Although he was known, among other things, for calling a spade a spade, Fr Tom Gaine was loved for his willingness and readiness to accept people as they were, neither condemning nor judging. And he was always ready to share with them his love for God and his love of life, writes Elizabeth Brennan in this tribute…
In 2002, Winter Has Passed – the story of the life of Fr Thomas Columba Gaine – was published in Perth, Western Australia. The book was a collaboration between myself and Fr Tom, with whom I worked for over 20 years as his Pastoral Associate; a friend of our family since 1979; a friend with whom my family kept close contact after his retirement to Ireland in 2001; a friend who had a remarkable influence on our lives.
In the preface to the book, Fr Tom wrote: “For the past 45 years, I have found happiness and fulfilment in my vocation as a priest of the Catholic Church. I love my God, my Church and its people. I believe the Lord has been very close to me.
“He has guided me through my many trials, pitfalls and temptations as well as the many good times. As I look back today, I am full of a knowing that He has been leading me on, slowly but surely, to become more human and compassionate: as a person first and then as a priest.
“I have come to know, in the winter of my life, that opportunities are given to us every day to learn something new about ourselves and others. And in this knowing, we find God.
“The command to Take up your cross daily and follow Me is only possible with His assistance. I have learned the wisdom of His advice: Learn of me because I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for your soul.”
Fr Tom entered St Kieran’s Seminary in Kilkenny in September 1951 with the knowledge that, after his ordination, he would travel to Perth in Western Australia, a land of which he knew very little.
He was ordained on Sunday, 2 June 1957 and arrived in Perth on 22 November 1957.
On his arrival, Fr Tom met Archbishop Prendiville, a fellow Kerryman. The young Fr Tom was delighted to hear the familiar Kerry accent. The Archbishop’s advice to the young priest stayed with him for over 40 years:
“You may be a great preacher, you may be a learned man, but if you don’t visit your people, forget about it. Get to know your people.”
During a special Mass in 1991 to celebrate Fr Tom’s 40th Anniversary of his Ordination, it was my great privilege to be able to say a few words of tribute. In doing so, I drew upon some parallels with the Celtic Church, of whom Columba, one of the great Saints of the Celtic Church, prayed:
“Let me do my daily work, gathering seaweed, catching fish, giving to the poor. Let me say my daily prayers, sometimes chanting, sometimes quiet, always thanking God.”
On that special day in which we, the Parish Community of Our Lady of Mercy in Girrawheen, celebrated Fr Tom’s 40th Anniversary of Ordination, we acknowledged that we had gathered together to celebrate another Celtic son: Thomas Columba Gaine; one who, 40 years ago, had left the country of his birth, a country he loved, his mother and three brothers, his friends and loved ones to journey to a strange land.
All he had with him was a deep and abiding love for his God and an utter and complete trust and faith that the hand of his God would guide him.
In time, he came to love his new country with its wide and open spaces, its golden beaches and sparkling seas and developed a deep respect for the land of the Great Spirit. Like his namesake of long ago, he had an adventurous spirit and eagerly set his hand to the plough his God had handed him. As he moved from parish to parish, with his typical openness to life and exuberance and love of his God, he quickly endeared himself to young and old alike.
Although he became known for calling a spade a spade, he was loved for his willingness and readiness to accept people as they were, neither condemning nor judging but always ready to share with them his love for God and his love of life.
As a parish community, we were all happy to have the chance to thank Fr Tom for his authenticity, for being the person and priest he was.
For his dedication and faithfulness to his priesthood; for his willingness to share with us his love of the God of his ancestors, his love of the Mass and the healing power of the Sacraments in a way that spoke to us in a language we understood; for helping us to find God in our human experiences.
We were happy to thank him for sharing with us his wonder and awe of God’s creation, for his reverence for silence and a willingness to listen to God in the depths of our hearts. We thanked him for his sense of justice, for his love of the poor and his boundless generosity. for his love and respect for all people.
We thanked him for his willingness to sit with us in our kitchens, celebrating with us in times of gladness and weeping with us in times of sorrow. We were happy to thank him for the respect he showed for our own worth and for giving us the opportunity to discern our own giftedness. And we thanked him for his humility and courage to show his own limitations and idiosyncrasies, his funny little ways that sometimes drove us up the wall but that we had, nevertheless, grown to love. We thanked him for accepting our own.
In my collaboration with Fr Tom in the writing of Winter Has Passed, I was happy to acknowledge that, in popular parlance, it was not the story of a remarkable man. However, it was the story of a remarkable life. It was – and is – remarkable because it acknowledged a priest who went about his daily life touching the everyday lives of ordinary people. The grace of God is remarkable as it is manifested in the life of ordinary people, ordinary priests, doing ordinary things, empowering others to ‘stay in there’. The gift of life and the grace of Fr Tom Gaine, an ordinary man, made him a remarkable one. May he rest in peace.