By Peter Rosengren
For possibly the first time in his life, Brian Peachey was lost for words.
Although they have visited Rome like thousands of other pilgrims and have attended audiences with several Popes over several decades, Mr and Mrs Peachey have never found themselves face to face with the Vicar of Christ.
For the long-time political campaigner, who has never been known to be short of a word, it was the sort of moment you only dream about.
However, Mr Peachey, who is Chairman of Pregnancy Assistance, was astonished when Archbishop Barry Hickey invited him and his wife Miriam to a special seating area during a general papal audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, 13 October.
General papal audiences are attended by thousands of pilgrims but the chance to personally meet and talk with the Holy Father is a rare privilege, and one that is all the more special for the Peacheys.
In their own ways, each of the four who met during the audience are all champions of innocent life, especially that of the unborn child.
Pope Benedict has often been pointed in his defence of the sanctity of innocent life at every stage from conception.
Archbishop Hickey founded the Pregnancy Assistance organisation together with Mr Peachey and was outspoken during the 1998 political debate that led to the legalisation of the killing of unborn children in WA.
Together, Brian and Miriam have raised eight children and have consistently committed themselves to campaigning for the sanctity of human life at every stage of its existence – both through Mr Peachey’s longstanding involvement in state and federal politics (including occasional forays as a Democratic Labour Party or, in recent years, as a Christian Democrat, candidate) but most impressively through their decades-long participation in a range of grassroots pro-life activities.
However, it is their faith, marriage, home and family life that has always been the wellspring for such commitments outside the famed tribal home.
It was Mr Peachey who was the founding Chairman of Pregnancy Assistance, an Archdiocese-supported agency which offers counselling, accommodation and support to women and girls who are experiencing what are often referred to as ‘crisis pregnancies’; those in which the mothers may be discriminated against by fathers or family, or which they are pressured to end through abortion.
Since its founding in 1996, Pregnancy Assistance has been putting the pro-life movement’s money where its mouth is with thousands of volunteer hours put into supporting women and girls as they go through tumultuous events in their lives.
The Association sees hundreds of women and girls a year and its office walls are regularly decorated with the letters of thanks from mothers, together with the photographs of the babies whose lives have been touched by Pregnancy Assistance’s support.
Brian Peachey is also the editor of the monthly, pro-life magazine Abundant Life.
The surprise personal meeting with Pope Benedict XVI had been engineered by Archbishop Hickey, who was leading a pilgrimage of more than 40 West Australians, including the Peacheys, to Rome for the canonisation of St Mary MacKillop.
Archbishop Hickey wrote to the Prefect of the Papal Household in May shortly after he and Mr Peachey began preparing for the pilgrimage; the latest in many that Mr Peachey has organised for the Archbishop.
The Archbishop requested that Mr and Mrs Peachey be given what is known as the bacciamano (kiss on the hand) privilege of meeting the Holy Father personally.
“I warmly recommend this couple as eminently worthy of such a privilege. They have raised a family of eight children and have been married for 53 years,” the Archbishop wrote.
“Brian Peachey has been a leader in pro-life movements since he was a young man and is known widely for his indefatigable efforts at every political and social level for the rights of unborn children.
“He is also President of Pregnancy Assistance, a Catholic Association that provides counselling, support and accommodation for women with pregnancy problems.
“His wife has supported him fully in all his activities. Both are daily communicants. I know that they would consider a bacciamano meeting with the Holy Father to be the highlight of their entire lives.”
Mr Peachey later told The Record he had been virtually dumbstruck by the encounter and could not recall clearly what he had said to the Holy Father.
The meeting had lasted longer than he expected and was one of the highlights of his life.
“It was overpowering. I couldn’t tell you what I said or what he said. I was overawed. But it was an important thing to meet such an individual.
“He is a great man and an honourable man, who is often under attack.”