MAY THE GOD OF ALL KINDNESS WHO GIVES THEM A SHARE IN HEAVENLY PEACE BE EVER WITH THEM AND WITH US.
- 2017
Rev John F G Murphy SDB
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Born 15/ 05/1924; Ordained 02/07/1950
Salesians of Don Bosco
With the passing of Fr John F G Murphy at Mercy Place Warrnambool (Vic) on 30 April 2017, the Salesians of Don Bosco farewelled into fullness of life one of the last pioneers of their province of Australia/New Zealand/Pacific.
Born in Middle Park (Vic) on 15 May 1924 and educated by the Christian Brothers at CBC Middle and Parade, John scored a number of firsts in the fledging Salesian presence in Australia, and in his Salesian journey. Quiet and unassuming for those who knew him, he was a member of the first group of Australian Salesian novices in 1941, a member of the first group who brought Don Bosco's presence in Adelaide in 1947 and one of the first Australian Salesians to be ordained to the priesthood in 1950.
Following his ordination to the priesthood in Turin, the hub if the Salesian story, youthful and enthusiastic, John fully lived the Salesian charism at Sunbury, Victoria, becoming the mainstay and the energy in the mission on behalf of that fringe of youth most in need of care, compassion, and hope for the future.
The active experience of those early years became the blueprint for the next generation of Salesians to whom he passed on his profound sense of Salesian identity and mission through his dedicated leadership and mentoring. These were the years of great energy and vision, when John combined together a multiplicity of roles: Novice Master, Rector and Delegate for Education, Youth Ministry and a precocious vision and understanding of the collaborative place of the laity together with religious in the ministry and the work of education according to the charism of Don Bosco.
It was this broad vision of Church that led him to spend the last 40 years of dedicated service to the Church in the Western District of Victoria, and to give Salesian expression to the care and support to those most in need, young and adults alike. For the last forty years of his life, Fr John Murphy's name will always be synonymous with the quiet but much beloved priest of ready pastoral availability to the people of Crossley and neighbourhood, and for his love of the poor, the wounded and the destitute.
Shamrock House, Crossley (down the road from Koroit in the Diocese of Ballarat) which John set up was not only a centre for Salesian Co-operators' activity and 12 Star Camps for young people, but also as a place of peace and refuge for the marginalised, those in our society who, in John's own words, were “those who nobody wants”.
Eventually, the ravages of time took their toll weakening on his bodily energies, but they never dulled his vision and his authentic love of people. Since 2010, at Warrnambool Mercy Place Fr John Murphy continued to be the quiet gentle priest exuding inner peace and gratefulness, as he accepted in return the care and support he had lavished so unconditionally on so many others. John carried that peace and gentleness into eternal life on 30 April 2017.
Rest now in peace John.
- 2020
Rev William Creede CSsR Born 11/04/1927; Ordained 1952
Redemptorists - Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
- 1900
Rev Patrick Brady OMI Fremantle, WA; Sydney
- 1938
Rev Michael Fitzpatrick Rose Bay, Bondi, etc, NSW
- 1938
Rev Alexis Gonnet SM Sydney
- 1941
Rev Mgr Jerome Hennessy Albury, Young, etc, NSW; Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn, ACT
- 1946
Rev Francis Lyons MSC Sydney, etc
- 1952
Rev Albert John Fogarty OP Adelaide, etc
- 1959
Rev Richard Bertram McGee Moruya, etc, NSW; Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn, ACT
- 1961
Rev Timothy Long OMI Lindum, Qld, etc
- 1981
Rev Hilary O'Neill OP
- 1982
Rev William Joseph McAlister Marian, Mackay, Rockhampton dioc, Qld
- 1994
Rev Joseph Hanahoe Hobart, Sandy Bay, Launceston, Invermay, Queenstown, New Norfolk, Derby, Latrobe, Tas
- 1996
Rev James Tuohy Adelaide dioc
- 1998
Rev John Bernard Roche Wollongong, Campsie, Broadway, Darlinghurst, Matraville, Homebush, NSW
- 2002
Rev Thomas Brady OMI Fremantle, WA; Eagle Junction, Qld; Sydney, NSW
- 2005
Rev Kevin (Matthew) Kelly SSS Melbourne, etc
- 2006
Rev John Gabriel Madden Broadway, Manly, Guildford, Liverpool, Lidcombe, Golden Grove, Revesby, Warragamba Dam, Cronulla, NSW
- 2009
Rev Paschal O'Halloran Born 17/09/1928; Ordained 26/07/1956.