Bishop of Melbourne

Mons. Joe Grech was born in Balzan on the 10^th December 1948 in No55, Main Street. His father Lawrence died when Joe was only six years old. His mother Yvonne died in 1995. 

After some years in the Seminary in Malta Fr Joe went to Melbourne, Australia in January 1972 and continued his studies in the Corpus Christi Seminary in Glen Waverley and then moved on to Clayton. 

He received his ordination in Balzan on the 30^th November 1974. It was a Saturday in which a page of the History of Balzan was written, because since the church became a parish there was never an ordination in the Balzan Parish dedicated to the Annunciation. Apart from that it was the first ordination the Bishop Joseph Mercieca made when he was still an auxiliary Bishop. 

When he returned back to Australia,  Mons. Joe Grech served in the Parish of North Altona, Maidstone and Moone Ponds and after he spent a year as parish priest of East Brunswick. 

From 1990-1992 he went to study in Rome and when he returned back to Melbourne he was made parish priest of the Charismatic Movement of all Australia. 

Some time later, the present Bishop Mons. George Pell, made him Spiritual Director of the Diocese Seminary. 

On the 8^th January 1999 he concelebrated mass in our parish where he was given applause from the congregation present in the Church. After mass, the parish priest presented Mons. Joe Grech with a token, in the name of all the Balzan parishioners.

On 7th November 2010 Bishop Joe Grech was in Malta and concelebrated the Confirmation mass at Balzan Parish Church.

He died on Tuesday 28th December 2010 at 5am, at the age of 62.

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Church mourns 'exceptional' bishop

ONE of Australia's youngest Roman Catholic bishops, a tireless worker with young people and refugees, has died in a Melbourne hospital.

Bishop Joseph Grech, bishop of the Sandhurst diocese in northern Victoria, died on Monday aged 62 following the recurrence of a blood disorder.  He had served the diocese, based in Bendigo, since 2001 and was the bishops' delegate for youth and young adults and for migrants and refugees.  Bishop Grech was ordained in 1975 and appointed a bishop in 1998.  President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Philip Wilson, said Bishop Grech was an "exceptional pastor".

"He has made a tremendous contribution to the church in Australia because of his deep faith and spirituality, which has been shown especially in the zeal with which he dealt with issues of migrants and refugees and his outreach to young people," he said in a statement.

Speaking from Rome, Australian Ambassador to the Holy See, Tim Fischer, said Bishop Grech was one of Australia's youngest bishops.  He said the Sandhurst diocese and Australia had lost "a very dedicated bishop and citizen" who greatly inspired people, especially the young.

"Only in October he was larger than life here in Rome, leading a group of Sandhurst pilgrims to the canonisation of St Mary MacKillop," Mr Fischer said.

"He returned to Australia via Malta, where he was born in 1948 in the village of Hal Balzan and where in November 2010 he attended and helped with the ordination of Sandhurst priest, Father Robert Galea.

"In the decade he was bishop of Sandhurst, he gave generous, warm and open leadership, which will be hugely missed."