When Australia's Archbishop Anthony Fisher dropped a witty quip in a speech, it gained social media attention — but there's more behind it.
Sydney's Archbishop Anthony Fisher, OP, is known for his preaching, and a recent video clip caught the attention of the internet and went viral on social media.
In a speech on August 5, 2026, at a parents and teachers evening at Tangara School for Girls, an Australian school affiliated with Opus Dei, Archbishop Fisher described his personal conversion with an unexpected twist. Watch it here or on his Instagram page:
The story starts out sounding like a familiar “prodigal son” drama, as Fisher described his former “extremely selfish” life — but then he flipped the script with a surprise punchline:
I was extremely selfish. The universe was about me.
And, I just lived for my next drink, and to be comfortable, and I expected everyone to make that possible.
But then, at three weeks old, I was baptized. And that’s where I met Christ.
His quip drew laughter and applause from the 500 parents and teachers in attendance for his lecture on “Magnifica Humanitas and the Catholic School.” Magnifica Humanitas is Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, published in May 2026 and concerned with "safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence.”
He shared several other good-humored jokes throughout the evening, saying that his talk had five parts “for those of you that want to say the Rosary, you’ll be able to know when to move to the next mystery,” and noting the irony of his technology struggles while speaking about Magnifica Humanitas, which famously addresses modern technologies, saying:
I had planned to have slides tonight to entertain you while I was speaking, but as a demonstration of my incompetence with the new technologies, I managed to not save the slides that I made last night — somehow, because these days it’s very hard to not save the work you’re doing, but somehow, I lost it.
The deeper truth
While his “conversion” joke gained traction on the internet, the talk as a whole unpacked the crucial role of Catholic schools as bastions of truth in an uncertain age. Archbishop Fisher, who has led the Archdiocese of Sydney since 2014, is no stranger to public speaking. He practiced corporate law in Sydney before joining the Dominican Order (Order of Preachers). With a degree in bioethics from the University of Oxford, he knows education better than most — and why Catholic education matters so much.
As funny as Archbishop Fisher’s joke is, there is a lot to ponder behind his lighthearted comments. A baby doesn’t need to know that the universe doesn’t revolve around him (in fact, we’d be concerned if he did know), but all human beings do need Christ’s redemption and the powerful graces of Baptism — the sacrament that frees our souls and makes us part of God’s family.
Fisher got a laugh out of the Catholic custom of infant baptism, an ancient tradition that some other Christian denominations don’t practice, but his overall talk and his role as a Catholic archbishop make it clear that he isn’t making light of this, the foundational gateway to all the sacraments.
As parents, godparents, and other members of the Church community, we stand around each new baby being baptized and promise to proclaim the Gospel to these littlest brothers and sisters in Christ. Even as we enjoy a chuckle at the idea of a newborn baby dramatically turning away from a selfish life, we understand how important it is to celebrate this particular sacrament as early in a child’s life as possible, because these little ones are meant to inherit the kingdom of heaven.
