Dinner in Honour of His Grace, The Most Reverend Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Brisbane in Aid of ‘Coats for the Homeless’

Your Grace, Your Honours, Member for Cleveland, members of the Order of Malta, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great pleasure for Kaye and me to join you tonight. Last year’s inaugural Archbishop’s dinner was a highly memorable occasion for us, and it is my great privilege to address tonight such a distinguished cross-section of dynamic Queensland life.

We come together in the pursuit of benevolent service to one another and to faith, and for the advancement of the vitally important role spirituality plays in personal contentment and that of humanity.

So much is evident through the Order of Malta’s thousand year old orbit – through many trials and tribulations – around its noble principle: Defence of the Faith and Care of the Poor and the Suffering.

Tonight we particularly acknowledge the beneficial outward expression of Christian virtue manifested through the Order’s ‘Coats for the Homeless Program’.

I am informed that this year over 6,000 coats will be distributed to those sleeping rough around Australia and New Zealand, and through the Caritas Nepal Earthquake Appeal.

This is but one example of the many ways the Order maintains great contemporary significance.

I digress momentarily on another matter contemporary: as myself now an ardent user of social media, I was delighted to learn our Archbishop (and the Order of Malta Queensland!) is also on Twitter; I followed His Grace in preparation for tonight’s dinner. It is wonderful to see Your Grace disseminating your immense canonical (and cricket!) knowledge, and espousing moral leadership, to wider audiences.

Returning to task, many of the Order’s activities probably are not as well-known as they should be! Which is why, in part, we gather tonight (and why I will Tweet about tonight’s occasion).

We gather not to grandstand, but to thank, acknowledge, and support worthy endeavour, which, as Governor, it is my great honour to do on behalf of all Queenslanders.  

It is an incident of my being Governor that I am also Deputy Prior of the The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

I mention this because both Orders – Malta and St John – are guided by similar Christian ethos; they are mutually recognised; and they work together.

They are both also repositories and guardians of an immense body of tradition – and it is tradition which has substance beyond mere ceremony.

The recent discord in our global community is a timely reminder – as if we needed one – that our traditions, imbued as they in our institutions, can work to bulwark against corrosive forces which threaten cohesion.

There is a supervening message tonight, and that is one of recognising “service” - service to one’s self, to one’s faith, and to the advancement of our communities here in Queensland, and abroad!

As your Governor, I commend not only Christian goodwill evinced through participation in the Order, but also through the endeavour I know many of you undertake in your wider lives.

Kaye and I are grateful to the Order of Malta, and indeed to everyone, involved in organising tonight’s dinner, including, again, Your Grace, in whose honour we gather.  

Kaye and I say to you all, as powerful agents for good, “thank you”.