Mass for the Priestly Jubilees of Fr Jack Carroll & Fr Bill Walsh

Mass Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Rosebud,
on Thursday, 15th July, 2004, at 7.30pm

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This is a special moment when, united with Jesus Christ the Great High Priest, we share with Father Jack Carroll in thanksgiving for sixty years of priesthood and Father Bill Walsh with similar gratitude for fifty years as a priest of God’s people.

These two great priests born at opposite ends of the world have made Melbourne the vineyard of the Lord. With much joy we thank God and thank them for all that they have been and are to us; bishops, priests, people of God, with so many memories and so much hope in Jesus, who is our Lord and Saviour.

Homily

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

This evening we have gathered to thank the Lord of all for the generous, faith-filled and courageous lives of two dedicated priests of our Diocese. They are men of Christ and men of our people; teachers, priests and shepherds, ceaselessly building up our Church into the people of God.

Those of you who know Father Jack Carroll and Father Bill Walsh would realise how different they are, how diverse their origins, and yet how each in their own way have characterised all that is best in the Catholic priesthood.

Jack, a very Australian, matter of fact, friendly man, reaching out to others. Bill, a warm, encouraging Irishman, with a great sense of family and of the dignity of people. It is important tonight that we realise that the priesthood to which they have been ordained is a choice from God. That choice sets them for a task, which they have fulfilled with generosity for sixty or fifty years.

For nearly forty of those years they have lived this vision

“The priests of the New Testament are it is true by their vocation to ordination set apart in some way in the midst of the people of God, but this is not in order that they should be separated from the people or from anyone, but that they should be completely consecrated to the task for which God chooses them. They could not be servants of Christ unless they were witnesses and dispensers of a life other than that of this earth. On the other hand they would be powerless to serve men if they remained aloof from their life and circumstances. Their very ministry makes a special claim on them, not to conform themselves to this world; still it requires at the same time that they should live among men in this world and that as good shepherds they should know their sheep and should also seek to lead back those who do not belong to this fold, so that they too may hear the voice of Christ and there may be one fold and one shepherd.” (Vatican II, Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priest. 7 December 1965 No 3)

As I have said, they are very different. Jack Carroll born in Moonee Ponds on 8th June, 1919, educated at Saint Columba’s and Saint Monica’s in Moonee Ponds and Saint Patrick’s, Ballarat. He studied at Werribee and was ordained on 23rd July, 1944, by Archbishop Mannix in the Cathedral. Tonight especially we acknowledge his service in the Cathedral, Glen Iris, and Oakleigh as an Assistant, his work with the C.Y.M.S., his nine years as Diocesan Director of the Pontifical Missions and his pastorates at East Ivanhoe, Maidstone and Pascoe Vale preceded his retirement in January, 1989.

Here on the Peninsula and elsewhere, Jack has been a cheerful, faith-filled, friendly face, reminding people that the priesthood is of God, but always human.

Bill Walsh, born at Caherhurley on 7th December, 1927. Education at Tuamgraney National School and Mungret College, Limerick. Studied for the priesthood at Carlow, where he was ordained on 6th June, 1954, by Dr. Keogh, coming to Melbourne in November of that year.

We all esteem Bill as warm, with a great sense of humour, unflappable, calm and serene, open to everyone, patient, tolerant and welcoming of people. I know that this esteem has extended to North Melbourne, Deepdene and West Brunswick as Assistant, for twenty-three years in East Frankston and then in Rosebud until his retirement in 2002. He is still known for his new church in East Frankston, his manner and his regular supplies of Mass throughout the Peninsula.

Both of them heard the words, “Imitamini quod tractatis” - “Imitate the Mystery you celebrate”. It is an invitation to die to sin and to walk in the new life of Christ. They are being asked in the words of Monsignor Rod Strange, the Rector of the Beda, “to respond to the undertow rather than to the surf, to be led where they would rather not go, to be square pegs in round holes.”

The invitation has always been there, but it has been understood differently at different times and its impact has sometimes been apparent only gradually. Just as Jesus chose the twelve at the Last Supper, so too he has chosen Jack Carroll and Bill Walsh to go, to serve, to lead, to sanctify and to shepherd.

These men have done this with exemplary skill and faithfulness, not drawing attention to themselves, but allowing Christ to shine fully through their lives.

We join them in thanking God for his limitless patience and constant love because we, his people, have benefited from that love and care in these two fine and constant men of Jesus Christ.

Jack and Bill, for Melbourne, for my predecessors and myself, for priests and people, well done good and faithful servants.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.