Thursday, 29 June 2023 22:55

Stephen Hackett MSC begins responsibilities for and service of the Australian Province, July 1st.

Stephen Hackett MSC begins responsibilities for and service of the Australian Province, July 1st.

stephen use

Stephen brings wide experience of ministry and life in the Province, education at Monivae, studies at the Yarra Theological Union, teaching at St Johns’s and Monivae, parish priest of Camp Hill and Moonah, UNSW chaplaincy, doctoral studies, Vocation Director while living in the Formation House, Navarre and, in recent years Secretary of the Australian Bishops Conference, part of the Canberra community.

At the Chapter, Stephen quoted a favourite poem, written by James McAuley, Retreat. Here is the poem and, below, information on James McAuley.

 

Retreat

Come unto yourself a while,

Be deaf to outer cares;

Ask not who wins, who falls, who rages,

Or what each doubtful sign presages,

Or what face treachery wears.

 

Soon you must return to tasks

That sicken and appal:

The calumnies will never cease,

Look only to the sign of peace,

The Cross upon the wall.

 

This is that sole instrument

That measures every chart;

This square and level overrules

The subtle calculus of fools

By a celestial Art.

 

It is not said we shall succeed,

Save as His Cross prevails:

The good we choose and mean to do

Prospers if He wills it to,

And if not, then it fails.

 

Nor is failure our disgrace:

By ways we cannot know

He keeps the merit in his hand,

And suddenly, as no-one planned,

Behold the kingdom grow!

by James McAuley and dedicated to B.A. Santamaria.

mcauley use

In December 1943 he made the first of many visits to New Guinea, which became a second 'spirit country', as well as an inspiration for his thinking about post-colonial polities. From August 1945 McAuley was an instructor at the Land Headquarters School of Civil Affairs (later Australian School of Pacific Administration), first in Canberra and then in Sydney. Transferring to the Reserve of Officers in March 1946, he remained at the school as a lecturer until 1959. One of his tasks was to train officers for service in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. Inspired by the mission of Marie Thérèse Noblet, McAuley adopted in 1952 the Catholic faith from which his father had lapsed. (Australian Dictionary of Biography)

noblet

In 1952 he converted to Roman Catholicism, the faith his own father had abandoned, following an intense spiritual experience at a Catholic mission in New Guinea This was in the parish of St Charles at Ryde. He was later introduced to Australian musician Richard Connolly by a priest, Ted Kennedy, at the Holy Spirit parish at North Ryde and the two subsequently collaborated to produce between them the most significant collection of Australian Catholic hymnody to date, titled "Hymns for the Year of Grace". Connolly was McAuley's sponsor for his confirmation into the Roman Catholic Church.  (Wikipedia)

de bois

We remember that he dedicated his poem, New Guinea, to Archbishop de Boismenu. James McAuley saw him as 'the man who most exemplified greatness', with 'a rare sanctity and unerring spiritual discernment'. The poem is found, https://www.misacor.org.au/item/98-60th-anniversary-of-archbishop-alain-de-boismenu-msc

 

And the chorus in his hymn, Jesus in your Heart we find…

Jesus, in your heart we find
love of the Father and mankind;
these two loves to us impart
divine love in a human heart..