One of the youngest priests in Australia is now ministering to Catholic congregations at Mount Gambier, Millicent, Beachport and Port MacDonnell.

Father Olek Stirrat, 26, was ordained to the priesthood earlier this month at a ceremony in St Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral in Adelaide.

He has Polish ancestry and addressed the congregation in this language at the conclusion of the service.

Father Stirrat was appointed to the South East parishes in 2021 after being made a deacon.

He will continue to assist parish priest Father Peter Zwanns from their base in Mount Gambier.

Parishioners celebrated the ordination of Father Stirrat at an informal picnic last Sunday in the grounds of St Paul’s Catholic Church in Mount Gambier.

The ordination was presided over by Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide the Most Reverend Dr Patrick O’Regan with 31-year-old Anthony Beltrame also ordained at this service.

In his homily Archbishop O’Regan explained that ordination was not a graduation but “it’s only the next step”.

He said priests always had many memories of their ordination day and he hoped Father Stirrat and Father Beltrame would always remember they were ordained during the season of Lent.

“In a culture that celebrates indulgence, entitlement, winning at all costs, hubris and bravado, Lent signals a wonderfully and outrageously counter-cultural enactment of loss and humility,” Archbishop O’Regan said.

“Lent frees us to unmask the many faces of denial about our lives.

“We are encouraged to acknowledge that all is not well with our soul and identify with the hurt of so many people in our world, made so very obvious at the moment.

“During Lent we exchange the oppressive fantasy of perfection for the liberating reality of fallibility and in a miracle of grace discover there are actually consolations in imperfections.

“Finally Lent reminds us that sooner or later, the dance will end.”