BRISBANE-born and bred Franciscan Father Beningus Clowes may have travelled throughout the country and the world, but in his 60 years as a priest he has never forgotten his Queensland roots.
Born Colin Clowes on October 18, 1929, Fr Clowes was a former student at St James School, Coorparoo, then at St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace.
He joined the Franciscans in 1945.
Brisbane Catholic schools played an important role in shaping Fr Clowes’ priestly vocation.
“My name Beningus was taken after a Good Samaritan Sister who received me into the primary school, and she was thrilled when I took her name,” Fr Clowes said.
Beningus was also the name of a saint who took over as Bishop of Ireland when St Patrick died.
But it was during high school that Fr Clowes found his vocation thanks to a visit from a Franciscan priest.
“I knew nothing about St Francis or the Franciscans, but even when I was young I thought of being a priest,” Fr Clowes said. “But a Franciscan, Fr Damian Nolan, who was very well known, came to Gregory Terrace. And the remarkable thing is we got four vocations out of it.”
Fr Clowes was solemnly professed in 1951, took the name Beningus and completed his initial preparation as a friar at St Paschal’s College, Melbourne.
He was ordained with Franciscan Father Angelo O’Hagan at St Stephen’s Cathedral, Brisbane, on July 28, 1954.
Fr Clowes said 15 young men entered the novitiate with him in 1945, but the year after they received 30 young men.
Fr Clowes spent 23 years in the Kedron parish before moving to Canterbury for a renewal year at the Franciscan Study Centre, and then transferred to Box Hill, Victoria.
He is now in retirement at the Franciscan Friary in Kedron.
Fr Clowes summed up the past 60 years as being “very entertaining and very fulfilling”.
“I suppose I have a reputation for telling jokes, and I enjoy entertaining others and they entertain me,” he said.
Fr Clowes has been a constant supporter of the Marriage Encounter Movement since 1983.
“I am indebted to Marriage Encounter for formation and information on marriage and communication not provided by seminary studies for the priesthood or university studies for school teaching,” he said.
