A PINT of milk a day and the entry angle of the bullet may have saved Cameron Auld’s life, but it’s salvation from Jesus Christ that remains his stronghold.
The former self-described “booze-guzzling, racist motorbiker” was shot in the head by a rival in 1980.
“The doctor told me I had strong bone density … my mother always made me drink a pint of milk a day as a child,” Cameron said candidly.
“(And) the angle of the bullet also prevented it piercing my skull.”
Surviving that and a “troublesome” childhood of misadventures and misdemeanours eventually resulting in expulsion from school, the 49-year-old said his “life of booze, fights and motorbikes” was “all hate-filled” in early adulthood.
Joy and Keith Auld saw a marked change in their son after the shooting.
“Even though I went off the path of God for many years by mother’s unconditional love and prayers brought me to accept Jesus as my Saviour,” Cameron, baptised as a child into the Uniting Church, said.
“I ended up in hospital thanking God for saving me and asking Him for direction and purpose.
“This was my first taste of asking God for help.”
Prayers were also answered when the single father met Brisbane Catholics Paul and Christine Hodgkinson.
“When I started changing my life I was a member of a Pentecostal church,” Cameron said.
“But it didn’t have anything for me.
“I told Paul I needed more … and he introduced me to the Catholic faith.”
That exposure – first in Goodna parish, south-west of Brisbane, where he has remained – the former worker for Drug Arm said was “like going from a backyard swimming pool into an Olympic-sized pool”.
“The expression of faith I encountered wasn’t just for an hour a week,” Cameron said.
“My mother came down from her home in Mount Tamborine and came with me to Goodna parish and she said the community are so good, with beautiful people and a beautiful Mass.
“She too decided to change to Catholicism.”
Cameron was fully initiated into the Catholic faith at the Easter Vigil in 2004 and his parents converted the following year.
The self-confessed “wild child” then went on to complete certificate studies with the Brisbane College of Theology and a prison chaplaincy program.
He now works for Education Queensland as a facilities officer in a local school, teaches religious education, is active in Goodna parish, and serves with the local conference of the St Vincent de Paul Society and voluntarily in the Arthur Gorrie Correctional facility at Wacol, west of Brisbane.
It’s a wonder Cameron has time to sleep.
“I love my life,” he said.
“I love doing work for God.
“If someone told me I had to sit in an office, I couldn’t do it.”
Every Saturday you’ll find Cameron at the correctional facility plus on sixth Sundays he conducts Catholic liturgies there.
Affectionately called “the tattooed padre”, Cameron said he had the respect of the other chaplains, guards and inmates.
“When I enter they all stare at me as if to say, ‘Who is this bloke?’,” Cameron said.
“(But) it doesn’t take long for them to open up.
“I’ve had guys in jail say they can’t change and I tell them they’re talking to someone who’s probably done a lot worse (than them).
“I tell them God’s forgiven me for what I’ve done.”
Cameron has well and truly discovered the “power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation” and isn’t ashamed to “shout it from the roof tops”.
“Growing up I hated God. I blamed him for everything wrong in my life,” he said.
“As part of (another Church) I thought I was forgiven … but as a Catholic I know I am forgiven, I know how deep Reconciliation is.”
Moving onwards and upwards, the Catholic convert and prison chaplain since 2006 said he would “never get burnt out” and is aiming at helping as many prisoners to rehabilitate their physical, spiritual and emotional lives.
“I bought one guy a mower for $120 and set him up with a business,” Cameron said.
“Some guys just need a kick-start.
“I would like businesses to give some of these guys a chance and open up some doors to them.
“A lot of that has been (given) through my local parish … but we still need more.”
Always offering his time and attention to the men he encounters – even his mobile number for use “all hours” – Cameron had one particular suggestion for any current or former inmate feeling directionless.
“I’d say give them my number and I’ll have a talk to them,” he said.
Any business able to help in giving released prisoners a chance is asked to contact the Catholic Prison Ministry on (07) 3846 7577 or the Centacare Employment Group on (07) 3336 9246.
