FATHER TYSON DONELEY MSC, FUNERAL EULOGY, HIS LIFE

My name is Tyson Doneley; I am my Uncle Tyson's eldest nephew. His father and grandfather were both known as Tyson, as is my son and his eldest son. The Tyson name has been associated with the Doneley family since 1827 when George Doneley married Isabella Tyson. The name lives on.

Ignatius Tyson Doneley was born on 5th Jan 1921, in Toowoomba, the second youngest of the children, of Aloysius Reginald Tyson
Doneley and his wife Minnie nee McGlynn. His 6 siblings were Bernie (my father) Frances Marchant, Marie, Joan Conrad, Camille Marchant, and Glynn.

His primary schooling was at the Marist Brothers College, Rosalie, in Brisbane, where he excelled at an early age in his studies and sports and from where he was awarded the St Joseph's Old Boys scholarship to complete his secondary studies at Hunters Hill. His father had been a student at St Josephs in the late 1890's. Cricket was his favourite sport. On his first day at Joeys he was told to report to the 1st XI practice nets. He had only just turned 15. He played a large part in the 1st Xi's 1937 premiership win heading both the batting and bowling averages, and played 5/8 in the premiership winning 1st XV in the same year

Tyson's first contact with the MSCs was when he saw a large church spire on a distant sand hill, while playing cricket in Centennial Park. The Sydney High keeper told him it was a Monastery and Uncle Tyse thought it might have been the Marists whom he had considered joining, and when he subsequently visited there he met 2 former Marist Old Boys, by now MSC priests, Fr Bill Graham and Fr John Tyler, who convinced him to join the MSC's. He recalled each time he drove by the park that on that day in April 1937 that he took 4 for 26 contributing to an innings win over High. Only last month on perhaps his last drive through the park he once again recounted those events of 78 years ago. Large trees now obscure the view of the monastery.

In his leaving certificate he secured three honours, five A's and one B. Foregoing a scholarship to Sydney University he entered the MSC Novitiate at St Mary's Towers, Douglas Park in 1938 completing his theological studies at the Sacred Heart College, Croydon;

He was one of 21 seminarians ordained by Archbishop Mannix in St Patrick's Cathedral Melbourne in July 1946 including 7 other MSCs from Croydon, Frs. G. P. Church, M.McPhillamy. W. J. Ryan. A. }.Sheridan, J. Savage, M. Atchison, B. J. Scrivener.

After his ordination he returned to Kensington to attend Sydney University gaining a BA majoring in Latin, in 1950. Subsequently while teaching at Downlands he secured a B Ed (UQ) 1957 and was awarded a MA (Sydney) in 1960, his thesis being "Two literary epics: a comparison of the Aeneid with Paradise Lost" He was appointed a Member of the Australian College of Education in 1966 and held a Diploma in Educational Administration (New England) 1970.

With these qualifications Uncle Tyse was destined to be a teacher, and coach, first at Downlands, then Chevalier, Princethorpe, Rugby, England, Monivae, and St Johns' Darwin where he was Principal at the time of cyclone Tracey.

In 1953 while sports master at Downlands he decided to take up club cricket, as he said, only because of all his cricket practice with the students. He became a regular player for Toowoomba, a sound all rounder, and was being considered in some circles a possible Sheffield Shield selection, perhaps even worthy of an Australian cap.

During school holidays he relieved as parish priest in many country towns and at Christmas he would often join his family for the holidays at Broadbeach where his parents had a holiday home.

In 1980 after 39 years a teacher, he retired and was then able to pursue his early ambition to be a missionary. Like the early apostles he travelled widely in his ministry. His first posting was to the Mission at Vunapope New Britain, then to Nagoya Japan.

After a spiritual renewal course in Chicago and the Holy Land in 1989 he spent the next 10 years at the new seminary in Kanjoor in Kerala and Bangalore in his beloved India, leaving every six months, in order to renew his visa, taking the opportunity to return home temporarily or to visit neighbouring countries. His last missionary assignments were to Indonesia and Fiji

Retiring again in 2003 after 23 years as a missionary he came back once more to Downlands. Health concerns resulting from an

oesophagectomy in 2003 and the onset of Parkinson's disease compelled him to relocate to the Monastery at Kensington and as his medical condition deteriorated he was admitted to St Joseph's Nursing home for Religious here at Kensington where he was lovingly cared for by the Sisters and nursing staff until his death.

We were very proud of Uncle Tyse being awarded the medal in the Order of Australia in 2013, for service through Catholic educational organisations.

