Homily For Pontifical Mass Of Christian Burial For Fr George Connolly
HOMILY FOR PONTIFICAL MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL FOR FR GEORGE CONNOLLY
St Anthony of Padua Church, Clovelly
What’s the life of a man, any more than a leaf?
Man has his seasons, so why should he grieve?
Though all through this life we appear fine and gay
Like a leaf we must wither and soon fade away.
So runs the chorus of an old English folk song that compares human life to that of a leaf, changing with the seasons. At first glance the song seems rather fatalistic, focusing as it does on our inevitable ageing and afflictions – the ‘frost’ – after a relatively brief period of being ‘green’. Human beings are material, living, bodily beings and so subject to change and decay.
But as so often with folk songs there is more going on here than first meets the ear.[1] The Life of a Man was a popular Christmas song in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when the colony of New South Wales and the Church of Sydney were being planted – though the song makes no reference to Christmas, and its only religious reference is to graves in a churchyard. For the song to be popular in that particular season meant it resonated with themes of that season: new life, birth, redemption amidst the chill of winter, an inkling of hope for something warmer to come for the natural world, for each of us cold of body or soul, even for the dead. In suggesting we should not grieve because we have our seasons, the author of this song suggests that birth, maturation, ageing and death are all simply seasons of a life-cycle that includes that beautiful period towards the end when a leaf turns gold and orange and red, presaging for the Christian the eternal Springtime of heaven promised after our winter. Why should a man grieve, the song asks, if this is the shape of any complete life?
So this rather unusual ‘Christmas carol’ turns on its head our usual conception of winter as a time of bleakness, and of death as an ending. If winter is, for the northern hemisphere, the season of the Incarnation, then it has become a season of new birth in this life and into eternity, a season of promise of salvation.
Written in Christian England, of course, it is perhaps unsurprising that The Life of a Man should so beautifully capture what is common to many religions: that death is the culmination of a hopefully rich life, that it may involve some withering but even suffering is not meaningless, and that death is not the end, but a gateway to eternal life, to the joy of seeing the Creator face to face. But that we can literally see Him face to face is, of course, a uniquely Christian take on death and captures three essentials of the Christian faith: if we are to see we must be resurrected, in the flesh, and not be mere ghosts or life-forces or annihilated in death; if we are to see God, who is pure spirit, he must be incarnate, as happened at the first Christmas; and if we are to see God, in the flesh, it is because that incarnate God redeemed our mortal flesh for immortal life. From earliest times the Christian Symbol of Faith has climaxed with confessing “the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting”! And so human life is not just four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter: there is a fifth season for each of us, by far the best, the eternal spring.
The author of our folk song was, of course, informed in this thought by the words of our first reading this morning: “There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven” (Ecc 3:1-11). Fr George was a man who lived his earthly seasons to the full, through birth and dying, planting and reaping, fighting and healing, through crying and laughing, losing and finding, silence and speaking, through peace and even fighting, for as St Paul put it in our epistle, he ‘fought the good fight’, the spiritual warfare to the end (Tim 1:9b-12; 4:6-8).
In his springtime he was born to George and Madeleine Connolly and educated at St Joseph’s Guildford, St Laurence’s Galong, CBC Lewisham, St Columba’s College Springwood and St Patrick’s College Manly, being ordained by Cardinal Gilroy in 1957.
In his summer Fr George served in the parishes of Campsie, Waitara, Lewisham, Revesby and Elizabeth Bay, before his fateful appointment, in 1984, as Parish Priest here at St Anthony of Padua, Clovelly, where he served for the next 25 years. Here he led the establishment of the first Pastoral Council, appointed the first pastoral associate and sacramental co-ordinator, the building of the Parish Meeting Room, school administration block and amenities, and some renewal of this church building. Unsurprisingly, given the family he comes from – with Richard known for his work with the ABC and composition of Church music in collaboration with James McAuley, and Tom a Professor of Music at University of Pennsylvania – George organised the acquisition of the organ and promoted the St Anthony’s Singers. In his time there was a refugee support group and the archdiocesan youth evangelisation team here. Clovelly parish hosted over 100 young people from Broome, many of them Aborigines, during the World Youth Day in 2008, and he accompanied them throughout. He was here for the parish’s 75th anniversary celebrations in 1992 and his own golden jubilee of priesthood in 2007.
In his autumn of Lesser Duties he was chaplain to the Australian Catholic Historical Society and the beloved Christmas and Easter supply priest for the tiny community of St Philip Howard on Norfolk Island. As a long-time amateur historian, he continued to dabble in historical research and writing, including work on his ancestors from Carcour and relatives such as the great patrologist Dom Hugh Connolly of Downside, who was from the posher side of the family; but he was enormously proud of all his family members.
In his winter he faced a debilitating illness with courage, hope and his customary good humour. He continued to serve at Greenwich in Lane Cove parish and at Norfolk Island for as long as he could as he prepared himself to meet his Maker.
At his hands through these several seasons babies were made children of God in Holy Baptism, souls made faithful by hearing the Holy Gospel, sinners made saints in Holy Penance, bread and wine made the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, lovers made spouses in Holy Matrimony, the sick made healthy or ready for life eternal in Holy Anointing. And in the process he built up not only individuals but communities of the faithful through quiet pastoral care and spiritual guidance. I remember fondly visiting him here several times when I was auxiliary bishop, on canonical visitation of the parish or for Confirmation; likewise we had many encounters in latter years: every time there was the passion for history, the telling of interesting stories, for the faith and the faithful, above all a deep well of sheer human kindness.
Today we commend Fr George to the Lord of time and space, that He might admit him to that eternal Spring of which we all dream. “Rejoice George and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven!” (Matt 5:1-12).
INTRODUCTION TO PONTIFICAL MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL FOR FR GEORGE CONNOLLY
St Anthony of Padua Church, Clovelly
We offer Mass today for the repose of the soul of Fr George Francis Connolly, who served God and His people as a faithful priest of Jesus Christ for 61 years. Concelebrating with me today are Auxiliary Bishops _____________________________________________, Vicar General Gerry Gleeson, ______________________________ Fr Pawel the Parish Priest, and many of George’s brother priests of the Archdiocese of Sydney and beyond.
I acknowledge Fr George’s relatives, including his siblings Richard, John, Thomas, Margaret, Elizabeth and Michael, with their spouses and children. On their behalf I welcome George’s many friends, representatives of the Australian Catholic Historical Society and, of course, his beloved parishioners from here in Clovelly.
Now let us commend him to Almighty God, confident that he will reward this faithful priest for his six decades of service of God and his people!
[1] Cf. Alexander Westenberg, “The Life of Man: The Sacred in Folk Music”, unpublished paper presented at Grounding the Sacred ACU Conference 2015