A Joyful Celebration on a Glorious Evening

The family and friends of Fr Philip Fitzgerald, Bishop Arthur, local clergy and the parish of St Joseph’s, Brighouse came together on a glorious June evening to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Fr Philip’s ordination. Music and prayer were the key elements of the celebration which began with the award winning All Saints High School Choir singing ‘Flying Free’ and ‘Shto, mi, E, Milo’.

In his opening remarks Fr Fitzgerald welcomed everyone to the Mass and said that he was honoured and humbled that so many people were there to help him celebrate. He thanked God for his 40 years as a priest adding that he didn’t feel old enough.

In his homily Fr Mills said that he had been told not to say anything about Fr Philip - by Fr Philip and that he was mightily relieved by this. He went on to speak about how those gathered were all people of God and that as such we were also people of distractions – distracted by sin but full of the surging hope of Jesus. Fr Mills added that priests were there to be bearers of the Love of God through words and sacraments. He then asked the boys and men in the congregation to seriously consider if they are being called by Jesus to a priestly vocation. He told them that Jesus was not always the meek and mild individual that we hear about in hymns but a real flesh and blood man capable of giving a priest ‘the hard look’ when it was needed. Fr Mills concluded by saying that Fr Fitzgerald had borne the Love of God over the last 40 years with dedication and compassion and fully deserved this wonderful celebration.

At the end of Mass Fr Fitzgerald said how grateful he was to everyone in the parish for making this evening special, and in particular, he thanked the choir, the servers and the young children from the primary school. He invited everyone to stay and enjoy the refreshments provided in the hall. Fr Fitzgerald asked Bishop Arthur if he would give the final blessing.

Before giving the blessing Bishop Arthur said that unlike Fr Mills he had had no constraints put on him and therefore would like to say a few words about Fr Philip. He thanked Fr Philip for the forty years of dedicated ministry as a priest of this diocese and said he would like to publicly record his thanks to Fr Philip’s family, particularly his parents, and also to the country of Ireland for sending such a fine priest to Leeds. The Bishop commented that the number of people present this evening was a great testimony to the high regard in which Fr Philip is held. This echoed a comment made to me by a member of the parish who said that Fr Philip was a good man and a wonderful priest.