<p> Ad Limina – March 17, 2004</p><p>Bishop honours promise to take message of love from Baxter detainees to the Pope</p><p>Bishop Eugene Hurley of Port Pirie has honoured a promise he made to detainees at the Baxter detention centre to convey their love and prayers directly to Pope John Paul II during their private ad limina meeting.</p><p>Bishop Hurley received the requests during various pastoral visits he has made to both the Woomera and Baxter detention centres which lie in his diocese.</p><p>He said he found his private audience with the Pope to be “an awesome experience”.</p><p>“I had the opportunity to bring the love and prayers of all in my diocese to the Holy Father and to receive his Blessing for the diocese,” Bishop Hurley said.</p><p>“I spoke to the Pope about life in our diocese and how it is being shaped by His two Apostolic Letters which are the basis for our Strategic Plan.</p><p>“It was a wonderful opportunity to speak to him about our families, our young people and our special challenges.</p><p>“I also honoured a promise I made to the detainees in Baxter, by conveying their love and prayers to the Holy Father and asking his blessing for them and their families.”</p><p>Australia’s Bishops are continuing their ad limina program of visits to various Vatican organisations, including the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity and the Vatican Secretary State Section.</p><p>They marked St Patrick’s Day with a morning Mass in which they particularly remembered the Australian dioceses of which St Patrick is patron. The principal celebrant of the Mass was the Irish-born Bishop Jeremiah Coffey of Sale.</p>