Archbishop Leonard Faulkner

was a man before his time.
It  has become fashionable to malign the clergy, particularly the Roman Catholic clergy but I have yet to hear anyone say anything against the Archbishop. Criticise him for a decision? Yes, of course. Everyone gets criticised. He would have been the first to admit he wasn't perfect, that he made mistakes. 
He was a good man.  
And I know that in a very particular way.
I met him just twice. Once was at a meeting when he was introduced to me because he had some questions about a young student of mine who wanted to be confirmed. His parish priest was not sure P.... really understood because P... had no capacity to speak. I had no doubt at all that P.... understood. P... had a very strong sense of what was right and what was wrong. Injustice bothered him.
      "Thank you," was about all the Archbishop said at the end of our conversation. He didn't tell me what his decision was going to be but P....came to school on Monday with a note from his much older brother to say that "Fr ....has accepted him as a candidate". P... just gave me one of his quiet smiles. 
I have no doubt the Archbishop intervened because many years later I went to the celebration mass of our friend P's 50 years as a Dominican Order sister.
No, I am not a Catholic. The Senior Cat is not a Catholic. We know P... through one of the women's refuges. She was working there. The Senior Cat worked there too on a voluntary basis. They needed someone to do "handyman" type work. The abused women in there were not too certain about having a man on the premises but the sight of the previous volunteer was failing and someone mentioned the Senior Cat might be able to mend something. He went. He mended not just one thing but many before he could no longer do things. He came to know P.... who was responsible for such things before she too retired.
But P....still visits us and her visits are very welcome. We have wonderful conversations. Her extended family included the Archbishop. He was her uncle...and not the only priest, monk or nun in the family.
The Archbishop, by then retired, came to conduct the Mass that formed the centre of P...'s celebration and I had a chance to see him at work again. He was something of a revelation. His approach was relaxed, very relaxed. He had women assisting with the service and his short sermon (homily) was not simply addressed to P... but inclusive of everyone in the room - believer or not.
But even more than that I noticed something very interesting after it was over and people were having afternoon tea. The children present, and there were quite a number of them who are related to P... , went to talk to him. The adults didn't get much opportunity because the dozen or so children present were too eager to tell him all sorts of things. Most of them were old enough to realise that he was not just a great-uncle but someone who had been, as one put it to me, "in charge of the other priests". 
I don't think he would have seen it as being quite like that though. It seems more likely that he would have simply seen it as his responsibility to guide them - and do it by example.
We spoke briefly that afternoon. He came to me and mentioned that he remembered meeting me over "the young lad who must be an adult now".  I told him about the quiet smile I had been given and... I got a quiet smile in return.
He was good man.