Pontifical Requiem Mass for Archbishop Joseph Eric D’Arcy

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne,
on Friday, 16th December, 2005, at 7.30pm

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

United with his brother, Ron, sister-in-law, Patricia, nieces and nephews – Jo, Paul, Veronica, Mark and Damian, members of the D’Arcy family, bishops, priests and people, we come to pray for the repose of the gifted soul of Archbishop Eric D’Arcy, in this Cathedral where he was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Mannix on 24th July, 1949.

We esteem his towering intellectual and priestly gifts, his service of the Holy See and as bishop in Hobart and Sale and as priest in Melbourne and overseas.

In this Advent time we remember how he called many people to be watchful for Christ and witness to him.  As we pray for him in thanksgiving for his sterling service, let us call to mind our sins that with vigilance we will “wait in silence for the Lord to save”.  (Lamentations 3.26)

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In this Advent time following the injunction of Saint Luke in the Gospel we can do little better than apply to Archbishop Eric D’Arcy the words of Cardinal John Henry Newman in his 22nd Sermon.  “He watches for Christ who has a sensitive, eager, apprehensive mind; who is awake, alive, quick-sighted, zealous in seeking and honouring him; who looks out for him in all that happens and who would not be surprised if he found that he was coming at once.”

Archbishop Eric D’Arcy was a priest for all people.  He valued the privilege he had as a priest in a secular university and was strong in his conviction that the formation and apostolate of the priest should be in both  Church and secular environment.

For over twenty years he influenced countless people, from the first year philosophers whom he taught Plato, to the exchanges in common rooms and over meals, to the deep intellectual conversation of gifted philosophers.

Eric D’Arcy was born at Brighton on Anzac Day 1924, the elder of two sons, of Joseph D’Arcy and Eileen McCoy.  Joseph had been senior customs official in every Australian State except Queensland and was decorated with the Military Medal for his service in the First World War.  Eileen and her two sisters, Mamie and Kathleen, had lost their parents at an early age and the two aunts remained close to the family.

Eric studied at Our Lady of Lourdes’, Armadale, and De La Salle College, Malvern.  His intellectual gifts came to the fore even at this early stage.

In 1940 Joseph D’Arcy was given charge of the customs office in Geelong.  The family moved there in 1941 and for a whole year Eric travelled by train from Geelong to De La Salle.  For his parents it was a return to the city of their birth and nurtured the lifetime affinity, which Eric had for Geelong, its activities and its football team.

Brother Jerome, the Principal at De La Salle, was a huge formative influence.  He wanted Eric to do a second year of Leaving Honours before going to the university to do medicine.  However, Eric pondered quietly the call to the priesthood and began at Corpus Christi College, Werribee, in March 1942.  At Werribee he was recognised as a gifted intellectual, a fine musician, a graceful cricketer and tennis player, and an all-round gentleman, whose deep faith was an inspiration.

Archbishop Mannix ordained him a priest here on 24th July, 1949, and after temporary work at Dalyston, after which he supplied at Thornbury when the parish priest was ill, he was Assistant at Oakleigh from 1950-1955, Chaplain to the Catholic Evidence Guild (1952-1955), to the National Civic Council (1955-1959), and Parish Priest of Parkville from 1962-1967.  He graduated Bachelor and then Master of Arts at Melbourne 1959, a D.Phil. at Oxford in 1962, and also Doctor of Philosophy at the Gregorian University, Rome.

For over twenty years he taught at Melbourne University in Philosophy as tutor, lecturer, senior lecturer and in 1975 he acquired a Readership, “in recognition of the international reputation achieved by his widely read analysis of human action, the human emotions, and conscience”.  He was also in turn Chairman of the Board of Social Studies and of the Department of Philosophy.  However, his influence extended far beyond this.  In 1968 he was visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota and occasional lecturer at Yale.  In the 1970s papers were given at Christian Philosophy Conferences in London and Rome.

From 1969 he was Episcopal Vicar for Tertiary Education in Melbourne, chaired the Archbishop’s Committee for Rationalising Seminaries, for amending the Melbourne College of Divinity Act.  Enormous work was done with Father Frank Harman and Sir Bernard Callinan to save the Catholic Teachers’ Colleges.  Quite possibly we would never have had Australian Catholic University if they had not continued.

He is best remembered for his publication of Conscience and its Right to Freedom, with successive editions in English, French and Spanish in the 1960s, Human Acts in 1963, and the Emotions in 1967, and a plethora of articles.  His book, Conscience and its Right to Freedom, was considered very influential both inside and outside the Church.  It is perhaps noteworthy that he died a few days after the 40th anniversary of the Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, which he believed vindicated his stance on conscience.

On 1st July, 1981, he was consecrated Bishop of Sale and immersed himself into the wide range of pastoral duties.  He was recognised highly for his ability as a teacher.  Many people recognised his innate courtesy, based on Christian respect for every person.  Those who came to see the bishop were never rushed and knew that they received an attentive hearing.  He had a strong sense of being a steward – the Sacraments, documents, organisations and property of the Church were entrusted to him for the time being.  He did not possess them; he would have to account for them.

His time in Hobart brought further challenges and responsibilities and a deeper involvement in the work of the Holy See.  At various times he was a member of the Congregations for Bishops and for Catholic Education and of the Pontifical Council for Non-Believers.  When the Catechism of the Catholic Church was published in 1992, the Holy See asked Archbishop D’Arcy to be responsible for its translation into English.  The late Father John Wall, who died just less than a year ago, assisted him in that work.  He brought the same gifts of scholarship, accuracy, dedication and love of the Church to this huge task.

Archbishop Doyle will pay tribute on Monday to his significant work in Hobart prior to his retirement in July, 1999.  Even in retirement he was a Papal nominee for one more Synod of Bishops and we rejoiced in his company, friendship and contribution to the community of priests at the Cathedral.  He was a grace-filled presence with a complete appreciation of the contribution, which he could make.

Back in 1967 he wrote to Cardinal Knox asking that he be relieved of his role as Parish Priest of Parkville because the demands of university teaching would make him absent and not available for his people.  His dedication to visiting and pastoral care showed the clear understanding he had of the role of the pastor.  Yet in being a priest for the university community, there were many people; family, friends, colleagues, students, who sought his wise spiritual counsel.

Many friends here tonight join to thank God for his wonderful achievements, while praying for peace and rest for his soul.  Since mid-year he has been in the devoted care of the Little Sisters of the Poor at Northcote, who have given him a home in the distressing weaknesses of older age.  He has been surrounded by love and care and kept telling me what a wonderful place Northcote is.

To all who mourn his passing we recognise him as a great teacher, always a priest, watching for the Lord and opening the treasury of the Lord’s goodness to us through his rich expounding of faith and Christian life.

May his gifted and generous soul rest in peace.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.