An interview with Fr Peter Hearn msc
Here is some weekend reading – Peter Hearn finishing his ministry as parish priest of Randwick. Some photos of him over the decades and thanks to the OLSH Parish Bulletin.
‘The move through five bus stops took me from Coogee to Randwick’ so wrote Fr Peter Hearn on 29 January 2009 to become OLSH’s 17th Parish Priest. And many steps along the way as this interview tells.
The Early Days
Fr Peter was reared by one of his aunts as his mother had tragically died when he was two. His early schooling was at St Patrick’s Primary School in Port Fairy, Vic. where his love of music was developed by the Good Samaritan nuns. In the early 1960s, he won a prize for his music ability at the MSC Monivae Secondary College at Hamilton. ‘As religious teachers, the MSCs were quite humane and approachable for their time. All 24 on the staff were MSCs, well-informed, but strict as teachers were in those days’ says Fr Peter.
Did you always want to be a priest?
‘The idea became more focused in the last years of Secondary school. For the first two years after leaving school I worked in the public service while doing part-time Arts studies at Melbourne University’. In 1968 he entered the Novitiate at Douglas Park and was professed on 1 March 1969 at OLSH Randwick. ‘Although I looked at a couple of other orders, I was hugely impressed with the MSCs desire to help poorer people in developing nations such as PNG. Some of the teaching priests often told us they would have preferred to be ‘in the missions’ rather than teaching us. (Occasionally we probably hoped they would see their desire fulfilled.) They were very passionate about their desire to help the struggling people of this world.’ The eight years of studies for the priesthood combined both university and seminary studies and he was ordained on 5 June 1976 at Port Fairy’s St Patrick’s church. Following ordination, he taught for two years at the MSCs Daramalan College, Dickson, ACT.
By 1979 the Northern Territory beckoned?
‘Yes. Pat Dodson, then a priest at the Mission Station in Port Keats, now Wadeye, invited me to assist him in his work with the Aboriginal community. It was a largely chaotic time as the Missions, were being transformed into Government settlements under a local council’. The life there took on more and more the shape of a parish as the religious and lay missionaries withdrew from administration and the work force. The Church was responsible for the school and hospital-clinic and assisting in the movement to the tribal out-stations. The Aboriginal people were well disposed and appreciative of the OLSH Sisters and MSCs. ‘A fascinating cross-cultural experience. One can’t help but love the people who are so vulnerable in our fast-changing world’.
1982 saw the start of varied appointments
First to St John the Apostle Church at Kippax in the ACT followed by a totally unexpected push by superiors to become Vocations Promoter for the next four years based in Coogee. It meant a lot of travel as then there were numerous MSC parishes in every state and five schools to be visited. ‘Somehow we did get vocations’. In 1988 he was back in the Northern Territory, being appointed the Administrator (similar to a Parish Priest) at Darwin’s St Mary’s Cathedral, where Fr Ted Collins (OLSH parish priest from 1978 to 1985) was the Bishop. ‘A fine cathedral, the largest church in the city, lovely people and such a very pleasant place to be’.
Then an unusual appointment
In 1995 there was a proposal, pushed by the shortage of priests rather than an alternative model of Church, for the MSC priests to hand over the administration of Our Lady of the Rosary church at Kensington to the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Two Sisters were to take over the presbytery and administration of the Parish and the MSC would have sacramental duties but living at the Monastery. He was asked by the Provincial to defer his study leave planned for Belgium and help with this process for two years. In the event, the transfer occurred within that year. He enjoyed his brief sojourn there.
Travelling again in 1996
‘Yes, travelling to Belgium to begin studies for a Master of Theology at the Catholic University of Leuven. The course there would normally be for two years, but I returned to Kensington to begin research for a thesis on the MSC-OLSH Missions in the NT. The Monastery archives, together with those in NT, were extensive but largely unresearched. To make a long story short this eventually grew into a doctorate which was conferred in Sydney in 2003’.
1999 was a big year.