For our family he was a very special person,
He was Uncle Tyse to all his 29 nieces and nephews and 55 grand nieces and nephews and numerous great grand nieces and nephews
He was always a welcome guest in our homes on birthdays and similar occasions. He was always good for a game of tennis, frequently defeating some of the younger generation
He was our family's own priest Celebrating Mass in our homes Conducting many Baptisms Officiating at numerous Marriages
Conducting funerals not only of his own parents but also his brothers and sisters and other family members.

He was a friend to all

Uncle Tyson was a sociable and affable person interested in every one he met and in their lives. He made each person feel they were special to him in some way.

He was a private, humble and modest man with no earthly possessions apart from the clothes he wore and an old putter and a few golf balls he kept in his room, but he had a wealth of memories from a life full of challenges and achievements.
He was a friendly companion to his brothers and sisters in religion.
Mentor to many Caring priest Gifted Teacher Sportsman Confidant,

In a word he was a wonderful PERSON

On the evening of Sunday 19th July as the light was fading his captain declared his innings over at 94, not bad for a leg spinner? From a life of teaching and preaching throughout Australia and a wide expanse of the world he always came back to his roots. His parents took him to Tyson Manor in Toowoomba as a newborn child, then his grandfather's home. He returned to the Manor again in 1950, which had by then become the priest's residence of Downlands and where it remains as such today.
He returned again to spend his last years in the Monastery at Kensington where he had first contacted the MSC's in 1937, and stayed in the same room he first occupied during his Sydney University days.

Today he is returning to St Mary's Towers, Douglas Park where he began his priestly studies 77 years ago, only a few kilometres from Appin where the first Doneleys settled in 1798. His final wish was to be with his Saviour in Heaven and be laid to rest in the grounds of the spiritual home of the MSC community, the last resting place for just over two hundred members of the province.

Farewell Uncle Tyse.
We all will indeed sorely miss you but will always lovingly remember you. FAREWELL

LIFE STORY: PAUL STENHOUSE MSC

From the Annals archives (found on this website in the Media and Publications section with the link to the site of articles)

Fr. PAUL STENHOUSE MSC, Ph.D, Editor of Annals Australasia

In his twenty-five years of priesthood Father Paul Stenhouse might well be called 'A Priest for all Seasons'.

Although never attached to a parish there are few works that a priest is expected to do that have managed to escape his attention at some time or other.

This very versatile priest was born in Casino, N.S.W., grew up in Camden and had a local education that was greatly influenced by his mother with her many gifts of mind and spirit.

As a teenager he was employed as a machinist, compositor and linotypist on the Camden News, Campbelltown News and the Picton Post and at the same time produced the Warragamba Times as an extra chore.

He decided to become a priest when he was 17 years of age and went to St. Mary's Towers, Douglas Park for his last two years of secondary schooling where he passed his Leaving Certificate with Honours in English in 1955.

He began the long years of seminary study at Croydon in Melbourne and was ordained to the priesthood in July 1963.

His first appointment as a priest was in the area where he had had some experience already - journalism. In 1966 he was appointed Editor of the Annals of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart a monthly magazine that first appeared in 1889 and has been published by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart ever since.

In the previous year he had been made Business Manager and Annals took on a new lease of life.

If one tried to put the finger on just what was different about the new Annals it might be said that it took the lead in the Catechetical Renewal in the Church of the 1960's and in the post-Vatican attempts to improve communications, and to hand on to others the new ways of passing on the faith. The catechetical Supplements that were published each month by Paul Stenhouse and his team of catechists and teachers were in the vanguard of the Church's outreach to youth in the early 1970's.

In 1968 Paul Stenhouse was made a member of the Provincial Council of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. In this year he also began a Bachelor of Arts course at the University of Sydney, majoring in Modern Hebrew and Arabic and graduating with Honours in 1972.

His Honours thesis was entitled "A Critical Edition of the historical sections of the Samaritan Hebrew Hilukh" and led to further studies in Arabic and Samaritan and he began an Honours M.A. at Sydney University translating and commenting on the Arabic "History of the Samaritans" of Abu'l-Fath.

The manuscript for this history proved to be so corrupt that a new edition was found to be necessary, and his proposed M.A. thesis was upgraded to a Ph.D. - consisting of a critical edition of the thirty or so manuscripts still available to the mediaeval Arabic text.

Paul Stenhouse left Annals in 1976 and was enrolled in St. Catherine's College at Oxford for the D.Phil course. He stopped off in Rome at the General House of the M.S.C. The Father General (now Bishop) E.J. Cuskelly asked him to be his private Secretary and Guestmaster to the General House. This position he held until 1979 when he went to Sarejevo and Dubrovnik in Jugoslavia to write the thesis for his Ph.D.: "A Critical Edition of the Kitab al-Tarikh of Abu'l-Fath." He abandoned the course at Oxford in 1976.

