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The Catholic Leader, March 22, 2020
www.catholicleader.com.auArchbishop John Bathersby
Archbishop is laid to rest in
extraordinary circumstances
By Mark Bowling
BRISBANE Archbishop Emeritus
John Bathersby was laid to rest in
the city’s St Stephen’s Cathedral on
March 16, remembered as a popular
churchman of strong spirit, humour
and genuine interest in the lives of
others.
“In life, John cherished and preached the
Gospel of Christ,” Brisbane Archbishop Mark
Coleridge said during a funeral Mass.
It was a Mass celebrated in extraordinary
circumstances – on the first day of a national
ban on non-essential gatherings of 500 people or
more to slow the spread of coronavirus.
It meant seats were limited inside St Stephen’s
Cathedral, however many people gathered
with friends and loved ones to view the funeral
Mass as it was streamed live online.
Archbishop Coleridge, president of the Aus-
tralian Catholic Bishops Conference, described
his predecessor as “an Aussie original and a
Queensland classic”.
“He (John Bathersby) was in fact a man of
high intelligence, a deep spirituality, straightfor-
ward, yet deceptive – a very accessible character
yet with great distances,” Archbishop Coleridge
said, describing a great Church leader who had
touched many hearts and minds.
“There was even a touch of the mystic about
him.”
Archbishop Bathersby died on March 9 at age
83, ending 58 years as a priest.
He was ordained for the Diocese of Toow-
oomba at St Joseph’s Church in Stanthorpe on
June 30, 1961.
His first parish appointment was to Goondi-
windi from 1962 until 1969, at which time he
was invited to study spiritual theology in Rome,
completing a doctorate in 1982.
This was to assist him in his role as spiritual
director at Brisbane’s Pius XII Seminary.
In 1986 he was ordained as Bishop of Cairns,
a position he enjoyed until succeeding Archbish-
op Francis Rush in Brisbane, in 1991.
Archbishop Coleridge delivered a heartfelt eu-
logy, describing Archbishop Bathersby’s legacy,
and a friendship forged in Rome, as many young
Australian priests undertook theological studies
together, shared meals and experiences of life on
the other side of the world.
“John Bathersby was at the heart of it all –
master of the banquet in the most unpretentious
way,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
“He was delightful, often hilarious company
regaling us with stories of extraordinary charac-
ters of the Toowoomba diocese and eye-popping
events from his years in Goondiwindi.
“But there was more than the fun. There was
a human solidity and a spiritual depth in him,
which were precious in our time away which
most of us found humanly and spiritually very
taxing.
“He was a bit older than the rest of us and had
a wisdom to match.
“I … owe John Bathersby a deep, deep debt
of personal gratitude in ways that are not easily
expressed.”
Attending the funeral Mass were Queensland
Governor Paul de Jersey; Tourism Minister Kate
Jones, representing the Queensland Government;
and many religious leaders.
Priests from Queensland’s five Catholic dio-
ceses were also present, in a show of the respect
held for Archbishop Bathersby across the state.
During Vigil Prayers and Reception of the
Body, retired priest Fr Bill O’Shea, 83, spoke
fondly of the man known by many simply as
“Bats”.
The two priests shared 70 years of friendship,
starting at Brisbane’s Nudgee College, and later
during seminary training, and as priests.
“He (John Bathersby) was a young man
grounded solidly in the faith,” he said.
“He made friends easily and he kept them.
And that was to be the pattern of his life.
“He had a great sense of humour and fun.
“He was a humble man with not a trace of
pretentiousness and never allowed the honours
that he received or the roles that he filled in the
Church to change him from the way he always
was.”
Surfers Paradise priest Fr Peter Dillon also
described Archbishop Bathersby’s legacy as a
priest who fused a powerful ecclesial spirit with
an unpretentious, earthy approach to life.
He said the archbishop was a keen mountain
climber and sports watcher.
“Of course he was very confident and certain
of his abilities,” Fr Dillon said during the Vigil
Prayers and Reception of the Body.
“He spoke a dialect of Italian that only he
could understand.
“He was in no doubt he could have coached
the Queensland Reds to win every game, he
drove a Ford like a Ferrari, as well as being a
mountain climber undaunted by heat or height.
“Once I suggested to him that I might accom-
pany him on a climb of Mount Tibrogargan (one
of the Glass House Mountains) to celebrate my
50th birthday to which he very boldly claimed
that I wouldn’t last the first 50 minutes.
“Now this from a man who was 20 years my
senior and only ever climbed in Dunlop volleys.
“No mountain was literally or figuratively too
high for this man to scale.”
Fr Dillon also described “Bats” as generous to
the poor, even as Brisbane Archbishop.
“His generosity was legend. (He was) known
for handing out $50 notes to the homeless who
sometimes lined up at Wynberg (the official resi-
dence of the Archbishop of Brisbane),” he said.
“These people made frequent calls to the door
hoping to get the little guy who always gave
them a good feed.”
Archbishop Coleridge had one more, lasting
memory to share – the night in Rome when he
road pillion passenger on the back of Fr John
Bathersby’s Vespa motor scooter as the pair
headed home after an evening meal together.
“The night was wet and the cobble were slip-
pery,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
“I clung on for dear life and I’ve never been
more relieved to make it home.
“But I vowed never again to ride or go pillion
on a motor scooter – at least not with him.
“I think now how extraordinary the two
archbishops of Brisbane were on that Vespa that
night and both of us could have been killed.”
In retirement, Archbishop Bathersby enjoyed a
return to the Granite Belt before settling into the
Canossa Complex retirement home in Oxley, and
St Vincent’s Aged Care at Carseldine.
He died in Brisbane’s Wesley Hospital, and is
survived by his three sisters Carmel Mahoney,
Sue Nolan and Anne Johnson, and his brother
Michael Bathersby.
Vale:
Archbishop
Emeritus John
Bathersby’s
coffin is car-
ried to its final
resting place
in the crypt of
St Stephen’s
Cathedral.