Physical challenges no barrier in 60 years of a call to love through the priesthood

By Josh Low

Being called to love God and his people on a ‘rollercoaster’ of a time is how Fr Graeme describes the past 60 years of his time in the priesthood.

Ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Guilford Young on 19July 1962 at St Mary’s Cathedral in Hobart, Fr Graeme’s ministry has seen placements across Tasmania.

Fr Graeme said his journey began when he first felt the call to the priesthood during secondary school.

“It was always just there lingering throughout secondary school – I certainly prayed about it, wondering if it was something for me,” he said.

“Towards the end of secondary school I thought, ‘Well, am I going to have a go or not? I might as well have a go and see how it works out.’

“There wasn’t a light shining in the dark moment or anything like that but a progression, a growing feeling and commitment, which was always accompanied by prayer,” he explained.

Looking back over the past sixty years, his time in the priesthood has not been without challenges.

“In 1966, while distributing communion at Mass one day, I experienced a sharp pain in my right hip.

“That started the journey of investigation of X-rays and doctor’s visits,” he said.

Multiple attempts to surgically correct the persisting issues followed for the next thirty years or more.

By the turn of the millennium, Fr Graeme had undergone seven hip replacements.

“Each surgery meant a long hospitalisation… followed by a long time just to get walking and mobile again,” he said.

“Being in and out of hospital and the times in recuperation, I was very graced or gifted in the support I had from so many wonderful people.”

Fr Graeme said it was an enormous learning experience because he had always been quite fit and active, but now had to face the reality of not being able to physically do many things.

“I had to try to accept it and just let the Lord guide me through it all,” he said.

“What I began to realise through prayer and reflection during those years was the difficulties that people endured.

“I think it helped me to be more understanding of people, to grow in sensitivity and become more conscious of the pain people might be experiencing.

“It’s been a rollercoaster, of course, of hospitals and doctors and surgeries, but there’s always been the positive side and I’m grateful for that, as well as for the people who have been there, through the power of God’s love supporting me in prayer.

Despite the difficulties he has faced, Fr Graeme described the priesthood with fondness as his ‘life’.

“This is God’s calling for me, a calling to love God and His people; to be open to all the calls that that brings about.

“The priesthood and all its functions like the sacraments, the Mass – it is my life,” he said.

“It is about the call to love and be present with the Lord and to walk with people in service.

“Not to win or achieve anything but simply to be there to love, as best I can.

“And there’s been a lot of fun in it too along the way.”