Fr Bernard McFadyen’s kindness and compassion recalled

By Wendy Shaw

Fr Bernard McFadyen SM has been remembered as a hard-working and dedicated priest who was especially close to the sick and frail.

Fr Bernie, who died on 7 May aged 85, served two terms as Burnie-Wynyard Parish Priest and before that had two stints at Marist [Regional] College, as a teacher and later deputy principal.

Marist Fathers Australia have paid tribute to the ‘much-loved teacher and pastor’ who was born in Bellingen, NSW, in December 1940.

He was educated at Dorrigo and then St John’s College, Woodlawn, NSW before joining the Society of Mary at the end of his schooling, entering the Marist novitiate at Glen Davis in 1958. He was professed as a Marist on 5 February, 1959.

He studied for the priesthood at St Peter Chanel’s Scholasticate, Toongabbie, NSW, and was ordained at St Patrick’s, Church Hill, Sydney, in July 1964, before undertaking education and pedagogical training at the Marist Brothers’ Dundas Scholasticate, Sydney.

From 1966 to 1968 he worked at St John’s College, Woodlawn.

The following year he began his long association with Burnie, serving for eight years at Marist College in the studies, discipline and boarding areas. After further tertiary studies and time at St Paul’s College, Bellambi, NSW, Fr Bernie returned to Marist for three years in 1985 as community superior and deputy principal.

He started parish ministry on the mainland in 1988 and returned to Burnie in 1990 as Parish Priest for seven years.

He then served at St Paul’s parish, West Sunshine, Victoria for six years before again heading back to Burnie.

An obituary on the Marist Fathers Australia District website stated: “In all his parish ministry he was known as a hard-working, dedicated confrere, especially close to the sick and frail to whom he gave much time and energy.

“As health declined, Fr Bernie moved briefly to the community of Montbel, Hunters Hill, before becoming a resident at St Paul’s Aged Care facility, Northbridge, Sydney, where he died peacefully on 7 May, 2026. May he rest in peace.”

MRC Old Scholars said in a Facebook post that Fr Bernie’s long connection with Burnie and MRC “touched generations of students, staff and families”.

Former Burnie Parish Priest Fr John Girdauskas was a student of Fr Bernie.

“Bernie taught me as a boy at Marist College, [and] was fair and just in his dealings with us as students, despite some giving him a hard time,” Fr John recalled.

Fr John said Fr Bernie reached out to parishioners “especially when people were sick or when families lost someone they loved”.

“Rest in peace Bernie, you have run the race and have now crossed the finish line, living I am sure in the presence of God, whom you served so faithfully,” Fr John added.

Fr Bernard McFadyen SM, 13.12.1940 – 07.05.2026