DIVINE Word Missionaries Father Liam Horsfall has died in Brisbane, eight days short of his 88th birthday.
Fr Horsfall, who retired as chaplain to St Patrick’s College, Shorncliffe, and Mercy Aged Care, Nudgee, earlier this year, died on Saturday, August 8.
A statement on the St Patrick’s College website on Monday morning said “Fr Liam has had a significant influence on the lives of so many young men who have passed through the gates of this great college”.
“His devotion as a priest and example as a human being has affected many lives within our college community and so many other communities across the world,” the statement said.
The college chapel, named in honour of Fr Horsfall, was open for staff and students to come and pray for their former chaplain and to write their own personal reflections in a journal there.
A May 12 report on the Divine Word Missionaries website about the college’s farewell to Fr Horsfall said he had been chaplain there and at Mercy Aged Care for 20 years and that “health challenges had prompted him to ease back on his regular commitments”.
“Fr Liam’s chaplaincy role at St Patrick’s was a broad one, not only celebrating the sacraments for the boys, but also becoming a much-loved confidante to many,” the report said.
“He also got to know many of the students by inviting groups of them to join him each year for a mission experience in India, where he spent much of his missionary life, including some years as provincial.”
Fr Horsfall said in the report that he had visited the college almost every day “and when you stop going, you do miss a lot of the normal things about interacting with the boys”.
“’It was one thing for me to do regular interviews with the boys, but it was quite another when they would come to you when they needed you’,” he said.
“’That was a real privilege.’”
“After a while, you come to know them very well.”
Divine Word Missionaries provincial Fr Henry Adler, in his homily at the college’s thanksgiving Mass for Fr Horsfall said Fr Horsfall and Christian Brothers founder Blessed Edmund Rice had a number of things in common, including being happy, positive and inspiring people.
“Like Blessed Edmund and (Divine Word Missionaries founder) St Arnold Janssen, Fr Liam’s life and ministry has been marked by commitment to mission, to people in need, to education, and any other process that enabled people to live a better life,” Fr Adler said.
“Wherever he was – in Chicago, India, Papua New Guinea, Sydney or Brisbane – he has the ability not only to serve people, but to involve them in mission.
“His spiritual guidance and unique way of involving people in mission, especially his annual trips to India, have made a lasting impact on many people, especially young people.
“His positive attitude (no doubt a quality of a saint), has been infectious to most of us.
“He rarely complains about his health.
“When you ask him how he is, especially when he is using his walking stick while trying to negotiate steps or uneven paths, he will always respond ‘perfect!’ or ‘fabulous!’
“He even said it when we picked him up after he fell over on one occasion.”
The Divine Word Missionaries’ website report said Fr Horsfall also would miss his long-standing chaplaincy duties at Mercy Aged Care in Nudgee, where he had regularly celebrated Mass, as well as many funerals for the Sisters of Mercy and others.
Fr Horsfall’s funeral was to have been held at the Sisters of Mercy chapel, Queens Road, Nudgee, on August 13, at 1pm.
