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- Who
Are the Capuchins?
|
NewsThe Death of Br Edward Harrop OFM Cap29 February 2004 An Aussie Friar
Br Ted (Edward), who was only 8 days short of his 73rd birthday, died peacefully in Blacktown Hospital after he was admitted there from Our Lady of Consolation Home Rooty Hill, which is administered by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary FMM. Br Ted was born on the 8 th of January 1931. He made First Profession of vows as a Capuchin Franciscan on the 15 th of August 1968 and was ordained to the Priesthood on the 19 th of August 1972 at Heathcote, Victoria. Before he entered the Capuchin Order Ted worked on the family farm at Knowsley (Bendigo) and also spent time shearing in many parts of Australia and New Zealand. In his younger days he had a reputation for being a very good Australian Rules football player. Through the years as a Capuchin he served in the friaries and parishes of Wynnum Central, Newton, Yoogali, Plumpton, Leichhardt and Balcatta. At Leichhardt Ted was instrumental in welcoming the Neo-Catecumenate into the parish and he continued to assist their students as confessor at Redemptoris Mater Seminaries in Perth and Sydney until he was hospitalised. Ted loved gardening and invariably, when you visit our friaries here in Australia, you are sure to find a garden established by him and a grotto constructed and dedicated to Our Lady. When you say a prayer in front of any of these grottoes, remember to say a prayer for our Br Ted. For him St Francis was always the Patron Saint of Nature and in all his gardens Our Lady was Queen and Mother although he never went on about it. On Tuesday the 3rd of February 2004 at 8:00pm friars, family, parishioners and friends of Br Ted gathered in St Fiacre Church Leichhardt to pray for the repose of his soul. The Church was full to capacity, a sign of the esteem of the people. Twenty-three friars (including our 3 postulants) were present at the funeral Mass celebrated the following morning Wednesday the 4 th at 10:00am. His Eminence Cardinal George Pell Archbishop of Sydney, Bishop Joseph Oudeman OFM Cap and Bishop Robinson along with 26 Concelebrants joined the Provincial Minister, Br Julian Messina OFM Cap, at the altar for the Mass of Resurrection. Delivering the Eulogy the Provincial Minister, said this of Ted:
At the conclusion of the Mass when the coffin was being carried to the hearse, the children of St Fiacre's School lined up to form a Guard of Honour for a man who did so much for their school, among other things the gardens and extending the playground by almost double its size by buying a neighbouring property. The funeral cortege then travelled to Plumpton, 45 minutes away from Leichhardt. Everyone gathered there at Plumpton in the friary chapel for the Final Commendation and then they reverently took him to the friar's small cemetery under the pine trees. There, near the cemetery is a grotto to Our Lady, which Br Ted devotedly restored a few years earlier and rose bushes that Ted planted with great care still surround the cemetery itself. The friars carried his coffin in procession while members of the neo-Catecumenate community led in singing the Rosary. As per custom the rites were concluded with the Friars singing the “Salve Regina”. May the Lord welcome our brother Ted into the peace and joy of His eternal Kingdom. The shearing is all done now, Poem written by Br John Cooper OFM Cap Recent News Items
2003
2002 |
Copyright © 2000-2004 Capuchin Franciscan Friars of Australia. All rights
reserved. 
Our brother Ted died in hospital on the morning of Saturday 31 January
2004 after a serious illness caused by a virus that left him paralysed from
the waist down for almost a year.