By Waky Taim
PERTH – Fr Jupiter Justin from Kg Barus, Tuaran, was ordained as a priest following the Neocatechumenal Way on May 23, 2025, at St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth, by Bishop Donald Sproxton, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Perth. Together with him were Fr Marco Ferraioli and Fr Gionata Pagani; all were graduates of the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Perth, Australia.
The newly ordained Fr Jupiter Bin Justin, born of Justin Lee and Annie Bungsu, had his early education at Tadika St Theresa, Tuaran; SRK St John, Tuaran; SRK Lok Yuk Telipok; SM St Peter Telipok; SMK Inanam; and then at Kolej Ibukota Kinabalu. He was walking in the Neocatechumenal Way Community at St John Church, Tuaran, since mid-1997, where he discovered his calling to enter the Redemptoris Mater Seminary. During his formation years, he followed the Neocatechumenal Way Community in the parish of Good Shepherd, Kelmscott, Perth, Australia, since mid-2015.
Fr Jupiter served as deacon, doing pastoral work for 1 year at the Mother Teresa Baldivis parish, Perth, Australia, from May 2024 till May 2025. He had earlier done itinerancy in Sibu, Sarawak, for 1 year and a few months in Indonesia as well as Timor-Leste. He expects to be permitted to respond to missionary callings wherever there is a need in Australia or abroad to the peripheries to announce the Good News, after serving for a few years as a diocesan priest in the Archdiocese of Perth. The Neocatechumenal Way will normally respond to the need of making the Church visible in areas where the Church is non-existent by sending some families with children and a presbyter on an evangelization mission.
Redemptoris Mater Seminaries are Roman Catholic diocesan seminaries operating under the auspices of the Neocatechumenal Way with a mission on the formation of diocesan priests for the “New Evangelization,” ready to serve locally and universally. Today, there are over 100 Redemptoris Seminaries in the world and more than 2000 priests ordained. The seminarians at the Perth Redemptoris Mater Seminary currently comprised of different nationalities, including those from Italy, Spain, Colombia, Papua New Guinea, the USA, and Australia.
Among the congregation attending the ordination were Fr Jupiter’s catechists in the Neocatechumenal Way in Sabah, Fr Guiseppe Lauria (Pippo), Fernando Valdes, and Kathryn McGarr, the itinerant catechists for Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, as well as Antonio (Toto Piccolo), the responsible of the Australia National Team. Some family members of Fr Jupiter as well as about 30 Neocatechumenal Way Community brothers and sisters from Sabah and some Catholics from Sabah who are residing in Australia.
