Fr Mark Freeman reflects on 40 years of priesthood

By Catherine Sheehan

Fr Mark Freeman still recalls the profound words spoken by Archbishop Guilford Young on the day he was ordained to the priesthood on 24 August 1984 at St Finn Barr’s Church, Invermay.

After 40 years of priesthood, the central message of the Archbishop’s homily still resonates deeply with Fr Mark today—that the priesthood is essentially about intimacy with Christ.

“What you have to get right is this deep intimacy and closeness with the Lord, with Jesus, with Christ … at the heart of it, that’s the essence of my being a priest.

“It’s not about running the show or propping up the institution or anything like that. It’s first and foremost about intimacy with Christ. That was his instruction to me at my ordination when I look back on it.”

Fr Mark was born and raised in Launceston, one of six children in his family. He was baptised at St Finn Barr’s, Invermay, the same church in which he would be ordained several decades later.

He believes the first stirrings of a call to priesthood began when he was only five or six years old when he was asked by a local nun to ring the bell at the moment of consecration during Sunday Mass at Ravenswood Memorial Hall.

“That was the first, I suppose, involvement in things. I certainly went on to be an altar server regularly. That’s a significant part of the journey, because you start to see priests doing what’s most important to priesthood. And I remember thinking ‘I could do this’.”

“I have to be honest and say that I never really wavered from thinking about priesthood, even as a young person.”

He entered the seminary straight after graduating from secondary school and recalls with fondness his time studying at Corpus Christi College in Clayton, Victoria.

“I have to say, I enjoyed being in the seminary. Loved it, formed really close friendships.”

Archbishop Guilford Young was a major influence on his journey towards priesthood, Fr Mark said, always encouraging and supporting him.

“I was the last of the priests of Tasmania ordained by Guilford Young, the Archbishop. He was always a person I looked up to.

“He was a bit of an inspiring character. He was quite eccentric in some respects, but I say that more in hindsight than what I was experiencing at the time. He really encouraged people to use their gifts well.”

At Fr Mark’s ordination Mass Archbishop Guilford Young spoke about St John resting his head on Christ’s breast at the Last Supper, an image of intimacy with Christ.

“That has certainly stayed with me, and it’s really at the heart of whatever I manage to do as a priest or have been able to do over the years… it certainly is that closeness with Christ that’s been the key thing for me.”

He describes his ordination day as “a bit of a buzz”.

“It was a huge crowd for that church. I wouldn’t have a clue how many, but it was just packed to the gunwales, and people were standing along the side walls.

“It was really a gathering of the whole Church in Tassie. The people from everywhere came to it, which I felt very moved by.”

Following ordination, his first official posting was as Assistant Priest at Bellerive, where he now serves as Parish Priest.

He went on to serve at Launceston, Kingston Channel, West Coast, South Hobart, Ulverstone, Mersey-Leven, and Huon Valley.

After serving another term in Launceston from 2010 to 2022, he returned to Bellerive.

In 2023 Fr Mark was appointed Chancellor for the Archdiocese of Hobart.

After 40 years of celebrating Masses, baptisms, weddings, First Holy Communion Masses, confirmations, and hearing confessions, Fr Mark said ministering the sacraments was central to priesthood.

“You are really ministering the presence of Christ to people, to enable them to recognise the closeness of Christ in their own lives. You’re a minister of that, and especially through your sacramental work.

“One of the really important things, and I would say this to younger priests or those being ordained, is that whether it’s confessions, or Mass, or baptisms, or whatever sacrament, you are ministering God’s love, God’s grace.

“In confessions over the years, there’s been times that I thought, ‘I don’t know what I should say here’. And then suddenly you find you’re saying the words, and you think, ‘I wonder where they came from?’ Where they came from, in fact, I think is from God.”

He said he would encourage any young man who feels called to the priesthood to “go for it”.

“But go for it not because you’re nervous about life and the world and the craziness in which we live.

“If you want to be a priest, be happy to, and just go for it. Get out into things and really give of yourself completely and allow God to accompany you. Then you can be confident.

“When Jesus called the disciples he wasn’t inviting them to a little, cosy group love-in or anything like that. He was challenging them to give of themselves and take the risk.”