After finishing writing his thesis in Dubrovnik in 1980 Paul Stenhouse returned to Australia and resumed the editorship of the Annals in April 1981.

In his absence Annals had been managed and edited by a succession of people who had tried energetically to increase its circulation.

With Paul Stenhouse back at the helm again his distinctive flair soon became apparent in the magazine as it appeared each month.

He introduced a very relevant and helpful series of articles on Religious fundamentalism, for instance as well as a new series on current affairs called "Sidelights" and another on social and family problems by Nance Millar, called "Christian Counsel." Along with the very striking artwork of Hal English and historical articles by Dr James Waldersee and others, the Editorials and articles on just about any subject of interest to the modern Catholic reader, saw the Annals approach the celebration of its Centenary in December 1989 with confidence.

And yet its Editor found time to present yet another academic work this time to the University of New England: a Biography of his Argentinian-born great-grandfather "John Farrell: Poet, Journalist and Social Reformer, (1851-1904)" for which he was awarded an Honours M.A. in April of this present year.

Although his academic record is impressive, those who know Paul Stenhouse best are the last to think of him as an academic. He has not done much teaching - some at Sydney University in Biblical Studies and a little at St. Paul's Seminary Kensington in Sacred Scripture - from time to time he has been invited to address internationally-known scholars of the College de France (he was elected a Member some years ago) at meetings of the Institut d'Etudes Samaritaines. He gave a lecture in 1986 in Paris on "The Reliability of the Chronicle of Abu'l-Fath and the dating of Baba Rabba." Earlier this year he delivered a paper at the First International Conference of Samaritan Scholars at the University of Tel Aviv to a select group of scholars from all parts of the world.

But this sort of personal relationship and communication, while time-consuming, is as nothing compared with the countless hours spent with people whom he has helped in so many ways: fellow journalists in press, radio, television and film; musicians, especially jazz musicians; students; newly- arrived migrants; Chinese, Indonesian, Lebanese, Vietnamese: prominent figures as well as people not at all well known. Their only claim on him was the fact that they needed help or cooperation of some sort: the kind of help that they might expect from a truly Catholic priest.

From "Annals Australia" June 1988

Of course, OVER twenty-five years has passed since the above was written; Fr. Stenhouse celebrated the 40th anniversary of his priesthood in 2003. (F.J.L.)

Furthermore, the following addition is from Understanding Islam:

PAUL STENHOUSE, MSC PhD has recently completed, for the first time, a translation from Arabic into English of the 16th century Futuh al-Habasha, 'The Conquest of Abyssinia,' by Shihab al-Din Ahmad bin 'Abdu 'l Qader bin Salem bin Uthman. Notes to the translation have been provided by Professor Richard Pankhurst in Addis Ababa. This text is a key to understanding current events in the Horn of Africa. It gives an eye-witness account of jihads waged by Muslims against Ethiopian Christians in the early part of the sixteenth century. It is available through Amazon.

LIFE STORY: DR LESLIE RUMBLE MSC

"I was brought up as a Protestant, probably with more inherited prejudices than most non-Catholics of these days.  My parents were Anglican and taught me the Angelican faith. My 'broad-minded' protestant teachers taught me to dislike the Catholic Church intensely. I later tried Protestantism in various other forms, and it is some thirty years since, in God's providence, I became a Catholic. As for the 'open, free, sincere worship' of a Protestant Church, I tasted it, but for me it proved in the end to be not only open, but empty; it was altogether too free from God's prescriptions."

Eventually, Leslie became a priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

In 1928, Fr. Rumble began a one-hour 'Question Box' program on 2SM Sydney, N.S.W. radio on Sunday evenings that was heard all over Australia and New Zealand. For five years he answered questions on every subject imaginable that had been written to him from all over that part of the globe. His first show began with a classic introduction:

"Good evening, listeners all. For some time I have been promising to give a session dealing with questions of religion and morality, in which the listeners themselves should decide what is of interest to them. Such a session will commence next Sunday evening, and I invite you to send in any questions you wish on these subjects . . . So now I invite you, non-Catholics above all, to send in any questions you wish on religion, or morality, or the Catholic Church, and I shall explain exactly the Catholic position, and give the reasons for it. In fact I almost demand those questions. Many hard things have been said, and are still being said, about the Catholic Church, though no criminal, has been so abused, that she has a right to be heard. I do not ask that you give your name and address. A nom de plume will do. Call yourself Voltaire, Confucius, X.Y.Z., what you like, so long as you give indication enough to recognize your answer."

