The new Bishop of Wollongong Brian Mascord “wasn’t overly keen on the priesthood” as a young man and never expected to be appointed a bishop.
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But, on Thursday night, in front of a crowd of thousands, the 59-year-old – who admits he has a lot to learn about his new home – was ordained as the senior authority over the region’s Catholic church.
“It has been a really nerve wracking experience, not in a horrible way, but I never thought this would happen to me,” Bishop Mascord said.
“It wasn’t a thing I had aspired to, I was very happy being a priest and working in parishes and with the people so it came as a real shock when the nuncio [the church’s ambassador] rang me in November and asked me to take this on.”
“But I see this as about the church, it was always about God.
“It is not about me personally, I’ve been asked to take on a leadership role, I’m a stranger in Wollongong and I’m going to have to learn a great deal – and I look forward to that.
“Already the welcome I have received has been amazing.”
Taking over from retiring Bishop Peter Ingham, who has been in the role since 2001, Bishop Mascord said he hoped to put his own stamp on the diocese while honouring the high-regard the community has for his predecessor.
“Peter has fulfilled an amazing role of leadership in a very difficult time – and I hope that I can build on that leadership,” he said.
“The Royal Commission has given us profound opportunities to look at who we are as a church and the way we relate with people, and how we see ourselves.
“We need to read the signs of the times, and respond to them.”
About the fifth Bishop of Wollongong
Brian Gregory Mascord was born in Newcastle in 1959.
He is the eldest son of Ron and Margaret Mascord and older brother to John.
Unusually for most bishops, his parents are both still alive and will live with him at his new home in West Wollongong.
Bishop Mascord attended Catholic schools – the Sisters of St Joseph Lochinvar at the St Joseph’s Catholic School Charlestown and St Pius X College Adamstown.
After school, he gained his teaching diploma at the Catholic College of Education in Castle Hill.
He taught for six years in Catholic primary schools before going to study at St Patrick’s College in Manly.
He was then ordained as a priest in his home Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in 1992.
In 2012, after years of working in different parishes within the diocese, he became the Vicar General of Maitland-Newcastle.
And on November 30 last year, Pope Francis appointed him as the fifth Bishop of Wollongong.