mmg.com.au

More than 1000 people each day have watched Father Rob Galea’s new video clip since it launched four days ago.

Fr Rob splits his time between being an associate priest at St Brendan’s Catholic Church in Shepparton, writing and recording new music and working with the youth program Stronger.

He is a music star in his homeland of Malta and performed to a crowd of 500,000 – including Pope Benedict XVI – at the 2008 World Youth Day festival in Sydney.

His latest song, No Greater Love, was released a few weeks ago and the accompanying video appeared on YouTube last weekend and has already been viewed more than 4000 times.

With Easter approaching, Fr Galea felt it was the right time to write a song about the strength of love.

‘‘It speaks about the dignity of human beings – I often see the power of love that allows us to stand on the shoulder of a giant,’’ he said.

‘‘Once we know love nothing can bring us down, and love personified is Jesus. That is shown the most at Easter.’’

The video for No Greater Love was created by a friend of Fr Galea’s in Malta, Simon Callus, who came up with the intricate drawings that tell the song’s story.

‘‘The simplicity of it is what makes it work,’’ Fr Galea said.

The associate priest is currently working on his fourth album as part of his seventh music project and is collaborating with producer Premo D’Anger, who has previously worked with pop star Justin Timberlake. He has recorded some songs in Las Vegas and while they’re being mixed and mastered in Europe, he’s also working with a record label in North America.

‘‘I work here in the parish, I work with the youth program Stronger and I have my music, which takes me all over the world,’’ Fr Galea said.

He is also optimistic about the future of the Catholic church after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI shocked many last month.

Benedict XVI is the first Pope to resign in more than 700 years and Fr Galea hopes a new pope will not be chosen with politics in mind.

‘‘I never once thought he had abandoned us – it was an act of humility and bravery and it was a big move,’’ he said. ‘‘For him to make history like this is heroic. The most important choice for a pope is someone who can have open dialogue and listen and recognise that the perfect church is not just Rome.

‘‘The church has made a lot of mistakes and rightfully we need to fix them. The pope must be brave enough to acknowledge that so we can move forward...I hope and pray it will be a prayerful election of the pope and not a political one.’’

For more on Father Rob Galea, go to www.frrobgalea.com.