Rob Galea | |
---|---|
Born | Malta | 14 November 1981
Genres | [1] [2] |
Occupation(s) | Priest, singer, songwriter |
Robert Galea (born 14 November 1981), known professionally as Fr Rob Galea, is an Australian Roman Catholic priest and contemporary Christian singer-songwriter.
Galea has released eight music projects, More of You (April 2004), Closer (UK release, February 2006), What A Day (January 2008), "Divine Mercy Chaplet" [Featuring Gary Pinto and Natasha Pinto] (August 2010), "Reach Out" (January 2011) and a live concert DVD and live CD entitled Fr Robert Galea, Reach Out Live (July 2011), "Glorify" Mass setting (August 2013) and "Something About You" (January 2015). Galea has been featured in national newspapers and magazines as well as on TV Channel 10's The Project . He was a contestant on Australia's The X Factor in 2015 but left voluntarily after boot camp due to parish and youth-work commitments. He is the author of Breakthrough (2018), a book published in the United States by Ave Maria Press. A movie deal has been signed for it.
Robert Galea was born in Malta in 1981. He was raised by strict Catholic parents with two siblings. [3] [4] From the age of 14, he "started frequenting nightclubs in Paceville, a hotspot near his home in eastern Malta, drinking, taking drugs and stealing." [3] At 17 he began learning music. Two years later he was signed to a record label and toured Europe. [3]
Galea entered a seminary at age 21 and, after visiting Australia, in 2006 he migrated there in the following year to continue his studies in Melbourne. [3] In 2008, together with Bishop Joseph Grech, he co-founded the Stronger Youth Program – a series of youth retreats, rallies and small groups – in the Diocese of Sandhurst, Victoria, which was later expanded to Perth and South Australia. He was ordained to the priesthood on 5 November 2010 by Archbishop Paul Cremona. [5] His first parish was at St Brendan's Catholic Church, Shepparton. [6]
Galea is currently an assistant priest at St Kilian's Catholic Church, Bendigo, in the Diocese of Sandhurst. [5] He also served in Bendigo as a chaplain to Catholic College and the local La Trobe University campus. He has a significant evangelistic and outreach ministry, speaking and singing at schools, conferences and churches around Australia and the world. He and his team minister to about 200,000 young people each year.[ citation needed ]
Galea's performance career combines music with Christian messages. [7] Galea has written a number of songs for various campaigns and international conferences. He was selected to sing in the international version of the official World Youth Day song, "Receive the Power", along with pop idol Guy Sebastian and soprano, Amelia Farrugia. He performed at events before Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 and an estimated 500,000 pilgrims in Sydney. [5]
Galea was a contestant on the Australian version of reality TV talent show The X Factor in 2015, but withdrew "after struggling to balance the demands of the show with pastoral commitments". [8] In September 2017, he issued a single, "Dominoes", with Ira Losco. [9] He described it to Rebecca Iversen of The Malta Independent as "a pop song which talks about brokenness of us and all of us. It talks about how we are broken into a million pieces but when these billion of pieces come together, your million my million, they create a work of art.". [9]
In 2020, Galea contributed "Silent Night" to CDB's album, Christmas Is Here: The CDB Mixtape. [10]
Bendigo is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
Shepparton is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately 181 kilometres (112 mi) north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparton, including the adjacent town of Mooroopna, was 68,409.
The Catholic Church in Australia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the spiritual and administrative leadership of the Holy See. From origins as a suppressed, mainly Irish minority in early colonial times, the church has grown to be the largest Christian denomination in Australia, with a culturally diverse membership of around 5,075,907 people, representing about 19.9% of the overall population of Australia according to the 2021 ABS Census data.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst is a suffragan Latin Rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, erected in 1874, covering the central and north-east regions of Victoria, Australia, including Bendigo.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat, based in Ballarat, Australia, is a diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Melbourne. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and was established in 1874. Its geography covers the west, Wimmera and Mallee regions of Victoria. The cathedral is in St Patrick's Cathedral, Ballarat.
George Preca was a Maltese Catholic priest and the founder of the Society of Christian Doctrine as well as a Third Order Carmelite. He is known as "Dun Ġorġ" in Maltese and Pope John Paul II dubbed him "Malta’s second father in faith". He assumed the religious name of "Franco" after becoming a Third Order Carmelite. He was a popular figure among some groups, and his pastoral care and religious teaching earned recognition. However, his activities raised suspicions of heresy from senior clergy. He was ordered to close down his teaching centres for a time while they could be investigated; they were subsequently re-opened.
The Archdiocese of Sydney is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church. Its episcopal see is Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Maltese Australians are Australian citizens who are fully or partially of Maltese descent or Malta-born people who reside in Australia. While most of them emigrated to Australia from Malta, a number emigrated from the United Kingdom where they had settled after having been expelled from Egypt, as holders of British passports, during the Suez Crisis. According to the 2021 Census, there were 198,989 people of Maltese descent in Australia and 35,413 Malta-born people residing in the country at the moment of the census.
CDB are an Australian R&B, dance and vocal harmony quartet formed in 1991 with Andrew De Silva, Brad Pinto and his brother Gary Pinto, as well as Danny Williams. CDB is an initialism which stands for Central Dandenong Boys. Their highest charting single was a cover version of Earth, Wind & Fire's "Let's Groove", which peaked at number two on the ARIA Singles Chart and number one on the New Zealand Singles Chart. "Hey Girl " also reached number one in New Zealand. Their debut studio album, Glide with Me was released in November 1995. The group disbanded in 1999.
Robert 'Bob' James McCaskill was an Australian rules footballer who played for Richmond in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1920s and coached both North Melbourne and Hawthorn.
"Receive the Power" is a gospel song written by Guy Sebastian and Gary Pinto, and performed by Sebastian and Paulini. It was chosen in May 2007 as the official anthem for the Roman Catholic Church's XXIII World Youth Day (WYD08) held in Sydney in 2008.
Gary Pinto is an Australian singer, songwriter and musician and was the lead singer of dance group, CDB.
Joseph Angelo Grech was an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the Bishop of Sandhurst from 2001 to 2010.
Martin Crane OSA, DD, an Irish-born Australian suffragan bishop, was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Sandhurst, serving between 1874 until his death in office in 1901.
Fergus Greene is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Western Bulldogs. He made his debut in round 19 of the 2018 AFL season against Port Adelaide at Eureka Stadium.
Shane Anthony Mackinlay is an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the Bishop of Sandhurst since 2019. He was the master of Catholic Theological College in Melbourne from 2010 to 2019.