The Catholic Weekly 10 May 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 24 NEWS 10, May, 2020 THROUGH THE death of Fr Peter Morrissey, the Sydney church has lost a devoted and humble priest. Aged 91, Fr Morrissey, was one of the old- est priests in the Archdiocese and he will be sorely missed by many, including friends in the parishes that he served with dedication. Born at Hornsby on 14 Au- gust 1928, Peter was the sec- ond youngest child of John Daniel Morrissey and Stella Gurney (a convert). Mr Morrisey ran a small nursery at Hornsby and was highly regarded for his knowl- edge of native plants. His Irish ancestors were Hornsby dis- trict pioneers, including the Reddy family, who donated land for community benefit – today Reddy Park. Fr Peter attended the Waitara Convent School op- erated by the Sisters of Mercy, before moving to Eastwood Marist Brothers, where he left, aged 15, with the Intermedi- ate Certificate. He initially worked on a sheep station as a rouse- about and then he went to Leeton where his sister, who worked for the Australian Women’s Land Army, secured him work as a general farm hand. He returned to Sydney and worked in a clerical posi- tion at Johnson and Johnson. In 1947, after being inter- viewed by Cardinal Norman Gilroy, Peter commenced studies at Springwood, where he undertook the Leaving Certificate. After matricula- tion he commenced theology studies. The motivation to de- vote his life in service to God had been inspired by Fr Mick Farrell of Waitara Parish. In an interview on Australia Day this year for an upcoming his- tory of his final parish, Mort- lake, Fr Morrissey recalled: “I felt I could be storing up Grace for heaven … rath- er than working for material/ secular interests, which had no value by comparison.” Fr Morrissey’s first parish was the historic St Michael’s at Hurstville, where the leg- endary Fr Tom Dunlea gave the new priest wonderful ex- ample of pastoral service. “Fr Dunlea was charismat- ic – he loved everyone and had a tremendous impression on me. He became a great part of my life,” Fr Morrissey recalled. At North Ryde, Father suf- fered pneumonia several times as a result of getting wet while riding a motorcycle to visit parishioners and under- Wherever he went in a long career, popular priest won respect for his ministry ¾ ¾ Dr Damian Gleeson A lifetime announcing the Gospel in Sydney A shepherd with the smell of the sheep: Fr Peter Morrissey’s only boast was that he visited every home in his Mortlake parish. take funerals. He obtained a small car, but even with the support of his parish priest, Fr Martin Crehan, such a de- cision attracted punishment from St Mary’s Cathedral and he was moved immediately to Belmont Parish (now in the Maitland-Newcastle Di- ocese), then one of the most northern parishes under the administration of the Sydney Archdiocese. In 1964 Fr Peter served as a chaplain on a migrant ship before taking perhaps the most challenging position of his life – the Five Dock Par- ish, where the cantankerous Monsignor John Peoples had ruled since 1919. Fr Morrissey is remembered for his warmth and personal outreach to Five Dock’s parishioners and for bringing stability to the rocky parish. Many families recall Father’s daily visitation of the sick, especially the comfort he provided to the dying and their distressed relatives. In July 1968, at Fr Dunlea’s prompting, Cardinal Gil- roy sent Father to Hurstville again, where he supported his close friend in his last years. Fr Morrissey then had post- ings at Kogarah, Kensington, Northbridge and in Christmas 1973 he was sent to Toukley on the Central Coast to run ‘housie’ for Fr Fitzgerald. He also served at Earlwood and Padstow before his first ap- pointment as Parish Priest of Leura in 1975, which later also included being Administrator of Lawson Parish until 1990. Father was well respected for being a clear and a concise communicator. Those talents were evident through his work for many years at Catholic Ra- dio and Television at Home- bush, where he hosted several programmes. Due to illness, Cardinal Edward Clancy and Bishop (later Archbishop) Frank Car- roll, agreed that Fr Morrissey move to a drier climate and he was appointed to Lake Cargel- ligo. After a brief return to Leura, he was appointed Par- ish Priest of Woollahra (1991- 1997), a very different parish given its socioeconomics. Father loyally served the omnipresent Archbishop James Carroll. He recalled that he often took phone mes- sages for the archbishop from notable people, including the Prime Minister. In 1997 he applied for St Patrick’s Mortlake parish to rekindle his pastoral zeal. In the (then) predominantly working-class parish of Mort- lake, he felt more at home. “They were nice, homely peo- ple and I very much enjoyed my years at Mortlake,” he said. A kind and down-to-earth priest, Fr Morrissey quickly became much loved in Mort- lake. In his straight-talking hu- mility, Fr Morrissey said: “I did not build anything, but I knocked on doors all my life and had thousands of cups of tea with ordinary people. Car- dinal James Freeman used to say: ‘A home-visiting priest is a Mass-going people’ – I be- lieved that faithfully: I knew everyone in the parish – I knocked on every door – this is the only boast of my life.” During his tenure as the sixth Parish Priest of Mort- lake, Fr Morrissey instilled inclusiveness into the par- ish. Whether Catholic or not, he welcomed everyone, and was widely respected by the broader community. In 2000, the Great Jubilee year, he or- ganised the parish’s special celebrations. In 2003 Fr Morrisey retired from Mortlake. For the next 16 years he continued to serve the Archdiocese as a supply priest each weekend. He was very well-read, an avid histo- rian, and not someone who could be pigeonholed as ei- ther conservative or progres- sive. His topical and concise letters to editors were pub- lished in a range of clerical and secular publications, alike. In his last 12 months Fr Morrissey was slowed by illness though remained pos- itive and always interested in the needs of others. After the Covid-19 lockdown he wor- ried that his friends would not have enough food. His mind remained alert and his detailed memories of ear- lier days and events in the church’s history remained un- diminished. He was one of the last of a generation of priests who could recall the signifi- cance of Irish culture in the Sydney Archdiocese. May he Rest in Peace. I did not build anything, but I knocked on doors all my life and had thou- sands of cups of tea with ordinary people ... I knew everyone in the par- ish – I knocked on every door – this is the only boast of my life.’” Fr Peter Morrissey In brief American marriage plummets Chinese suffering ‘far worse’ THE SHARE of Ameri- cans getting married has fallen to its lowest level on record, the Wall Street Journal reported this week. The Government fig- ures reflect how econom- ic insecurity and chang- ing norms are eroding the institution, the paper reported. The US marriage rate fell 6 per cent in 2018, with 6.5 new unions formed for every 1,000 people, according to a re- port by the National Cen- tre for Health Statistics. That was the lowest rate since the US federal government began keep- ing data in 1867, said Sally Curtin, a statistician at the centre and lead author. CHINESE CHRISTIANS have welcomed a damn- ing US Commission on International Religious Freedom report but said religious oppression in China is more severe than reported. Hong Kong-based UCAN, a news agency reporting Catholic news throughout Asia, report- ed that Chinese Christian leaders say the space for religious freedom has severely shrunk in the past two decades, with the communist regime implementing a series of policies aiming to eradi- cate religion from society. The US State Depart- ment has considered Chi- na “a country of special concern” since 1999. The CIRF report kept China among the global worst performers in terms of religious freedom. But some religious scholars told UCAN News that the most serious but often overlooked form of religious suppression in China is to make Chris- tians sign a declaration rejecting religion under the threat of denying them government bene- fits such as pensions. Since 2018 in areas such as Zhejiang prov- ince, Christian teachers in schools and colleges have been forced to sign such documents, without which they are denied pensions, UCAN report- ed. The Union of Catho- lic Asian News operates an online website (www. ucanews.com) as well as foreign language sites in China and Indonesia. OBITUARY FR PETER MORRISSEY 14 AUGUST 1928 - 28 APRIL 2020