"By the summer of 1937, the first edition of Radio Replies was already in print in Australia, financed by Rt. Rev. Monsignor James Meany, P.P. - the director of Station 2SM of whom I am greatly indebted."

"I have often been mistaken, as most men at times. And it is precisely to make sure that I will not be mistaken in the supremely important matter of religion that I cling to a Church which cannot be mistaken, but must be right where I might be wrong. God knew that so many sincere men would make mistakes that He deliberately established an infallible Church to preserve them from error where it was most important that they should not go wrong."

Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty

I broadcast my radio program, the Catholic Radio Hour,  from St. Paul, Minnesota.

I was also carrying on as a Catholic Campaigner for Christ, the Apostolate to the man in the street through the medium of my trailer and loud-speaking system. In the distribution of pamphlets and books on the Catholic Faith, Radio Replies proved the most talked of book carried in my trailer display of Catholic literature. As many of us street preachers have learned, it is not so much what you say over the microphone in answer to questions from open air listeners, but what you get into their hands to read. The questions Fr. Rumble had to answer on the other side of the planet are same the questions I had to answer before friendly and hostile audiences throughout my summer campaign."

I realized that this priest in Australia was doing exactly the same work I was doing here in St. Paul. Because of the success of his book, plus the delay in getting copies from Sydney and the prohibitive cost of the book on this side of the universe, I got in contact with him to publish a cheap American edition.  

It doesn't take long for the imagination to start thinking about how much we could actually do. We began the Radio Replies Press Society Publishing Company, finished the American edition of what was to be the first volume of Radio Replies, recieved the necessary imprimatur, and Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen agreed to write a preface. About a year after the publication of the first edition in Australia, we had the American edition out and in people's hands.

The book turned into a phenomena. Letters began pouring into my office from every corner of the United States; Protestant Publishing Houses are requesting copies for distribution to Protestant Seminaries; a few Catholic Seminaries have adopted it as an official textbook - and I had still never met Dr. Rumble in person.

To keep a long story short, we finally got a chance to meet, published volumes two and three of Radio Replies, printed a set of ten booklets on subjects people most often asked about, and a few other pamphlets on subjects of interest to us.

Fr. Carty died on May 22, 1964 in Connecticut.

"Firstly, since God is the Author of all truth, nothing that is definitely true can every really contradict anything else that is definitely true. Secondly, the Catholic Church is definitely true. It therefore follows that no objection or difficulty, whether drawn from history, Scripture, science, or philosophy, can provide a valid argument against the truth of the Catholic religion."

Biographies compiled from the introductions to Radio Replies, volumes 1, 2 and 3.

LIFE STORY: KRISH JON MATHAVAN MSC, VOCATION

I am currently in my third year of theological study in Melbourne and my fifth year with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart—or MSCs for short—and I would like to share a part of my story and journey with you as it relates to the gospel (Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time). This is a familiar gospel text that we read from when we celebrated the feast of the Sacred Heart, our feast day just a week ago. It describes the heart of Jesus that reveals the mystery of God to mere children, and that is gentle, humble and inviting of us to lay our burdens so we may find rest in that heart. In so many ways it describes the beauty of the MSC vocation for me, as well as speaks of my journey the last few years in being formed as a MSC.

I was brought up in Singapore in a small family: Mum, Dad, my sister and me. The need to be hardworking and excel in life was impressed upon me at an early age, and I remember wanting to do something significant with my life from when I was young but the question of priesthood did not surface then. After taking part in a youth retreat during my teenage years, I had my first experience of God that inspired me to be involved in church and youth ministry work, and that gave me lots of life and joy amid the challenges. I continued this into adulthood at which point I was working in a biological research lab with every aspiration of becoming a scientist and finding a cure to help humanity—or so I thought.

I have to mention that before working in research I had just completed my university training at UNSW in Sydney and it was then that I first met the MSCs in Randwick. The MSCs are not in Singapore and I was definitely not thinking of joining them, but being involved in that parish helped to keep my faith going, and I warmed up to them because they had a special way of living the gospel that resonated with my heart.

I realize that being a city boy and growing up and working amid the hustle, bustle and glitter of city life, silence was almost a foreign concept and I did find it difficult to really know myself as I looked back on how I was carried away by all that was happening, and hardly listening to God. I had a chance of being able to really listen when I visited Sydney again for World Youth Day in 2008. This did not happen during the hustle and bustle of WYD itself but afterwards when I took the plunge to spend eight days in silence in the bush lands of Douglas Park. There is a retreat centre there run by the MSCs, and of course I wanted to reconnect with them having met them during my study days at UNSW. It's amazing when I look back on how God uses these seemingly random encounters to speak to me.

