Newly-ordained auxiliary Bishop of Sydney Richard Umbers said his soul will remain his priority as he works to serve God and the community in his new role.
A few days before his episcopal ordination, Bishop Richard Umbers, (right), meets Bishop
Patrick Dunn in Auckland.
The Kiwi-born bishop was in Auckland the week prior to his episcopal ordination to visit his 82-year-old mother, Mary Umbers, and meet with Auckland Bishop Patrick Dunn. He was ordained alongside auxiliary Bishop Tony Randazzo at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney on August 24.
Bishop Umbers told NZ Catholic about his conversation with his mother: “She had advice for me. She said, ‘Don’t make a big fuss. Just remember you are only Richard Umbers’,” he laughed.
“Mum is great. She said, ‘just leave things in God’s hands. Accept what God gives you’. ”
Bishop Umber’s eyes twinkled as he confessed his shifting rugby league loyalties.
“I’m going to be living in the south of Sydney in Kogarah, just behind St George Hospital. So, I’ll have to become a St George supporter for the rugby league. Sorry to the Warriors,” he said jokingly.
On a more serious note, Bishop Umbers said he will look first after his own sanctity and seek personal holiness.
“It’s a big responsibility. I’ll only be a help to others if I am really trying to be close to Our Lord, I think,” he said. “There’s a danger for people who do a lot of work for the Lord. They spend more time doing work for the Lord than spending time with the Lord. So, it’s really making time for prayer.”
Although he had yet to find out what his responsibilities will be, the foremost will be to provide support to Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher.
“The Holy Father was very nice. He wrote to myself and to Msgr Randazzo. [To me,] he said that I should carry out this ministry with great joy and really live in unity with Archbishop Fisher and to be a big support to him in carrying out the work of the diocese,” he said.
Bishop Umbers sees opportunities to coordinate the different apostolic works within the diocese.
“There are so many people doing so many good things. And you can see how those apostolic opportunities can dovetail,” he said.
He cited the possibility of coordinating activities provided by Catholic schools and universities for young people over the school holidays as well as what different Catholic agencies are doing for Aboriginal people.
“There is a lot happening in Sydney. There is an opportunity to just to bring people together,” he explained.
As an Opus Dei priest, Bishop Umbers said he knows “what it means to be a layman in the middle of the world” and what Pope Francis spoke of regarding the “smell of the sheep”.
He was an economist before becoming a priest. His pastoral work included being a lecturer and tutor at the University of Notre Dame Sydney.
But he also has a deep appreciation for Vatican II’s message regarding the universal call to holiness.
“That means taking very seriously the responsibility that each lay person has to seek to be a real friend to others and to bring the message of the Gospel into their own workplace and into society on their own initiative,” he said.
Another thing he will be speaking about “a lot” will be the way people look at God, which should not be in a “rule-based” way, but as a Father.
“Seek to be a well-loved son or a well-loved daughter. In everyday life, seeking the will of God because when you discover that and you carry it out, you’ll be so happy,” he said.
- In his words of welcome at the episcopal ordination, Archbishop Fisher extended a special welcome to Bishop Denis Browne, Bishop Emeritus of Hamilton, New Zealand, who baptised Bishop Umbers.
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