By Marco Ceccarelli
An atmosphere of dignified solemnity filled St Mary’s Cathedral this week as hundreds attended the Requiem Mass for Fr Pat Cunningham – a priest who played a significant role in the history of the Perth Archdiocese.
Archbishop of Perth, Timothy Costelloe SDB, presided the Mass on Thursday November 13 alongside concelebrants Fr Neville Falkner, Fr Kevin Crock, Fr John Jegorow, Fr Maurice Toop, Fr Michael Casey and more than 50 priests from across the Archdiocese.
Fr Pat passed away on 7 November, 2014, at the age of 85.
His departure was strongly felt within a number of parishes where he served including Highgate, Applecross, York and Narrogin, Subiaco, Leederville, Chidlow and Wundowie, Kensington, Nedlands and Mundaring and by all those who had been influenced by his candour and charisma.
The imprint left by Fr Pat on such a diverse range of people and places is a testament to his far-reaching ability to serve members of the Catholic Church in all ways possible.
In his homily for the occasion, Archbishop Costelloe praised both the sense of devotion and commitment which Fr Pat had demonstrated throughout his life, as well his deep sense of faith in the heavenly place towards which he would one day journey.
“For Fr Pat, this faith in the life that awaited him was not just some form of conventional religion but a deeply felt and unshakeable conviction,” he stated.
Fr Pat took that same conviction and belief in living a heavenly life to the earthly dwellings in which he studied and worked.
At the age of 12 he attended St Charles’ Seminary in Guildford where he completed his philosophy studies before pursuing his education at the Propaganda Fide College in Rome in 1948.
Ordained priest in 1951, he assisted numerous parishes throughout the Archdiocese and served as editor for The Record for an extensive period time.
Fr Pat was an avid traveller and passionate pilgrim. Those who farewell him are comforted by the notion that his journey is now pointed towards the eternal dwelling place reserved for him in heaven.
The burial of Fr Pat Cunningham took place after the mass at Karrakatta Cemetery.