Noted award for ‘musical talents in praise and glory of God’

By Wendy Shaw

Musician Bernard Kirkpatrick, who grew up in Tasmania, has received a new honour for his decades of service to sacred music.

Mr Kirkpatrick, 60, is Director of Music at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Paramatta. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Guild of Church Musicians at the cathedral on 9 November.

Mum Ronda, of Somerset, travelled to Sydney last month for the ceremony with daughters Paula and Andrea, and grandson Gabriel, 12.

“It is a great honour for him and an acknowledgement of his lifetime of work,” she said.
“He is very humble, but it is lovely to see him well rewarded.”

Mr Kirkpatrick was educated at Stella Maris Catholic Primary at Burnie, Our Lady of Mercy at Deloraine, Oatlands state school and then Marist Regional College at Burnie. He studied at the University of Sydney before undertaking further studies in Paris and the UK.

His musical talent was evident from an early age.

“He has been playing since he was four and a half,” said Mrs Kirkpatrick, who is a Burnie-Wynyard parishioner.

“We had the hotel in Westbury in the early 70’s and that is when he fell in love with the pipe organ at Holy Trinity Church.

“He played at his first wedding at Westbury when he was 10 and he couldn’t reach pedals, so the elderly organist played the pedals while he played keyboard.

“We also had the hotel at Oatlands, and he was only 11 or 12 when he played the little pedal organ at Mass at Parattah [at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, 7km from Oatlands].”

Mr Kirkpatrick was one of four ‘committed church musicians who have generously used their skills and talents in the praise and glory of God’ who received awards at the Guild of Church Musicians (Australia) annual service and awards presentation at St Patrick’s Cathedral last month.

Dr Neil McEwan, the guild’s director of studies, read the citation: “Bernard Kirkpatrick has been director of music at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Paramatta, since 2006. His passion for sacred liturgical music began as a child in Tasmania in his local parish church and further developed as a music student and organ scholar at the University of Sydney …

“Bernard brings 40 years of experience and expertise to the cathedral music ministry … including more than 10 years as assistant organist at St Mary’s Cathedral [Sydney] and [in] parishes, seminaries, schools and universities, [he has] fulfilled roles as music director, choir trainer, organist, composer and cantor …

“Bernard has made an outstanding contribution to the liturgical music of the Catholic Church over his career and the Cathedral Choir at Paramatta is highly regarded as one of the finest choral ensembles in Australia.

“I congratulate Bernard on receiving an Honorary Fellowship of the Guild of Church Musicians.”

Mr Kirkpatrick has sung for, and met, Pope St John Paul II in 1991. He played the organ at the closing Mass at World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008. 

In 2021, he was awarded a Papal Knighthood in the Order of Saint Sylvester (KSS), by Pope Francis, acknowledging his contribution to liturgical music in the Catholic Church. 

Photo: Bernard Kirkpatrick (centre), receives an Honorary Fellowship of the Guild of Church Musicians at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Paramatta, for his decades of service to sacred music. Photo: The Guild of Church Musicians, Inc. Australia