FIVE Brisbane Catholics, who have served the archdiocese for a combined total of 180 years, are surprised to be receiving papal honours for their efforts.
Lloyd Eikenloff, Mary Coman, Kevin Ross, Margaret Vider and Paul Gallagher yesterday received papal honours in recognition of their professional and volunteer work in the Brisbane archdiocese.
All recipients were to receive their awards at a Mass at St Stephen’s Cathedral yesterday December 18.
Mr Eikenloff and Ms Coman will be awarded the Medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (for the Church and the Pontiff), the highest honour given to any lay Catholic from the pope.
Mr Ross, Ms Vider and Mr Gallagher will be invested in the ancient Pontifical Equestrian Order of St Gregory the Great as knights and dame.
Bishops or papal nuncios typically make recommendations for investitures into the pontifical order.
The Catholic Leader met up with the humbled and honoured recipients of these two papal honours ahead of yesterday’s Mass.
Archbishops’ secretary “flabbergasted”
TWO former Archbishops for Brisbane would have been running around like headless chickens if it weren’t for Mary Coman.
Ms Coman was the former secretary to Archbishop Francis Rush and Archbishop John Bathersby before retiring in 2003, and said it was a daunting experience at first.
“They were both very clever men, very intellectual men, very holy men,” Ms Coman said. “It was a great privilege.”
A relative of Fr Bernard O’Shea, the legendary priest who was director for Brisbane Catholic Education, Ms Coman supported the office at the St Stephen’s Cathedral precinct.
Ms Coman has served the Brisbane archdiocese in administration roles for a total of 45 years and is one of two locals receiving the Medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice.
She said she was “absolutely flabbergasted” when she was told she had received a papal honour.
“I opened the mailbox and the letter from the Archbishop was there,” she said.
“Actually I felt very humbled and very honoured but at the same time I was in awe really, and … still a bit shocked.
“It’s a great honour really.”
Despite retiring 13 years ago, Ms Coman is still supporting Brisbane’s Archbishop doing fill-in work.
She also assists in parishes when the office secretaries need a break.
Outside of office hours, Ms Coman has been the pianist for 20 years for the Brothers James Choir, an all-men outfit that sings in nursing homes and retirement villages.
A musician since she was five years old, Ms Coman also plays the organ for the morning prayers at the cathedral.
She now assists with archiving files that were kept in the former episcopal office at Wynberg.
Grassroots worker inspired by Bishop Gerry
SUPPORTING the grassroots missionaries of the Church on the “sidelines” has earned The Gap parishioner Kevin Ross a surprise papal knighthood.
After appointments to various committees in Centacare, Brisbane Catholic Education, the Archdiocesan Development Fund, and work with Catholic health agencies, Mr Ross (pictured) will call himself a Knight of the Order of St Gregory from December 18.
The honour was still a shock to the father-of-five and husband to Leanne Ross, and former student at the original St Stephen’s School in Brisbane.
“It’s blown me away,” Mr Ross said. “I’m sure other people would have told you the same thing, you do not feel worthy of such an honour and there’s so many other people that I think work much harder for the Church in carrying out the Gospel message than I do, right at the forefront of ministry and mission.
“I hope to be seen that I’m but an example of what others are doing, just one, not the standout in any shape or form.”
Mr Ross, who has worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs and Aboriginal Affairs, was an instrumental supporter for Centacare’s Catholic Prison Ministry.
The organisation’s founder Bishop John Gerry, invited Mr Ross to support the early days of Centacare, then known as Social Welfare Commission.
He was later asked to inaugurate a group to support chaplains and religious working in the prisons.
Mr Ross said he saw himself as a “sideline observer, sometimes commentator, sometimes challenger” for “people that are right there out in the street doing the real service”.
He said Bishop Gerry was an inspiration, recalling his vivid image of the Church as “a wild horse”.
“Bishop Gerry was a wonderful inspiration,” Mr Ross said. “He talked about how the Gospel in his view was really a wild horse, that challenged us to show urgency, show compassion in carrying out the mission of the Gospel, but said we’d tamed it, we’d turned it into a showground pony because we weren’t letting the Church be challenging and getting out and being compelling in our actions.
“That inspired me all the way through.”
Mr Ross and his family have been in The Gap parish for 40 years.
Childhood service at the altar becomes daily habit
LLOYD Eikenloff’s desire to serve the Church has seen him on the sanctuary for the past 50 years.
An assistant sacristan at St Stephen’s Cathedral, Mr Eikenloff has served the priests at the altar during Mass since he was a teenager.
“I’ve been an altar server most of my life,” he said. “I was probably in my late teens, early 20s when I started off.
“I just used to go to Mass and the sacristan here said, ‘Come and serve’, and then that was it.”
It is those 50 years assisting priests and bishops at the cathedral that has earned him a papal honour, the Medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (for the Church and the Pontiff).
It is the highest medal awarded to the laity by a pope.
