3 cheers for Fr. Scott, Fr. Robert and you.
Over the next 5 weeks, Jeanine and I will be going on quite an adventure. We will go to places we have never been to before and in fact, if we are brutally honest, never quite actually planned to go to in the first place.
And I imagine that will be exhilarating, tiring, surprising and a whole bunch of other words that I don’t know right now because the adventure actually hasn’t begun so how could I describe it?
But… what about you? Well, you too are in for a special adventure. During these next 5 weeks, you will be competently and wonderfully cared for in ways that have not begun yet.
Fr. Robert is a gregarious, easy-going, affable kind of guy. Retired… well sort of, as he doesn’t have a parish to call his own. But he is probably just as busy now as he has ever been. Certainly, the distances are longer for him as he travels the length and breadth of the diocese filling in for recalcitrant clergy who skive off on holidays and for those parishes that sadly don’t have a priest at the moment.
It's a vital ministry and he accomplishes it with flair and good humour.
It’s not an easy gig. He knows a precious few of your names. And you might think that every parish is identical and you just slot straight in. If only it were that easy. Every parish has its own quirky ways and its own peculiarities. It's fun bits and its tricky bits. It’s the job of Fr. Robert to fit right in and simply get on with it.
You have already had some experience with him and I know that you will grow to enjoy him more and more over the next little while.
Your job is simply to love him to bits. To enjoy him and support him and laugh with him and answer the 689 questions that will make his life easier and which in turn will make your life happier.
This next little while is a golden opportunity for you. A rare chance to minister to the priest. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. At the end of 5 weeks, you can say to him ‘Thank you it’s been wonderful. Thank you for what you have done for Jeanine and Fr. David and most especially Thank you for what you have done for us.’
And even if he has made the odd understandable blunder you can still wave him goodbye with a smile knowing that the regular lunatic is on a plane on his way back to you and it will be a few months at least before you have to see Fr. Robert again.
But what I suspect will happen is that you will grow to love him more than you do today, simply because Fr. Robert is that sort of priest and gentleman.
And if he wants to begin his homilies by doing a little liturgical dance (I’d really like to see that) then you should encourage him and maybe give him a few pointers about his choreography and forward on a little film clip to Australia’s got talent for their serious consideration.
So all you have to do is just love him to bits.
And of Fr. Scott. Fr. Scott is available in case of emergency and if the worst happens you should never hesitate to get in touch at your earliest convenience. He will make sure that you are well looked after in your darkest hour. In fact this is one of Fr. Scotts greatest gifts. He competently and pastorally looks after one of the largest and most demanding parishes in the diocese and it is nothing for him to have 3 funerals a week, every week. Layered on top of that he is also the Archdeacon and Vicar General.
So most of his ministry is quite rightly hidden from us and the sensitivities and intricacies we will never know about. Nor should we.
Fr. Scott will make sure that you are cared for gently and tenderly as a Father loves his children. As The Father loves you.
Jeanine and I leave knowing that you will be richly blessed by these two fine priests. But we also know that you will keep the day-to-day machinery of the parish ticking over smoothly and effectively. You are very good at this and I probably don’t tell you as often as I should. Your outstanding ministry is some of the finest I have had the privilege to encounter and enjoy.
I am delighted that not only will Jeanine and I have an incredible time, but I am also very pleased that you also will have a marvellous adventure with Fr. Scott, Fr. Robert and perhaps most of all, amongst yourselves.
We are looking forward not only to going but also to coming back to you again. And while we might be 16,905 km away (yes I really did look it up on the computer thingy) there in that other dimension we will be as close as we are now and will be in the future. Three cheers for Fr. Scott, for Fr. Robert but most especially for you.