VISION – What We See
Proclaim the glory of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.
MISSION – What We Do
We exist to reach those who do not connect with the Church,
so that they come into an ever deepening relationship with Jesus Christ,
by proclaiming the Gospel in as public a manner as possible.
The Story
I am a Roman Catholic. Both of my parents were. We attended the Infant Jesus Catholic Parish. I attended Catholics schools, Infant Jesus and St Michael’s (Grade Schools) and Christian Brothers College Bedford and Highgate High Schools. I studied Theology at The University of Notre Dame a Catholic University.
I was employed by Archbishop William Foley to work full time in Youth and Adult Ministry in February 1990 and then in 1994 became the Director of the Ministry. I was appointed by Archbishop Barry Hickey.
In February 1998 I commenced a ministry called Impact Catholic Ministry whose main purpose was to explore, experiment and implement methods of reaching Catholics who had fallen away from Christ and the Church while also enriching those active in the Church. This was launched by the Archbishop on February 18, 1998.
A few years later on August 26, 2006, on a trip to the Vatican in St Peter’s Basilica, the beginning thoughts of commencing a Catholic television program occurred to me. Unbeknown to me a national Christian television channel was looking for a Catholic to make a Catholic television program. Archbishop Hickey was also the Bishop responsible for media for the National Catholic Bishops Conference and was enthusiastic about the program. He blessed and launched the program in February of 2007 at a large gathering.
In 2008, due to the profile of the program, I was approached by the Archbishop to present Parish Missions. After some experimentation, we commenced in the Archdiocese, but invitations came from all over the country.
We have travelled extensively since then presenting and leading Parish Missions to thousands of people at the invitation of Bishops and priests. We still do this today but only accept limited invitations each year due to time constraints.
In 2014, after discussions with Cardinal George Pell just before his move to Rome, the Ministry moved to Sydney to be closer to where much of the work of the ministry was. After Cardinal Pell went to Rome and at the invitation of Bishop Peter Ingham the ministry commenced work in South West Sydney.
In 2016, The Catholic Guy Program, which has been on television every week since 2007, was seen in the United States of America where many of the large media ministries operate from. The program expanded to be on TBN the largest Christian Network in the world. It is also shown on the Catholic Television Network which broadcasts from Boston at the invitation of Bishop Richard Reed.
Due to COVID, we have expanded our online activities extensively to reach those not attending Church as well as those who do.
We interchangeably use either the name The Catholic Guy Ministry or due to another organization having the same name and after conversation with Archbishop Mark Coleridge, the President of the Australian Bishops Conference, and long time advisor we use my name, Bruce Downes Catholic Ministries.
The story continues…