FOR a long time Brisbane Catholic Brendan Scarce was reluctant to reveal to others that he lived his early years in orphanages; now he’s telling the world about it in a book.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge launched the book – A Life Lived in Love: From Orphan to Advocate – at a recent function in Brisbane.
Mr Scarce said he “wanted (the book) to be a testament to the value and goodness of an orphanage”.
“I know I can’t say that about every orphanage but, to me, I wanted a positive book, a positive work, about my life in an orphanage,” he said.
“One of my issues is that people think that, if you’ve been in an orphanage you are, not abused, (but) you are almost a traumatic person.
“I wanted to illustrate that that’s not my case …
“I wanted to share about my life-long feelings, and the joy and peace and contentment I had as an orphan.”
Mr Scarce recalls that a psychiatrist interviewed him at an orphanage when he was three years old, “and he said I’d be feeble-minded”.
“And my wife laughs at that – she thinks that’s hilarious, and I do too,” he said.
“I said in the book, of course, that that was what psychiatry thought back then …
“… I have been well looked after, and, as one priest said, a man who marked and corrected my master’s thesis said, ‘You’ve had a very fortunate life …’, and I have.
“I would describe my book as a testament to …, well, a life lived in love.
“It sounds a bit corny I suppose but my life has been full of love despite my sin, my bad conduct and disgrace but, overall, I can see that I’ve been blessed with the mercy of God and the mercy of people.”
Mr Scarce and his wife Hilary have three adult daughters, and it was their curiosity about their father’s early life that gave rise to the book.
He began work on it in January 2018.
“I was just writing some notes down, because my daughters wanted to know how my early life was, and I hadn’t said too much about it (up till then),” he said.
He’d revealed some details “but obviously it wasn’t connected so I thought I’d better write a systematic story”.
“And so I asked the orphanage, St Vincent’s Orphanage (South Melbourne) – the last one (of four he lived in) – if they had any material about me, … and that’s what got put in the book,” he said.
Up until the age of nine, Brendan had lived in three different orphanages run by the Sisters of St Joseph and then he was moved to the St Joseph’s Boys’ Orphanage, South Melbourne, under the care of the Christian Brothers.
He was there for the next three years.
He did not see his mother until he was 12 years old, and he still doesn’t know who his father is.
But he insists how much he is blessed, and he counts his years in the Melbourne orphanages among his blessings.
That’s where his deep faith was first nurtured.
In an earlier interview with The Catholic Leader, Mr Scarce said that, along with the love of Hilary and their daughters, he was grateful for the blessing of “the Scriptures, the Church, the Emmanuel Community, very importantly, and menALIVE”.
As a man who has searched for his father throughout his life, he also cherishes the guidance he’s received from a few key male mentors in the Church and in his professional life in the public service and in the fields of psychology, psychiatry and counselling.
Now retired, he worked for many years as a staff counsellor with the Federal and State governments, was a counsellor at the Princess Alexandra Hospital for 18 years, and worked for Teen Challenge, as well as in prisons, a psychiatric centre and other settings.
“As a social worker and being a counsellor I would be able to advocate,” he said.
“In my work, in my life, I’ve been an advocate for so many, and that’s really my gift.”
In writing his book, Mr Scarce said he’d been able to recognise the constistency and continuity throughout his life in the way he has been formed in faith from an early age.
“The Catholic apostolate was so fundamental for me, especially the YCW when I was 14 to 20 years old,” he said.
“And then when I started work, I’d go to the Legion of Mary or the St Vincent de Paul Society, and I was always involved in the Catholic apostolate – the Cursillo, whatever.
“All those things were very timely for me, and I’ve built, in a way, the past to some degree.
“But, what’s helped me, too, is the reading I’ve done, the theology degrees, but also the constant spiritual reading and, of course, the Bible.
“Reading the Bible every day … The words of the Bible, I believe, are the living and active Word as we hear in Hebrews 4:12, I think … ‘The Word of God is alive and active …’”
A Life Lived in Love: From Orphan to Advocate is available at St Pauls Bookshop, Brisbane, or can be ordred at email bjscarce@bigpond.com