‘A very big year. I was already appointed to the NT when the Provincial reversed that appointment and made me Superior of the Kensington Monastery. Quite a reversal of expectations. In April a violent hailstorm decimated buildings in Sydney and especially in Kensington. The monastery was not spared. The roof was badly damaged; tradesmen were scarce but the hospitality offered to them of living on site made it easier to effect repairs. An offer was made to move most of the elderly community out of the Monastery. But they refused to budge – explaining that many of them had been through wars and cyclones and a hail storm was of no consequence. So we worked around them – heavy physical work for me, which I didn’t mind. The following years the entire Monastery was upgraded for fire, electrical and IT and another 10 ensuited rooms suitable for the elderly were added. Including those at St Joseph’s Nursing Home and four or so in chaplaincies outside the Monastery. We numbered 44 in community. All the while the research on the NT Missions evolved and the thesis was published in 2003’.
Then you turned your attention to a different form of study.
‘Yes, I enrolled in a course on Teaching English as a Second Language for Adults and, for a break from studies and the somewhat heavy Monastery load, I was given permission to teach English in Beijing, including to members of the Organizing Committee for the Olympics Games - hugely competent and vibrant young people. I only had them for two and a half hours on a Thursday evening. The rest of the time was full time in a Tertiary College.’
But while his employers in Beijing would have liked him to continue into the new year, Fr Peter was involved in a different type of organizing in 2004 as the MSCs were moving their formation of new members into parish settings. They needed a large house for parish staff and postulants (first year entrants). Willoughby parish had a disused Josephite Convent and the Broken By diocese were happy to have the parish under the care of the MSC – which lasted for 10 years. And he spent some time, again, being the Vocations Promoter. Again, vocations arrived.
For the next four years Fr Peter was involved in mainly administrative roles as assistant to the Provincial, Fr Tim Brennan - a class mate from Monivae - at Treand House, Coogee. ‘Administration is not something I naturally warm to. During my Coogee appointment I was asked to organize the MSC involvement for the World Youth Day in Sydney, 2008. With a small committee we set ourselves to raise $200,000 to bring people from MSC-OLSH areas in the Pacific: Rabaul, Kiribati, Fiji, Eastern Papua, with a sprinkling from the Philippines and other areas. We somehow managed to raise the money. That few weeks would be worthy of a movie – many humorous and delightful occasions to recall with much involvement with OLSH Randwick. I ended up with a flu-like illness for about 4 months following WYD and vowed it would be my last. However, I have attended three more as chaplain to Antioch Groups while at Randwick and enjoyed them immensely.’
Then the five bus stops moment in 2009.
‘There was a fleeting moment or two where I thought I might go to an overseas Mission, perhaps Africa with the MSC and OLSH, but that was probably too romantic. Instead I moved those 5 bus stops to Randwick’.
‘On occasions, from Treand House, I had come to OLSH Randwick for Masses when priests were on leave or elsewhere. It is a beautiful Church, and there is such a long and rich history of parish life with MSC and laity intertwined. Such good lay and religious leaders make Randwick a great community. One thing I noticed on my Mass visits was the various music groups at the Masses, and on coming here, I suggested that perhaps they could combine for the major ceremonies of Holy Week and other occasions – which happily came about. Music is such an important aspect of our worship and the feel of a Parish. My motto was ‘From Plainsong to Hillsong via Mozart and Lloyd Webber’. There is amazing and generous talent within the Parish and not only for music. The generosity of our parishioners, especially towards the struggling here and overseas, and our help for the MSC Mission office and other organisations (more recently the Asylum Seekers) is, for me, a key indicator of our spirituality being lived. Generosity, hospitality, compassion are truly of the Heart of Jesus. Putting more focus on the Shrine and the place of Mary in our spirituality as MSC has been a source of rich blessings for me and for so many who come to her. I thank the helpers, especially the OLSH Sisters who have been the mainstay of the Novena’.
‘I have been blessed beyond measure to be a part of this community, with the MSC, religious and laity. The introduction of Overseas MSC, mainly our Indian community, has enabled the parish to continue to function with our many ministries, while the lay volunteers in so many areas are quite amazing. Also, eight men have made their way to seminaries, including the MSC, over the past 11 years. I pray more will continue to find their calling as priests and religious and that lay involvement continues to grow.
And 2021? ‘After 12 years as Parish Priest, 2021 was to be a year of great plans. Back to Beijing, the Holy Land at Easter, a Pilgrimage Following in the Footsteps of St Paul, a visit to the MSC Motherhouse at Issoudun, France, and a summer course at Leuven, were on the menu. Not so. ‘It’s now a different Covid world. What will be, will be – Broken Hill and Bundeena are looking good!’ says Fr Peter.
