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Catholic Life Publication of the Diocese of Sale
Stations of the Cross returned - Page 3
ISSUE 168
Newest member of youth team - Page 7
December 2012
Pregnancy support centre planned - Page 8
‘Unlikely’ priest dies By Colin Coomber
ST Mary’s Cathedral, Sale, was always central to the faith life of Fr Tim McInnes and so it was fitting that his Requiem Mass was held there. Fr McInnes who died on November 22 used to say his only claim to fame was that he was the only Sale-born person who had been baptised, confirmed, ordained a deacon and ordained a priest in the cathedral. By his own admission he was the most unlikely person ever to be ordained a priest in the modern era. His early life was dominated by his desire to enjoy the company of others, usually over a few jugs of beer, and more than once he likened himself to a prodigal son who returned home to the church. His decision in 1981 to become a late vocations priest floored many of his closest friends. He had been having dinner with Fr Peter Bickley at the home of close friends John and Maureen Cunninghame in Sale when Maureen asked him if he had ever considered becoming a priest. His response that he had amazed his dinner companions and so Fr Bickley asked why he hadn’t done something about it. Tim replied “Because no-one asked me before!” From then on he had a battle, with the assistance of both friends and clergy, to convince Bishop Eric D’Arcy that he had undergone some sort of conversion and was really dedicated to serving the Church. In January 1982 Bishop D’Arcy accepted him as a
BISHOP Christopher Prowse leads the service at Sale Lawn Cemetery which followed the Requiem Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. candidate for the priesthood but even then the battle was not over because St Paul’s Seminary for late vocations was reluctant to accept him because he had left school at age 15 without completing a formal education. Finally, in 1983 after insistence from the bishop, the seminary accepted him, for four years of study for the priesthood. He was ordained at a deacon at St Mary’s Cathedral in May 1986 and then to the priesthood
in December of that year. He went on to serve as a curate at both Cranbourne and Bairnsdale before being appointed parish priest at Orbost from 1993-97, Koo Wee Rup from 1997-2000 and then Heyfield from 2000 until his retirement in January 2010. In all places he continued to frequent the hotels, to meet the common people and to bring a little of God into their lives. Fr McInnes often used to cite instances of people he
had been able to bring back to the Church by meeting them and explaining his remarkable faith journey. Baptisms, confirmations, marriage and wedding anniversary functions were regularly organised at the pub where people were on their home ground, rather than being asked to visit the priest back at the presbytery. After retirement he continued to live on in a unit in Heyfield’s main street and it was there that he suffered the first of his major
strokes. He was found lying on the floor, perhaps many hours after the stroke and was rushed to the Sale hospital in a serious condition. The stroke robbed him of mobility and speech but he was still able to recognise visitors. A second major stroke on November 12 left him in a critical condition and he slowly deteriorated over the next 10 days. • Continued Page 2
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