Our People

BISHOP JOHN HEAPS Requiem

By Bishop David Cremin
Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney
Tuesday, 29 June 2004

Bishop John Heaps had many gifts. One of them being his attention to detail and precise planning; it comes as no surprise, then, that all the details of this Requiem were planned some time ago by him personally. Cardinal Pell was invited to be celebrant. I was commissioned to give the homily. The Readers were chosen by John and the Readings also. They are brief and very telling of his priorities and principles. The First Reading says:

`This is what the Lord asks of you, ONLY THIS: to act justly,
to love tenderly and to walk with humility with your God.'

John Heaps certainly set a great store on justice and fair play. He was a loving, tender, unassuming man of gentleness, passion and compassion. The Second Reading echoes all of that. Love is always patient and kind. It does not come to an end.

The Gospel he chose comes as no surprise. He loved the poor and the marginalized. The Aboriginal people and the migrants were his special care and love.

To tell of the life of Bishop John. I will do what he would like - Let him tell you himself. This is from a letter he wrote in October, 1968, to the Diocese of Killaloe in Ireland where his Titular See is situated. This is Innis Cathaigh, an ancient monastery on the estuary of the River Shannon.

“I was born on the 25 February, 1927, at Hamilton, NSW. Of Edward Heaps and Mabel (nee Walker). The Heaps family came a couple of generations back from Yorkshire, England, and were Anglicans. The Walkers came from Scotland and were of Presbyterian background. The Catholic influence originates further back in Ireland. My maternal grandmother's parents came from Donegal and Dublin, were married in Glasgow and came to Newcastle, NSW last century. The teachings of the faith were passed on to my two brothers and one sister, and to me, having sustained the mixed marriages of my grandmother and then my mother. Australia was not without bigotry in those days. However, out of this came two priests and two fervent lay Catholics. My brother, Bruce, was ordained two years after me. He, sadly, was killed in a motor car accident only a few years after ordination. My brother, Raymond, and my sister, Margaret, are living in Sydney. (Raymond has died since this letter was written.)

I received my early education in State Schools. I began work with a large city newspaper and studied accountancy. I joined the Australian Army (AIF) at the mandatory age of 18, only months before the end of the Second World War. I served for two years. After discharge I returned to my former work for two years. In 1950 I entered St. Columba's Seminary in Springwood, NSW. From there I went to study Theology at St. Patrick's, Manly, NSW. I was ordained priest on the 8 March, 1959, at St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.

My appointments as assistant were in the Sydney parishes of Harris Park, Waitara, Guildford and Woollahra. In 1972 I became director of the Catholic Immigration Office with responsibility to forty-five migrant chaplains and responsible for the Sydney Church's presence in Australia's large immigration initiatives.

After six years with the Catholic Immigration Office, I was appointed as parish priest of the Sydney parish of Malabar. It was at Malabar that I received the call to be bishop.

During the years before being bishop I had been involved in matters extending beyond my primary duties, eg member of the Cardinal Archbishop's Senate of priests, subsequently Chairman of that body, vicar for clergy, deputy to the Auxiliary bishop responsible for the Eastern Region of the Archdiocese, member of Government and voluntary committees on migrant welfare, etc.

I was ordained bishop on the 31 October, 1981 by Cardinal James Freeman, the then Archbishop of Sydney, and representative bishops of the Australian Church.”

He then went on to write: “I am now auxiliary to Archbishop Edward Bede Clancy and have responsibility for the fifty one parishes of the Eastern Region of the Archdiocese. I have a special mandate for the pastoral care of Aborigines, Immigrants and University students. In the Australian Church I am the Secretary of the Bishop's Committee for Social Communications. I am parish priest of the small parish of Dover Heights and the only priest in the parish.

I firmly believe in the need to bring the Church to fuller life by involvement of the laity. In my parish the people are making a great response. Because of this I am able to stay here as well as respond to my duties in the Archdiocese.”

Lots of stories are told by his great friends and classmates, Brian Yates and John Ford and others. These fill out some of the gaps in John's story.

· He regularly went to Mass at this Cathedral during his lunch hour while he worked at The Daily Telegraph. Maybe it was here he got the call to priesthood.

· He surprised other students in that he had a BIBLE in the chapel as a prayer aid. The missal, rosary and Imitation of Christ men were a bit suspicious of this Bible man. John was always ahead of his time.

· He loved art and poetry especially Gerard Manly Hopkins.

While he was Harris Park he saved two young boys from drowning while on an altar boys picnic at the beach. John refused a medal for bravery. Those boys are now medical doctors. They honor John with a deep love and gratitude.

I followed him in the responsibility for migrants in Sydney. I am deeply aware of his great work in that apostolate. The migrant people had enormous regard for his dedication. He was honoured with an MBE for his furthering the cause of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers and for his pioneering work in establishing Ethnic Radio.

