Bishop Gerard Holohan, the former Bishop of Bunbury, has asked me to extend his condolences to Janette and the family of Fr Angelo this morning, and to acknowledge the years of service that he gave to the Bunbury Diocese. Bishop Gerard could not be with us but joins us in our prayers for the repose of Fr Angelo’s soul. Fr Victor Lobo represents him.

Fr Joseph Angelo has given dedicated service to the Archdiocese since being released by his bishop to come here in 2004. He has been Parish Priest in Midland and here in Leederville where he quietly went about his ministry with generosity.

His final years at Leederville were marked by courage, as he faced the constant struggle as his health was failing. It was through this time of struggle that I came to know Fr Angelo’s strength of faith and openness to the will of God.

With his growing incapacity to move about the house, due to diabetes, he moved to a ground floor room in the presbytery, where he found things a little easier for him. He hoped to continue serving the parish, but he was impeded by the need for daily dialysis and eventually had to rely on his nephew to care for him. Other priests would come to help him.

Through all of this he relied on the strength of Christ.

Fr Angelo prepared the liturgy that we are celebrating today. His choice of readings from Isaiah, the second book of Timothy and John give us a glimpse into his soul, and the fruit of his utter conviction in the love of God, and the reason for the hope that carried him to a peaceful end.

What struck me when I visited him several time before his death was the unfailing calmness and peaceful resignation that Fr Angelo showed. In fact on one of those visits, I thanked him for his witness of faith in Christ and how he was so ready to hand his life over to the Lord. Rarely do you witness such child-like faith and trust.

He would naturally have chosen the reading from Timothy. Like St Paul who was facing his own death, Fr Angelo knew the time of sacrifice had arrived, and the moment of departure had come. He too had run the race. He held the commission he had received at his ordination in great esteem, and with the power of the spirit of Jesus Christ, he had stood firm and committed, as well as he could.

None of us is perfect. The Lord knows this better than any of us. Yet we keep running the race, learning more about ourselves and, more importantly, about God.

When St Paul speaks of the final gift of God being the crown of righteousness, he speaks of the last touch of God’s creative work in us. Paul, Timothy and all faithful ministers can expect this great gift. The crown of righteousness is the final act of God’s love and mercy for each of us: the grace to make all right within us, an undeserved gift but the gift of love that completes what was begun in us at Baptism.

Fr Angelo was utterly confident in the love of God for him, hence his calm resignation, that made him able to look forward to what was about to happen as he stepped into the new life.

I thanked him for his witness of faith and hope for me.

Let us pray for him. And those who were given a glimpse of his soul, pray in thanksgiving for the faith you saw.

May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.