Fr Kevin Cantwell SVD, who recently celebrated 65 years as a priest, says his vocation came to him as a bolt out of the blue, and once received, it never wavered, giving him a lifelong sense of certainty which he believes “must have been a matter of grace”.

“My vocation was solid from the moment I received it. It came to me one morning in just a minute or two. I didn’t think about it or weigh up the pros and cons or anything like that. I had no hesitation about it,” he said.

“It was a missionary vocation. My whole thought was about mission. So, the first thing was my missionary vocation and the priesthood fulfilled that.”

Fr Kevin was born in Tully, North Queensland on October 14, 1927 and spent most of his childhood in Cairns. He was educated at St Monica’s school by the Sisters of Mercy and then at St Augustine’s, by the Marist Brothers.

In 1942 his school was evacuated from the coast because of the Japanese advances through New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and he became a boarder at Lake Barrine, situated on the Tableland behind Cairns.

As a 12-year-old, Kevin’s parents were approached by the local priest to see if he was interested in entering Queensland’s newly opened Banyo seminary, but at the time felt that he had no vocation.

However, time spent in The Legion of Mary as a teenager, followed by membership of the St Vincent de Paul Society when the family moved to Brisbane in 1947 helped foster a vocation.

“Then early one morning, while studying business law, out of the blue, I decided I wanted to spend the rest of my life as a missionary,” he says. “I went to St Vincent’s Seminary, Marburg in Queensland from 1949 to 1952 as a student and novice. I gave two weeks’ notice at work, dropped everything else, and in two weeks was in Marburg – and never doubted my vocation since.”

From 1952 to 1960, Kevin studied in the USA, first at Epworth, then Techny and finally Washington DC. It was during this period that he was ordained a priest in 1959.

Fr Kevin was appointed to St Vincent’s Seminary, Marburg from 1960 to 1969, and carried out a range of duties, including Director of Brother Candidates and Novices and Rector.

In 1970 he was elected Provincial of the SVD Australian Province, an experience he recalls as “a busy time!”

“As Provincial, my policy was to keep only administration and formation people in Australia, along with the ageing migrant priests who cared for the influx of new immigrants, while urging the younger confreres to ask for a mission appointment,” he says.

“At that time, in the 1970s, Australian parishes were well cared for by their parish priests and assistant priests. There were no multicultural parishes in those days, so I did not want our people tied down in Australian parishes. That’s all changed now, of course, and there is a need for us to work here in parishes as well as on overseas missions.”

After 16 years spent in formation and administration, it wasn’t until 1976, when Fr Liam Horsfall took over as Provincial, that Fr Kevin, aged 48, asked for and received his mission appointment to PNG.

He arrived in PNG, about six months after Independence and was appointed parish priest at Marienberg on the Sepik River.

“There were no catechists and no church leaders on the station,” he recalls.

In 1979 Fr Kevin was struck down with suspected Blackwater Fever and after spending a week in a coma, he was evacuated to Australia for six months, before returning to take up an appointment in the PNG Highlands. Apart from working in the provincial office, Fr Kevin helped out at Minj, Banz, Kumdi and Mt Hagen. He was evacuated to Australia a second time with a blood clot in his left lung, but again returned to PNG.

“In 2004, after a year of congestive heart failure, I decided it was time to leave PNG,” he says.

After living in retirement at the SVD Marsfield community for a number of years, during which time he wrote a book on his missionary life, Fr Kevin recently moved to the nearby St Catherine’s Aged Care Services, which he describes simply as “a new way of life”.

“It’s a matter of always having something to do,” he said.

 “I watch a lot of news and I have books to read and every so often someone comes to visit. I still like to read the psalms at night and I’ve got plenty of time for meditation now.”

Fr Kevin said he kept his 65^th jubilee celebrations low-key, not wanting anything special, but as he looked back over his priestly and missionary life, he gave thanks to God.

“I’m thankful for everything really,” he said.

“I just kept saying Yes the whole way along and followed what was asked of me – first to joining the SVD, then going to Marburg, then America and then back to Marburg, the Provincial work in Sydney and then I volunteered for PNG which was my first choice for the missions.”

Fr Kevin said the lifelong certainty of his vocation had been a great gift which had given him a sense of peace in all that he undertook.

“My philosophy of life has been much in line with the words of a hit song of some years past: ‘You have to accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative; and don’t mess with mister-in-between’. When applied to spiritual matters, St Paul said as much in his epistles,” he wrote in his book, 'Missionary'.

“Would I do it all again? The answer is YES!”

PHOTOS

TOP RIGHT: Fr Kevin Cantwell SVD.

BOTTOM LEFT: Fr Kevin pictured in his days as a missionary in PNG, a photo featured on the front cover of his book, 'Missionary'.