Mr Eikenloff said the first time he knew about the award was when he opened a letter from Archbishop Mark Coleridge to say he had been chosen.
“I didn’t have any inkling about it,” Mr Eikenloff said.
“It will be a very great honour to get it. I’m all very humbled by it, actually.”
As well as serving at Masses at the cathedral, Mr Eikenloff has also worked in the Brisbane archdiocese operating the carpark and tending to the precinct as a groundsman.
The former Commonwealth public servant said his faith was the reason he dedicated his life to serve the Church.
“I think it’s just your faith, really,” Mr Eikenloff said.
“I stepped forward.
“I was a daily Mass person and it’s just enhanced my faith.”
Marist Father Michael Rego, who offers Masses regularly at the cathedral, said Mr Eikenloff was “my number one man”.
“He is my number one man, and I really do mean that,” Fr Rego said.
“If there’s anything I need to do at the cathedral, Lloyd is the only one I want around.”
Mr Eikenloff and his wife were attending the Mass of conferral of the papal honours today where the long-time server received a Cross of Honour.
He serves at daily Mass at St Stephen’s Cathedral.
Accountant becoming a papal knight
CHARTERED accountant Paul Gallagher went straight to Google when he got a letter saying he would be enrolled as a knight of an ancient papal order.
The father-of-four and partner at BDO Brisbane was told by Archbishop Mark Coleridge that he would be offered a Knighthood in the Order of St Gregory the Great.
“I’ll be honest with you, I read the letter 15 times,” Mr Gallagher said. “I read it, and read it again, and read it again.”
“It is indeed a great honour but also very humbling.”
Mr Gallagher believes he was given the honour for his service on archdiocesan committees over 25 years but was still puzzled by the award.
“As an accountant by profession I guess I have some skills to give and that allows me to be work directly with those who get to make these decisions,” he said.
“But I’m sure there are many people out there in the Catholic community more deserving who do wonderful hands-on work.”
A long-time parishioner of St Thomas Aquinas Parish, St Lucia, Mr Gallagher said he came from “a family of volunteers”.
Mr Gallagher has given his skills in finance, accounting, governance and risk assessment to the Archdiocesan Finance Council, the Archdiocesan Ministries and Services Council, Brisbane Catholic Education and Catholic Church Insurance.
“When I look around the board tables at which I sit I consider myself blessed to work with those people who have much more to give,” he said.
Mr Gallagher said it was “a great honour” to be celebrated as a “giver” to the Church.
“It’s great for the Church to be able to celebrate that there are givers, and I’m delighted to be part of that,” he said. While one of the rights of members of the order is to ride a horse in the Vatican, Mr Gallagher said he would not be taking up the offer anytime soon, especially not in Brisbane.
“I won’t ride my steed down Elizabeth Street with my lance,” Mr Gallagher said, laughing.
‘Madam Chair’ of many Church committees is named a dame
NURSING legend Margaret Vider has been called everything from the “Dutchess”, “Madam Chair”, and even Jesus’ mother, but today is the first time she will be called a dame in the Church.
Ms Vider will be invested as a Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great along with two other Brisbane Catholics who will become knights of the order at St Stephen’s Cathedral today.
She said she had “difficulty” with accepting the honour but graciously accepted.
The long-time nurse and former director of mission at Holy Spirit Northside Hospital has served in a career spanning over 30 years.
As a student she was named “the Dutchess” but in recent years has adopted the title of “Madam Chair” for her role in various boards and committees, both in the Church and in other organisations.
Ms Vider received an honorary doctorate from the Australian Catholic University in 2008 for her contribution to nursing and health care, and on the institution’s senate.
Ms Vider was a member of the committee that underwent a review that led to the establishment of Centacare in 2001 and was a member of the board for six years before being chair between 2006 and 2013.
She has served on several other archdiocesan committees since then.
Ms Vider said one of St Paul’s Letters inspired her to devote her retired life to serving the Church.
“If you ask me what would be an inspirational text, if you like, if I really had to nominate something in scripture … St Paul’s epistle where he talks about, we have many gifts, and if we all brought our gifts together, and the gifts are God-given,” she said.
“I’ve been fortunate to be given the opportunity to do a lot of things that have helped me develop personally and in faith.
“So I firmly believe if God’s given you the gifts you should use them.”
One of her gifts is teaching primary children about the Bible as a religious instruction teacher in state schools.
“They’re gorgeous,” Ms Vider said.
“One year we had done the Easter story, and one little girl put up her hand and said, ‘Are you Jesus’ mother?’ and of course I burst out laughing.
“It’s very grounding because you see it (the Catholic faith) through their eyes.”
Ms Vider said her primary goal as a religious instructor was sharing the fact that God loves His little children.
“At the end of the year if they know there’s a God, if they know there’s a God who loves them and is their friend, and they can talk to him and tell him anything they like – you never know today what kids have to go through,” she said.
“If they think they’re absolutely on their own, they can talk to Jesus.”
