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Australian
News - 15th June, 2000
Fr Les Campion - 50 Years of Priestly Ministry |
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I
was the new assistant priest at Granville - it was more than fifty years
ago now, Michael - and one Saturday afternoon I was alone in the presbytery
while the parish priest was out doing some visitations. The door bell rang
and I went to answer it. When I opened the door I found a fine young man
standing on the verandah. 'Father', he said, 'I wonder if you can assist
me?' 'What's the problem?' I replied. 'Oh, no problem, Father; it's just
that I would like to become a priest. Could you advise me?' 'Certainly
young man. What is your name?' His name was Michael Les Campion.
This is a story Fr Col McKay tells about his first contact with Fr Les Campion. A simple and common episode perhaps - at least fifty years ago - but one which relates the beginning of a ministry which has touched and enriched the lives of so many thousands of people.
To celebrate Fr Les's fifty years of priesthood and to thank him for his service, many hundreds of people gathered at the Holy Trinity church of Granville on Saturday the 15th June. Included in this number was a large contingent of Patrician Brothers.
The Patrician Brothers withdrew
from the Granville parish in 1995 after fifty-three years of residing at
200 William Street and teaching in the school at Grimwood Street. For a
substantial part of that time, Fr Les had been a special friend to the
Brothers. There is a special quality about this quiet and humble, yet extremely
capable, priest which endears him very quickly to anyone who gets to know
him.
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He made it very obvious that he appreciated having the Brothers in his parish in many ways: by his generosity to the high school run by the Brothers, his warm manner whenever a Brother visited him, his faithfulness to sharing a weekly evening Thursday meal with the Brothers in the monastery, and much more.
The Brothers would seldom wander to other parishes for the Sunday Eucharist: Fr Les's homilies were not to be missed. A little long sometimes perhaps, but seldom has anyone heard such wisdom so eloquently and authentically expressed. His sermons were worthy of publication.
At the golden jubilee Mass,
Fr Les was joined by Bishop Manning, Bishop Ingham, and at least forty
other priests. The sisters of the parish organised a superb liturgy and
lunch with the enthusiastic support of many parishioners. It was clear
that the significant labour involved was a labour of love, it was very
evident that the people hold Fr Les in very high regard.
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