STAFF and students at St Mark’s Primary School, Inala have stopped classes to pray for the repose of the soul of Divine Word Missionaries Father Gerard Mulholland.
The Maryborough-born priest died in Sydney’s Macquarie University Hospital around 9.45 am on Wednesday November 26. He had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in May this year.
St Mark’s principal Garry Montgomery said classes at the school had stopped soon after parish priest Fr Stephen Pilly passed on the sad news.
“All were praying for this much-loved priest who had such a special connection to our school and parish,” he said.
Fr Mulholland joined the Divine Word Missionaries at 42.
Before joining, he was an occupational health and safety officer at Maryborough City Council.
Prior to that, he worked in occupational health and safety at a mine in Cobar, NSW, and before that he was an ambulance driver.
After completing his studies and missionary training in Sydney and Melbourne, Fr Gerard took final vows and was ordained to the priesthood at St Mark’s parish Inala in 2006, before taking up his first missionary assignment in PNG.
He returned to the Inala parish about four years ago.
Fr Mulholland had been in the care of his religious order at their Marsfield, NSW community since his diagnosis.
He was last at St Mark’s just after Easter for the installation of Fr Pilly as parish priest.
In recent times the priest’s condition had deteriorated rapidly and he had been in palliative care in the Macquarie University Hospital.
The Divine Word Missionaries Australian provincial Fr Henry Adler in a conversation with The Catholic Leader on Tuesday, November 25 said Fr Mulholland was at peace.
“I told Gerard I hoped he would still be with us at Christmas but he said he didn’t think he would be,” he said.
