practical living
Father Bob Maguire. Photo: Steve Tanner
The Cobberwealth of Australia
Outspoken Catholic priest
Father Bob on healthy ageing.
By Conor Burke
I
am the classic lapsed Catholic. Weekly
trips to mass and Catholic schooling
as a kid have given way to indifference,
and now the only time I set foot in a church
is for weddings and funerals. But perhaps
if Father Bob Maguire (simply Father Bob to
most Aussies) was my priest growing up, I
may have thought twice about leaving the
flock, or at least I would have had more of
a laugh at mass.
I meet the octogenarian Catholic priest
– retired since 2011 – to talk about his
insatiable appetite for life as he ages. He is
short but looks solid, despite his 85 years,
and he instantly takes to you as if you were
an old friend. The only hint to his past as
a parish priest are occasional refrains of
“oh, God love him” when you mention
someone in conversation, or how he
describes society as “the secular” society.
Otherwise, the only proselytising
Father Bob does, in his effervescent and
irrepressible style, is in his underlying
message of ‘everyone love everyone’.
The man still enjoys giving a sermon
though. His mind is sharp and full of ideas,
and trying to keep him to the question at
hand is difficult, but in the tradition of the
best sermons, he has a knack of bringing
his story back to a fine point.
I want to know what he thinks of recent
calls by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg for us
to work longer, considering he himself was
forced to retire.
“Yes, God love him,” he says of
Frydenberg. “It’s confusing. The secular
society has not yet worked out itself and
now it’s got a group within secular society,
the elders.”
Father Bob says that we would do well to
look to the example Indigenous Australians
set in regard to their elders.
“They pay their respects to their elders,
past, present and emerging,” he says before
then diverting to some Martin Luther
King Jr quotes. But I’m hooked and I sense
a point building.
“Now, I’m saying to myself, poor old
Bob … you’ve been to the top of the
mountain, because you’re old, and
you’ve seen the promised bloody land,
you see? Which is when the Australian
Commonwealth becomes – you ready? –
the Australian ‘Cobberwealth’. You see?”
The Cobberwealth – a term he has
coined – is about leaving no person
behind. He got the idea from a statue in
Melbourne depicting a solider carrying a
wounded comrade across his shoulder, and
he feels we’re leaving our elders behind.
“Don’t forget me, cobber!” he booms.
He does that every so often: puts a fine
point on an idea with a loud exclamation.
Or at times he’ll break into song, shiny‑eyed
and full of devilment. He’s enjoying himself.
Since retirement, Father Bob hasn’t
stopped. He runs the Father Bob Maguire
Foundation, whose mission is “to provide
material, emotional and social support
to whomever, whenever and wherever
necessary”. He is out giving food four
nights a week, gives mass at aged
care homes, talks at countless events
and has a camel sanctuary which is a
place of education and nature for the
underprivileged.
I tell him I’m tired just thinking about
his schedule, and I wonder aloud how he
keeps his energy and drive to live well as
he gets older.
“I’ve got another line to write in the
poem, you see? It’s a poem. I get out of
bed in the morning with the intention of
writing another line,” he says.
He has a lifetime’s worth of these
small nuggets of wisdom. They often
punctuate long stanzas of history, thoughts
and jokes. Like the way he refers to the
Catholic religion as “the Firm” and Jesus as
“the Founder”, he certainly lives up to his
‘Larrikin priest’ sobriquet.
“You’ve got to be creative and innovative,
otherwise you’ll end up comatose,” he
says. And with that we divert to Rome circa
500 BC for some history and then on to
the view of some that he is a communist,
which eventually leads to more singing.
“Solidarity forever,” he bellows. It turns
out he had a sing-song with the trade
unions the week before, the reason
for which I forgot to ask among all the
commotion.
Father Bob is an enthralling character
and a fine example of the point he is trying
to make. Our elders have wisdom and
knowledge that we ignore. As I listen to his
stories, I hang on his every word, waiting
for the eventual lesson to come, but in no
hurry for it.
Sitting with Father Bob for half an hour
has given me a sense of ease about ageing.
We eventually finish our conversation as he
must get ready – he is heading off to the
ARIA music awards – and as I’m packing up
my things, Father Bob is still going (I don’t
think his sermons ever really finish).
He is a poster child for healthy ageing
and a healthy outlook on life, I tell him. But
he’s having none of it and diverts to telling
me about the work of the local homeless
shelters he spotted around his hotel here
in Sydney.
“If there’s one thing we need today in the
Cobberwealth it’s to use logic and reason,”
he says.
“Community is based on … are you
ready?” He pauses often for dramatic
effect. “Care, communication, concern,
common sense and compassion.”
The Cobberwealth sounds like a good
place to me. ■
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