He played golf in earlier days but in later years he was drawn to the 'giddyups' at the race track. If there are races in heaven he and his mate, the late. Fr Les Cashen, will be there.

I wish I had his gift for organization. Letters arriving in the morning would be answered the same day.

He wrote a book on the formation of Parish Councils which he updated in a later edition. Many people have drawn inspiration from his three books of homilies. He took a very brave step in writing his now well known book, A Love That Dares to Question. This was published in Australia, the US, England and Ireland. Bishop John was himself amazed at the big response to this book. Over 600 people wrote positively to him. He responded to each of them by hand. He was honoured with a book award in the US.

John was a faithful son of the Catholic Church who felt so passionately about certain matters in the Church that he had to express it.

I have many personal memories of John Heaps. But there is an event, which I did not actually witness, John described it to me. It will remain a defining image for me of John and his life. When John was a seminarian at Manly, he performed an act in one of the concerts. He nailed his shoes to the floor and swayed back and forth. He entertained himself and the other students.

He was a well grounded man. John had a remarkable ability to remain upright under pressure. Also, he embodied the simple truth: good humour is a sign of good faith. If Martin Luther had known how to take his stand like John, the history of the Western world would have been different!

John had an acute sense of the ridiculous, one that never allowed him to be seduced by the trappings of status or roles or power. He had no time at all for pretence, even less for dishonesty. He was able to wear his authority very lightly. "Jake the peg" was his famous party piece in seminary and parish concerts. It is related that the housekeeper at Woollahra nearly had a heart attack in discovering a spare leg all dressed up in his wardrobe!

John was first and last a human being. He looked for the humanity in others. Whenever he found it, he responded with compassion and generosity. He found the model of true humanity in Jesus Christ. When he read the Gospels he found there a straightforward story of God seeking to love the world into freedom. When he spoke of the Gospels he brought them alive. He got angry with people who misused the Good News story to support ends that were the very antithesis of love and freedom.

John loved hospitality and sharing good food and drink with many people. This was a very important part of John’s makeup.

His family meant so much to John. His sister Margaret and his brother in law, John and their seven children would all have many fond memories of John. Our hearts and prayers are with you all today.

He was especially grateful for the many visits of Cecilia's sister, Iris and brother in law, Charlie from Canada and her sister Helen from New Zealand. They are all here with us today.

His ability to keep his feet on the ground was certainly needed when he was buffeted by storm after storm of ill health over the past twenty or thirty years

He had several bouts of cancer and two major heart operations that necessitated his resigning from his Episcopal duties on 12t' March 1992.

Working and caring for him for many years has been Cecilia Martin. This little human dynamo from Glasgow defies description. She has worked with him at Malabar, Dover Heights, Bondi, Earlwood and Ramsgate with total devotion and commitment. In her inimitable Scottish style she was not beyond teasing and telling him at times. In the past month Cecilia and her brother in law, Charlie, had been by John's side 24 hrs a day. Likewise, Fr. Don Willoughby, his classmate, was the epitome of kindness and hospitality sharing his presbyteries and constantly visiting him and caring spiritually for him.

Bishop John had a dedicated ministry of spiritual direction in his years of retirement. One of his spiritual children, as he called them, told me of this:

He liked to use parables from his army days: They used to be sent out into the bush with a compass, and told to find their way to a prominent landmark some distance away. It could not be reached by following a straight line (the most direct route as the crow flies). It was flexibility and adaptability that got you there - taking little digressions around obstacles, while always keeping focused on the goal (compass point). It is the same in life. Rigidity does not get you there. It is a matter of keeping your focus on the compass point (basic orientation), while being adaptable enough to return from side-tracks to the compass point.

He also used this parable as an image of confession, which is a matter of coming back from a side-track to the basic orientation/compass point.

In his final battle with death through cancer, John constantly spoke of light and darkness which spoke eloquently to him. The song `Praise', written by Graeham Goble and sung so beautifully by Peter Brocklehurst, evoked a deep response in him.

Summer, winter, spring and fall
Experience each season
Resist not when the darkness calls
To shine upon your reason

These last two lines particularly appealed to him, and brought him to tears.

He died at the Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year at the depth of darkness but already turning towards the light. The night before he died he was taken to Calvary Hospital. On the way in he was told "We are now going up in the lift". His reply with good humour to the end was "That's OK. I'm a frequent flier." He lapsed into a coma next day only to open his eyes wide for a last time as Bishop Pat Power was saying the prayers for the dying over him.

Bishop John was overwhelmed by all the messaged of good will and prayers he received as well as all who came to visit him in his illness. I'm sure he commissions me to thank every one of you from his great heart.

And now, may the Good Lord, whom you served so well as Priest, Bishop and humble human being, grant you a grand reward.