Acknowledging Tony Arthur MSC, 85
The second 85th birthday in the province in one week.
Tony Arthur came from Sydney but did the last two years of his secondary studies at Chevalier College. After a year in the apostolic school at Douglas Park, he made his novitiate and was professed on the 26th, 1959.
During his studies for the priesthood at Canberra in Canberra and at Croydon, he spent three years completing his Bachelor of Arts studies at the Australian National University, with high distinction and topping the results in some courses. He was ordained in Sydney on July 22, 1967.
His first appointment was teaching at Monivae College but, in 1969, he was appointed to teach philosophy to the MSC students at Sacred Heart Monastery, Canberra. In 1971 he went to St Michaels, Toronto, for further philosophy studies. On his return he taught in Canberra and at the Yarra Theological Union. He also taught at St Pauls National Seminary in Sydney.
However, he was to spend many of the coming years in Papua New Guinea and in Fiji, teaching, serving as director of the seminaries. He also did further studies in Leuven, specialising in church history and developing various courses and lectures on religious life.
In the 2000s and then in the 2010s, he spent time in Rome as the Secretary General of the MSC, contributing to meetings, chapters, historical background, spirituality and theology of religious life, and preparing records of the congregation, the Analecta.
From Rome, he returned to Kensington, was stationed at Douglas Park but now lives at Kensington.
[We remember Doug Smith who died in 2018 at age 78. He would have turned 85 on November 16th. He was the first to die of the MSC group who were together in the same class at Chevalier College, Tony Arthur, Terry Herbert (85 next month) and Peter Malone.]
