05 May 2025
Global gift for all faiths
Lockleys parish priest Fr Michael Trainor is an advocate of education, interfaith dialogue, the importance of empathy and contemporising the Catholic faith.
Following the death of the pontiff, Fr Michael, who is also a senior lecturer in biblical studies at ACU’s National School of Theology, received many messages of condolences by religious leaders, Christian and Jewish.
“I had a message of condolence from the Uniting Church moderator of South Australia and a lovely message from Rev Sally, the Anglican priest in charge of the parish of Saint Richard’s, our sibling parish,” Fr Michael said. “I thanked her for her prayers and those of her parishioners.”
In 2015, Fr Michael had a personal meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall. He shared his reflections of the experience with The Southern Cross.
“It is a memory so dear to me now. In 2015, I was vice-president of the International Council of Christians and Jews and, along with 250 delegates from different countries, gathered for a conference in Rome and on July 1, met with him at the Clementine. The meeting lasted about an hour and at the end of this he wanted to meet all of us personally.
“When I came to him the encounter felt so natural. It was, without exaggeration, a meeting of warm friends. As our hands clasped, I said, ‘It is lovely to meet you’. He smiled. Then I said, ‘When are you coming to Australia?’ Then, so quickly, he responded, ‘It’s very far!’ and we both broke out in spontaneous laughter.”
The brief encounter, in simple terms, emulated the global gift of Pope Francis.
“He was with me and with all those whom he met, rich and poor, local and migrant, ambassador and street sweeper, a person of deep humility, humour and love. He lived out the Gospel in action,” Fr Michael said.
“His teachings and his encyclicals sought to expand Catholic social teaching to embrace the environment, every creature of the Earth, and every human being, especially those who were neglected, forgotten, divorced, gay and struggling.
“No question was out of bounds, as he sought to reinterpret our Catholic hierarchical tradition in a new mode called ‘synodality’. It is an approach which the Australian Church, the Archdiocese of Adelaide and the parish of Lockleys have adopted. It is a listening rather than a telling approach. It is our future now as the Catholic Church.
“Some will find this hard, especially those who want to be told what to do and how to do it.
“For others, it is a refreshing revolutionary moment of Catholic life, inviting us into an adult faith which invites us to take responsibility and care for creation and every creature, including ourselves, in it.”
Picture: Fr Michael Trainor meeting Pope Francis in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall in 2015.