Biography:
Birth and early life
Pierce Murphy was born at Ballinalour, St Mullins, Co. Carlow, Ireland on June 10, 1921. His parents were Pierce and Ellen; his siblings Mary (Sr Mary Attracta OP), Eileen (Mrs O’Hanlon), Sean (father of Fr Pierce Murphy junior), Fr Jeremiah (Jerh), Fr Garrett (Gary), Fr Moling (Michael).
Pierce was educated at Knockberg College, Co. Carlow and subsequently at St Patrick’s College, Co. Carlow. He was ordained June 2, 1946.
Pierce arrived in Adelaide January 1, 1947. His coming to Adelaide was the logical outcome of his having one sister, Sr Mary Attracta, and an elder brother, Fr Michael Moling, already in the Archdiocese. Two other brothers, Jeremiah and Garrett, were established priests in their family’s diocese in Ireland.
First appointments as assistant priest
Fr Pierce’s first appointment was as an assistant priest to Fr Edward O’Connell at St Raphael’s Parkside. One of his roles was chaplain to the YCW. Parkside was the first parish in Adelaide to have a Young Christian Workers group. It had been initiated in 1943 or ’44. According to Fr Bill Collins, Pierce was recognised as one who, even before he arrived in Adelaide, had absorbed the Cardign philosophy on which the YCW was founded. Bill’s view was that Pierce was seen by the other clergy as something of a progressive idealist with new-fangled ideas.
The Parkside curacy was followed by 10 years at Mt Gambier (1947-57), with Dean Davis and subsequently with Mgr R. M. I. Redden as parish priests. There were two assistant priests at Mt Gambier in those days.
Vigorous ministries as parish priest
It was while Pierce was in Ireland on leave that he learnt of his appointment as parish priest of the Barossa Valley. This was a revolutionary move on the part of the Archdiocese. The Barossa Valley was an enclave of the Lutheran Church, as most of the inhabitants were descendants of German immigrants of the mid-19th century. In the Valley they had established a flourishing wine industry. By contrast, Catholics formed a very small minority in the Barossa.
Between April 1958 and October 1962 when Pierce was transferred to Elizabeth, he founded three Mass centres in the Valley: a Church and presbytery at Nuriootpa, the purchase of a former Anglican Church in Tanunda and a convent for two sisters of St Joseph at Angaston. The sisters conducted a motor-mission in an area where there were no Catholic schools.
They were heady days. Today there is only one Catholic Church in the Valley: at Nuriootpa. Barossa now is part of a combined parish with Kapunda, Hamley Bridge and Balaklava – now Northern Light Parish.
From 1962 to 1987 Pierce was Parish Priest of Elizabeth South. The burgeoning city of Elizabeth, north of Adelaide, was being peopled by newly arrived migrants from England, Ireland and other European countries. The motor industry, centred around Holdens, was the dominant employer of men and women.
On the occasion of the celebration of Elizabeth’s silver jubilee in 1982 Pierce wrote: “One of the things that appealed to me about coming to Elizabeth was that there were lots of parishioners to work with. This was in complete contrast to my previous assignment to start the new Barossa Valley parish with its handful and minority Catholic group (sic). My first impressions were favourable. Parishioners were willing to help, no matter what their origin – English, Australian, Dutch, Irish, Scottish and Italian.”
But at the same celebrations, which in fact had occurred 15 years after his arrival in Elizabeth, Pierce also lamented that “many of our best parishioners move out and become shining lights elsewhere. Most recently the number of Mass-goers decreased...”. Upward mobility among the parishioners and the more liberalised climate of the post-Vatican II era had begun to take their toll.
Nevertheless, Pierce will be remembered for the flourishing school conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, at St Mary Magdalene’s in Elizabeth; St Patrick’s Church and St Anne’s Church in Elizabeth East, Midway Road. In 2011, only St Anne’s remains as a Mass centre, while St Mary Magdalene’s flourishes as a school staffed wholly by lay people.
Pierce’s pioneering spirit led to his setting up the first Parish Pastoral Council in the Archdiocese. In 1969, he was appointed a member of the first Diocesan Pastoral Council.
Move to Parkside
In 1986 when the Archdiocese decided that the two Elizabeth parishes be combined under the leadership of a team ministry, Pierce was asked to move to the parish of Parkside. Many of the Elizabeth parishioners were upset. In the diocesan archives there is a letter of appreciation for Pierce’s pastoral care and a plea for him to be able to remain. It is fair to say, however, that this admiration of Pierce was not universal. For example, there is also a letter in the archives from St Mary Magdalene’s school authorities stressing the difficulties of communication that existed between school and parish.
Final years
Pierce’s return to Parkside, his original ‘home’ in the Archdiocese, was of short duration – January 1987 until his death on August 13, 1989 at the Mt Carmel Hostel, Pennington.
His Requiem Mass was celebrated at his request at St Anne’s, Elizabeth East. On that occasion, the Church was packed with an overflowing congregation. Archbishop Leonard Faulkner and Emeritus Archbishop James Gleeson, with hundreds of others, had come to honour the man who had been, in Archbishop Faulkner’s words, “loved and respected by so many people”. |
