Fr. Manny’s Bonello 25th Anniversary of his Ordination to the Priesthood

On Wednesday 25th June 2008 Fr. Emmanuel Bonello celebrated his 25th Anniversary of his Ordination to the Priesthood at St. Joseph the Worker Church, Reservoir, Melbourne. He was ordained in 1983 by Mons. Nikol Cauchi, Bishop of Gozo. Fr. Bonello who was born in Xaghra emigrated to Australia to start his pastoral work in October 1983. Over the years he worked in a number of parishes in Melbourne as a parish priest. His sterling pastoral work is not only acknowledged by the Maltese-Australian community, but also by members of other ethnic groups, as well as other colleagues. Mons. Bishop Joseph O Connor also highly acknowledged his work during the homely.

The celebration of Fr. Manny’s Ordination Silver Jubilee started with a mass concelebrated by 24 priests, including his uncle Fr. Victor Bonello OFM Conv, and Bishop Mons Joseph O’Connor. Ms Angele Azzopardi, Maltese Consul General in Melbourne also attended the celebration together with a quite a large congregation. Among Fr. Manny’s family there was his auntie Wenza and her husband from South Australia. His cousin Joe Xerri and his wife Tarciesja came from Sydney to be among family and friends for this celebration.

Sister Michelle Kennon presented Fr. Manny with a Special Blessing from Pope Benedict XV1 for this special occasion.

The celebration of the mass was followed by a reception. As usual it was great to see members of the Maltese and Gozitan communities catching up with each other as we celebrated Fr. Manny’s 25th Anniversary of his Ordination to the Priesthood. The collage of photos certainly brought back many lovely memories.