Beautifully-crafted cribs spread real meaning of Christmas

By Wendy Shaw

Spreading the true meaning of Christmas throughout the state is the motivation behind a special Advent project of Fr Gerald Quinn CP.

Fr Quinn spent more than 33 years at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Hobart before retirement last year.

For most of that time he was chaplain at the Royal Hobart Hospital. It was through this connection that Fr Quinn arranged for the placement of a Christmas crib at the hospital’s reception many years ago.

But the project really took off about ten years ago when Fr Quinn asked Hobart wood turner Christopher St Hill to make some cribs from Tasmanian myrtle.

Since then, Fr Quinn, a Priest of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (Passionists), has been placing beautifully crafted cribs, featuring the nativity, at a growing number of non-Catholic venues, including hospitals and funeral homes.

 “It is a lovely, powerful way to spread the real meaning of Christmas,” Fr Quinn said simply.

“It brings immense joy.”

Fr Quinn sources the nativity figures from Catholic bookshops and religious suppliers and Mr St Hill attaches them to the cribs.

When asked how the project came about, he said that the idea came to him many years ago.

“I think I’ll have to give the credit to the Lord,” he said by phone from Nazareth House nursing home in Camberwell, Victoria.

“The cribs I was using in those early days were the old-style cribs that we grew up with. And it was only 10-12 years ago that I discovered Christopher St Hill.

“The first crib he made went to the Royal Hobart Hospital, and that has grown and nine are used each year in Hobart and one in Launceston.

“The fact they are made out of heritage timber gives them an extra attraction.

“What is so lovely about it is the venues are very happy to have the cribs on display. I don’t have to twist arms. I would like to get a couple more made, to keep the supply going and to spread this to aged care homes or hospitals in other parts of Tasmania.”

Fr Quinn made reference to Mark 11: 23-24 which reads, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you will receive, and it shall be given to you, says the Lord.”

He explained: “It’d be my prayer that when people look at the crib, that that’ll encourage them to pray.”

The venues have the cribs for about a month and they are stored at St Joseph’s for the rest of the year.

Meanwhile, Fr Quinn, 85, who was ordained 61 years ago, is happily anticipating his second Christmas at Nazareth House, which he described as one of the best aged care homes in Australia and ‘like being on the fast track to Heaven’.

“After 33-and-a-half years in Hobart I didn’t want to leave, but I did what the Lord wanted and it worked out beautifully. I am thrilled to be here,” Fr Quinn added.