When Mgr Joe Grech, Bishop of the Sandhurst diocese in Victoria, Australia, was admitted to hospital on Thursday he thought he was just nauseated.

This was not the case and the bishop, known for his zeal for God, passed away at St Vincent Hospital yesterday at 3 p.m., Melbourne time.

“Everyone’s shocked over here, no one expected it. He was sick for four days and he died suddenly,” Fr Robert Galea, who served with Mgr Grech, said when contacted in Australia.

“I’m shocked... All I want to do right now is to cry and cry,” the newly-ordained priest said, minutes after a huge Mass was said for the repose of Mgr Grech’s soul , attracting 2,000 people to the bishop’s former cathedral just four hours after he died.

Archbishop Paul Cremona recalled that Bishop Grech collaborated with members of Charismatic Renewal and used to visit Malta quite often to attend their conferences.

“I met him two years ago during World Youth Year in Sydney and I had visited the Maltese community in his diocese.

“Bishops I talked to all spoke highly of Mgr Grech commenting on his lively and energetic character. About a month ago he was here for the ordination of Robert Galea. Three days ago we were informed he was in a coma,” Mgr Cremona said.

When the bishop was admitted to hospital he had a full schedule and a couple of big trips planned for 2011, including taking 100 of his young people to Spain for the World Youth Day.

When he was here for Fr Galea’s ordination, Mgr Grech administered the sacrament of confirmation at his hometown, Balzan.

“Bishop Joe has been a wonderful member of the Episcopal Conference. He has made a tremendous contribution to the Church in Australia because of his deep faith and spirituality, which has been shown especially in the zeal with which he dealt with issues of migrants and refugees and his outreach to young people,” Archbishop Philip Wilson, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, said yesterday.

“He has also shown wonderful support and commitment to Charismatic prayer groups in this country,” he added.

The Maltese Church joined the Australian Episcopate to pray for the repose of the soul of a man who strengthened the Church “with the spreading of the Word”.

Born on December 10, 1948, Mgr Grech left Malta while still studying at the Seminary and returned to be ordained on December 30, 1974 in Balzan. He was the first priest ordained by Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mercieca.

After studying spirituality in Rome, he became chaplain to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and then served at Corpus Christi College Provincial Seminary as spiritual director.

On February 10, 1999, Mgr Grech was consecrated bishop and in 2001 was appointed Bishop of Sandhurst, a post he held until the end.

He was an internationally renowned speaker and travelled the world preaching in his trademark accent which owed more to his Maltese roots than Australia. In the past year, he addressed a conference of 3,000 priests in Ars, France.

Mgr Grech’s approach also made him very popular with youths.

One of his trademark sayings was “God does not make rubbish” and one of Fr Galea’s fondest memories of him is when Mgr Grech and himself, then a seminarian, recorded a song by the same name.

“He was my bishop and he was like a father and a close friend, someone I could confide in and who went through the same experience I am going through now,” Fr Galea said.

“I am very confident he is (in heaven)... One thing he used to say was: ‘When I die, I have a lot of questions to ask St Paul’ and I can imagine him right now having a long conversation with St Paul speaking about theological matters.”

Mgr Grech’s funeral will be held next week to allow Maltese relatives and friends to pay their last tributes.