Warm welcome for Fr Ted

By Wendy Shaw

A priest who has served in more parishes than he can remember is now assisting the Archdiocese of Hobart in the north of the state.

Sydney-born Fr Ted Tyler was ordained 52 years ago and is a priest of the Diocese of Parramatta. He spent more than five years ministering on horseback in mountainous areas of Peru. For the past four years he was in the NSW diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes, serving briefly in the parish of Narromine and then as chaplain to a new Carmelite community.

Fr Ted said he decided to become a priest at 16.

“It all hit me when I was saying the rosary during a short school retreat,” he recalled. “I remember it very vividly.”

He has written six e-books reflecting on the daily readings of the Lectionary and another on the thought of St John Henry Newman. He has Masters degrees and two university doctorates.

Fr Ted was previously in Tasmania in 2017 to help the Immaculata community at Franklin with youth work.

Now based at the Emmanuel Centre in Launceston, his role includes visiting Flinders Island once a month for Mass and home visits, helping with Masses at the Carmelite Monastery in West Launceston, assisting the surrounding parishes and priests at their request, and supporting the Harsh family, who manage the Emmanuel Centre.  

Micah and Jacquie Harsh and their family were Fr Ted’s parishioners in the Upper Blue Mountains.

Fr Ted also provides Mass on Sundays for the Latin Mass Community in the North.

“Tasmania is a beautiful island and I enjoy Launceston,” Fr Ted added. “But really, I have liked everywhere I have been. I have loved having my friends, having my pastoral work, and reading and research. More than anything, I hope to love God.”