptorist Chapel, Kogarah, on 5 May. In brief ‘Social media pandemic’ CARDINAL CHARLES Bo of Myanmar has warned of a pandemic of misuse of social media as young people are fed a “toxic cocktail” of hatred and abusive behaviour in- cluding pornography. “A section of the younger generation is fed with a toxic cocktail of narratives of ha- tred, compulsive abusive be- haviour, addictive pornogra- phy and other cluster bombs of negativity,” Cardinal Bo said in a homily on 24 May, which was World Communi- cations Day as well as the feast of the Ascension. The 72-year-old cardinal said while the new coronavi- rus may withdraw as a threat if a vaccine is developed, evil made viral through social me- dia will inflict “moral mortal- ity” on younger generations. “What is the contribution of social media to the next gen- eration? Social media COVID Fake news and false narratives have weakened human relation- ships, says Cardinal Charles Bo of Myanmar. will inflict moral mortality on our younger generation,” he said. Cardinal Bo, who is also president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Confer- ences, said that fake news and false narratives have weakened human relation- ships and social harmony. “The stories these evil per- sons spread on the net has viscerally wounded the next generation,” he said, adding that “even the children are not spared”. “Evil men teach hatred and evil to children.” ¾ ¾ Debbie Cramsie NEWS