The retreat was my first time being in prolonged silence, and I still remember fondly how I wanted to tear my hair out even as I faithfully did the prayer exercises given to me. I had come to Sydney having just finished a big chapter of my life spent in biological research, and I was drained and devoid of any inspiration to even write up my research findings. I just wanted to leave it all behind. I had not found what was satisfying in my life and/or impactful for others. After spending so many years in it, I had felt disillusioned and lost. I came to the retreat with that load on my chest and it was pretty hard to let it go.

There is wisdom in the recommendation of eight days, because it was only on the eighth day that I had settled into a comfortable stretch of quiet without fidgeting or worrying. It was then that I experienced a deep peace descending on me and a passionate love firing me up. I felt loved to my bones and it was amazing. It was no longer just an emotional high but it was a deep conviction from within. For the first time I felt I could do anything with my life. Without planning or realizing it, I had come to face the question not just of career but of vocation, and God showed me that desire for God that had always been there, that now was being fired up to live and love as God does. For me that was the beginning of discernment that led to my joining the religious community of the MSCs. For me it felt like a call to be on earth the heart of God, who loved unconditionally, inclusively, passionately and personally. That was how I had experienced God and that in turn would shape my vocation.

My time of formation was really about becoming like a child again, helpless and powerless and dependent on God to lead me into a deeper mystery of communion that Jesus eloquently describes in the mutual knowing at the heart level between him and his Abba, and how that communion invites all of us into that deeper knowing and loving, and that is life-transforming.

Yet it started off as a difficult road because it meant unlearning what my culture has encouraged me in being self-sufficient and measuring one's worth according to one's achievements and status. It meant detachment from the material and from the illusions of the self that seem to make us happy and in control, and to go deeper into the truth of who I am, and surrender to the mystery of God that dwells in me and discover the real joy that lasts and how that is available to and connects us all. I got to experience a whole new way of praying that gave me a deeper consciousness of the mystery we are all caught up in. It is about falling in love and staying in love.

Love is the only reason why I would commit my life to the religious vocation of being MSC; not my love for God but God's love for me in Jesus. Love is the only reason why the yoke of Jesus is easy and his burden light. Perhaps this can be understood in the context of the religious vows we take—the vows of poverty, obedience and celibacy. While most would view them as being burdensome and restricting one's freedom, they make sense only in the context of falling in love with God and responding to God with one's whole life. It is akin to two people falling in love and committing themselves to marriage or union by their vows for each other. The religious vows free us to love inclusively and that has been the beauty of the MSC vocation for me. It is also the beauty of Jesus who was caught up with spreading the reign of God here and now among his people so that he forewent the blessings associated with starting a family. Yet he would later describe such a call to be a eunuch for the kingdom as a gift since not all would be able to bear the life; but again love is what makes such a life worth living as he would testify in the way he lived.

It's my fifth year with the MSCs and I still reflect back fondly on that experience that kick-started my vocation. Discernment is truly that listening for the voice of God that resonates with the truth in our hearts; that speaks to us as children and leads us into the mystery of communion with God; and that gives us rest for our souls. Every vocation, whether single, married and celibate, needs to be life-giving and God is that source of life. Vocation is then what gives us most life, and it requires knowing oneself and taking a risk with God and with another—for me it's my community. We can so easily be paralyzed by fear when taking a plunge, and hence God's love for me was the only source of safety, comfort and motivation that could allow me to leave all behind and go down this path less travelled.

Truly it's been a blessing these last five years with regards to spiritual insights, community life, study and friendships with many I've met from all walks of life. I do not regard this life as a bed of roses of course. As others before me have testified, there will be days of discouragement, rejection and even persecution that can happen when we stand for something or someone in our lives, when we are called to put our lives on the line in love and courage because of what or who has captured our imagination and transformed our world. It's both the challenge and beauty of every vocation.

And the vocation continues to work itself out—we never quite have it all together, or feel most ready or worthy when we answer a call; we can only be true to ourselves when we do. Today's readings invite us to be like children, to listen and surrender to a greater mystery of communion within and around us so that we may find rest for our souls, and from that place we can be life-giving. This is best done in silence, and I would specially like to encourage the guys out there who may be thinking about or discerning life choices (or if you know someone who does) to come to our special weekends called 'What's a life for?' and spend it in silence listening for the voice of Jesus within who beckons us to come. God is a God of surprises as I can testify, and we can't go wrong when we put time aside and live our lives for God.