Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to pay tribute to the life and contribution of a great man, a giant in the Stanhope Gardens/Glenwood area and throughout the electorate of Greenway, the Reverend Father David Hume. A prominent Catholic priest in Greenway and also the Greater Western Sydney area, he very unexpectedly passed away on 14 June. His passing is a great loss to his family and community.

Father Dave was a pioneer for education. His passion touched many of his students and his congregation. He spent 20 years teaching at Catholic schools around New South Wales, from Strathfield to Penrith and from Goulburn to Wollongong, before becoming a priest in 2005. He was a treasured brother and brother-in-law to Mary and Ian, Bernadette and Stephen, Joseph, Frank, Anne and Steve, who was also a priest. He was also a much beloved uncle.

I will detail some examples of his work ethic and achievements. He was with the Christian Brothers from 1976 to 1995 at St Patrick's primary, Goulburn; St Thomas boys school, Lewisham; St Patrick's College, Strathfield; St Patrick's College, Goulburn; Edmund Rice College, Wollongong; and St Dominic's College in Penrith. He was a lay teacher from 1996 to 2000 at Holy Cross in Ryde, in the Bathurst district and at Oakhill College in Castle Hill. He was at the Seminary of the Good Shepherd from 2001 to 2005 and he was ordained a priest only in 2005, so he had his calling to become ordained relatively late in life. He was the assistant priest at St Patrick's Cathedral Parramatta, the assistant priest at St Andrews's Parish in Marayong, the administrator of St Paul the Apostle at Winston Hills, and finally our beloved parish priest at what was Blessed John XXIII, now St John XXIII, at Stanhope Gardens.

His requiem mass was held on Monday, the principal celebrant being Bishop Anthony Fisher, the Bishop of Parramatta, but also in attendance were Bishop Manning and scores of local priests from the Parramatta diocese. Father Dave was greatly loved by everyone who knew him. He was the attendant priest at the school community of John XXIII Catholic primary school and St Mark's Catholic College in Stanhope Gardens. He was a fanatic fan of the St George Dragons. At the end of every mass he would end with a prayer for the Dragons. As his brother Father Steve commented in the homily that he gave, the Dragons on the weekend breaking their losing streak by one point was probably his first miracle. Good luck to him.

We are also losing from the St John's community Peter Stoyles, who has been the principal of St John's and St Mark's college. Incidentally, he was a fellow student of Father Dave and, as he commented, he did lose a great friend. They were classmates at Christian Brothers in Lewisham. I will quote from Mr Stoyles:

He's got an enormous capacity to love and he always sees the good in people. He'll be very looked after in heaven because he was a very good man who loved his fish and chips.

What more could you ask for?

Being the fifth of seven children must not have been easy but, as his brother commented in his homily, they had the happiest upbringing that they could hope for. His priestly ministry and his educative achievements will live on in his students and also his congregation. I think that the number of people who attended on Monday, including me, to farewell him was testament to the deep love that his community had for him. He was also an incredibly modest man. As his brother also commented, unfortunately his capacity to give so much of himself probably led to his very early death. He was only in his mid-50s at the time of his death. He was incapable of saying no to people and never took his holidays. The bishop said it did not matter how much you tried to tell him that he had to take a break, he never did. He always published his mobile number in the Parish bulletin and he always answered it.

I will end by reading from Father David's farewell mass booklet:

You will never know how much your love, faith, prayerfulness and any needed support inspired Fr Dave to greatness, in being Christ's humble and tireless priest. And Fr Dave would say in response: "I have never heard so much rubbish in all my life. The man who wrote this about me is a fool."

Rest in peace, Father Dave. You will be very sadly missed.

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