Subject: 'austraLasia' # 345

GOOD NEWS: FORMER AUSTRALIAN SENATOR AND AMBASSADOR ORDAINED PRIEST

Peter Carroll sdb

HOBART: 29th May-- Fr Michael Tate, former Australian Ambassador to the Vatican and The Hague was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Hobart (taking in all of Tasmania, Australia)on Friday May 19th. In the packed Cathedral were the Governor and Premier of Tasmania, two former Premiers, a former Prime Minister and a retired Governor General of Australia, numerous Justices and Parliamentarians, and priests and friends from Australia, Europe and the United States. Michael commented, "It's a bit like being at your own funeral; seeing your whole life so far sitting there before you!"

All ordinations are, of course, special and each man treads a unique path

to and beyond his ordination. But Michael has been a very public and

influential figure within and beyond Australia for many years.

He was a very bright and capable student, but a horrific car accident in

his undergraduate years, which left him hospitalised for many months in a

knee to chest plaster caste, instead of crippling his enthusiasm for life

made him more resolved to read and study more. Completing his Law degree

with high honours and,as a side interest, reading Theology in England, he

went on to lecture and was soon appointed Dean of the Faculty of Law in the

University of Tasmania.

On an 'outside chance' Michael stood for parliament and was elected into

the Australian Senate and soon was given the Justice portfolio, a post

which enabled him to further exercise his own quest for integrity and

Christian values nation wide. He co-authored the pledge of allegiance which

all new Australian citizens make.

After 14 years in Canberra, Senator Tate became Ambassador Tate, representing Australia at both the Vatican and The Hague. On finishing this appointment, the Holy Father asked Michael what he intended to do next. Ambassador Tate replied, "become a priest." To the Pope's astonished look he replied "It's not so much I have discovered a late vocation. I have long had a calling; it has just taken me a while to take it up!"

That 'while' has now come to fruition, and at a still energetic 54, Fr

Michael, who is still an honorary Professor of Law at the University of

Tasmania, intends to continue the occasional lecturing in International Law

and Justice whilst giving himself to full-time parish ministry in the

diocese.