Reverend William Durkin
Today at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia, the Prime Minister of Malta was in the congregation.
Archbishop Hart praised the Maltese Catholics in Melbourne and the Knights of Malta who were there.
When he sat for the Kyrie and Gloria, so did they. It is difficult to faithfully follow the liturgical books in that situation.
At the Mass there were prayers for Father William Durkin who died during the week. He celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a priest on 27 July 2002.
I think I made my First Communion and Confession with him. He was the parish priest at St John's Mitcham, where I went to primary school.
He was prepared to correct people about liturgical matters. I remember at the end of a Eucharistic Prayer lots of people joined in the doxology. Only the priest is supposed to say that, but some priests were getting the people to do this as well. But Father Durkin said something like: "You should not be saying that, only me. I have told you about that before." I can also remember him correcting an altar server in the 1970s. He was in the Australian Army and I suspect this part of his formation lead to recognise the importance of correcting people.
I visited his parish of Burwood about two years ago. A feature I remember was that he did Morning Prayer publicly. Not as a ceremony with others participating, but at least reading the Divine Office in the sanctuary. Perhaps he also did this for other parts of the Liturgy of the Hours.
He had an important role in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Melbourne. He was a Liaison Priest for the Renewal and the Melbourne Archdiocese in the 1980s. For ten years he was a member of the Core Group of the Body of Christ prayer group. The Missionaries of God's Love seminary was located next to his house in Burwood.
Posted by J.R. Lilburne 18 August 2002. I give what I have written on this page to the public domain.
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