I am parish priest at Baldivis Parish and that has been the greatest thing ever. The parish was established in 2010.
At present, there is neither presbytery nor church. Masses are held at Tranby College Chapel, off Arpenteur Drive, Settlers.
To be part of a pioneering parish at this stage of my life is really exciting and very fulfilling.
Our parish is under the patronage of Blessed Mother Teresa and the primary school, opening next year, is “Mother Teresa Catholic School”.
The high school is planned for later on but has not been officially named yet.
The neighbourhood of my childhood was very Catholic and being Catholic was something you absorb by osmosis, as it were.
My decision to become a priest was really just a natural part of growing up and being taught in a Catholic school in those days. After World War II in Australia, during the 50s, it was sort of the golden years of Catholicism and vocations were at a high.
The nuns and the priests would come around to the schools and you would write your name on a piece of paper to get an interview with them.
Just as I was due to do my leaving certificate I went to see a man I knew who was a government engineer. I wanted to ask him about his profession as I was thinking of pursuing it at university.
Before I could ask him anything he said, “Have you ever thought about being a priest?” It was extraordinary. I thought my father would have been against it as he wanted me to go to university to do all the things that he hadn’t been able to do.
So I asked my mum and after that everything was fine. I went into the seminary the next year.
I have been blessed with a lot of variety in my priesthood. I have served in the city parishes of Victoria Park, Mirrabooka, Whitfords and Innaloo.
It was mixed up with other diocesan work including YCS and YCW and Catholic Social Apostolate. For some years I was chaplain at WAIT (now called Curtin University).
I’ve been a prison chaplain and a hospital chaplain too and involved in such ministries as Engaged Encounter. I’ve also enjoyed my time ‘in the bush’, in Kellerberrin, Northam and many other towns in the Central Wheatbelt.
In my time in the Geraldton Diocese I loved going ‘outback’ to the towns and station country of the Murchison.
One of my great loves has always been small faith groups and to see people growing in faith. RCIA is one of those special groups. It is very encouraging from a priest’s point of view.
The priest doesn’t run it himself but he is an important part of the team. It is so important to involve other people in the mission of the Church, for example as sponsors or part of the RCIA team.
RCIA assists in the integration of people into the parish. To be a Catholic you have to grow in the community. Through the Rites this happens over a period of time. It is a real blessing for the parish when someone becomes Catholic.
My greatest joy has been the people whom I have met over the years. Visiting parishioners is very important to me. That’s been and is my main ministry. I was very much inspired by my first parish priest Monsignor Lenihan who was my mentor in this regard.
Despite being a very sick man he would go out two or three times a day, every day, like clockwork, knocking on doors.
As his assistant priest, he encouraged me to do the same. I was a very shy person and I suppose I still am. Ministry calls you to be more of an extrovert. I have learnt to “switch it on” in a sense.
Entering the seminary meant giving up my social life because life for a seminarian was more closed in those days. The beach and sport had been an important part of my life.
So I sort of feared that I was going to lose a lot of those things. Since becoming a priest I had a small support group that I treasured for many years but that petered out a few years ago.
Some died and some moved away. I still enjoy priest retreats as well as other meetings and have some close friends, priest and lay, I keep in touch with.
Today, I played golf with a couple of them. I come from a close family and they are a great support. I had earlier thoughts when I was about 13 or 14 about being a Brother or a missionary but that was discouraged by my father at that time and in hindsight that was a good thing.
That life wouldn’t have suited me. There have not been any ‘St Paul moments’, like the blinding light that struck him on the road to Damascus, but there have been several times that the call to be a priest has been confirmed for me.
I try and think of some blessings every day to thank God for.
There have been joys along with sacrifices of course but overall I am happy and can’t imagine doing anything else.