Biography:
Early Life
Mgr Richard Michael Isidore Redden (known most of his life simply as Isidore) was born at Pekina on February 1, 1901. He was the youngest member of eight children. In 1904 the family moved to Yongala.
He received his primary education at Canowie Belt State School. From 1915-1919 he attended Sacred Heart College, Somerton. Isidore’s older brother, Martin joined the Marist Brothers in 1914, taking the name Brother Placidus, he later became Provincial and died in 1974.
In 1920 Isidore went to the Seminary at Springwood in NSW where he studied Philosophy. He was the only South Australian among 80 students there. The following year he went to St Patrick’s College Manly, where he completed his studies. He was ordained priest by Archbishop Spence OP in St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral on November 30, 1925. He celebrated his first Mass in the Sacred Heart College Chapel.
Appointments
He commenced his priestly duties as Assistant Priest at Murray Bridge (1926–1931) which at that time was a widespread parish reaching as far as Pinnaroo and Loxton.
In 1932 he spent three months at Lower North Adelaide and on April 6,1932 he was appointed Parish Priest of Manoora. He often said that some of his happiest years were spent at Manoora. These were the Depression years and he came to know and love many families throughout the Mid-North of SA.
Six years later on January 6, 1938, he was appointed Parish Priest of Keswick. In 1942 served as Administrator at the Cathedral until 1946 when he was appointed Parish Priest of Yorketown.
The Seminary
At the beginning of 1949 he was appointed as the second Rector of St Francis Xavier’s Seminary at Stradbroke Park (now Rostrevor). At this time there was a Junior Seminary where students completed their secondary education, plus a Senior House where students undertook studies in philosophy. They then moved on to Manly in NSW or Werribee in Victoria, and a few went to Rome. But a decision was made to hand the Seminary over to the care of the Vincentian Fathers from the beginning of 1952.
Mount Gambier
Fr Redden was then appointed Parish Priest of Mount Gambier with the title of Dean. In July 1955 he was appointed a Domestic Prelate with the title of Monsignor.
This was a time of great development in Mount Gambier and Mgr Redden undertook a number of building developments. Gambier East was growing as a Housing Trust development so a new church and school was built and known as St Mary’s, Gambier East.
A new church was built at Port MacDonnell and Kongorong and a large extension built to the Mater Christi School near the main parish church. This was accompanied by significant site development plus the building of new car garages and a meeting room and office complex.
Towards the end of his time in The Mount he oversaw the extension of St Paul’s Church which was quite a major undertaking to blend the new with the old, but done with great success.
Though having no formal qualifications in this area he acquired great expertise in the field of architecture and building. He served on the Diocesan Sites and Architecture Committee and was frequently consulted by brother priests who were undertaking building projects.
He had a hand in the building of churches at Nangwarry, Kingston, Millicent and was frequently consulted by Dean Louis Travers in the building of the new church at Hectorville.
Mgr Redden was one of the first to introduce the Wells Scheme of Planned Giving and the success of this undertaking enabled the huge development which took place in his time.
He was also a very “hands on” man, and reflecting his early love of tennis he personally, with the help of his assistant priest at the time, built the tennis courts at Gambier East and later at Marist Brothers College. In his early days he was quite as astute tennis player.
After 15 years at Mt Gambier he was appointed Parish Priest of Birdwood where he remained a short time before being appointed to Dulwich Parish on April 14,1967.
During his priestly ministry he served on a number of diocesan bodies:
- Council of Sites and Architecture (1967–74)
- Bishop’s Senate of Priests,
- Diocesan Consultor, and
- Board of Management of Priests Salary Scheme.
In 1972 he resigned as Parish Priest of Dulwich, but at his request continued as Assistant Priest. Fr Ted Mulvihill was appointed Parish Priest but soon after he suffered serious illness and took some long leave, so Mgr Redden effectively continued as priest in charge.
From April 27, 1975 he resigned from Dulwich and at his request became an Assistant Priest at Glenelg, but living privately at 10 Raymond Grove, Glenelg. He assisted the local priests by celebrating Masses, hearing confessions and taking Communion to the sick. As his health began to fail he moved into the Glenelg Presbytery until 1987 when he moved to Lourdes Valley Nursing Home where he died on December 12, 1987.
Requiem Mass was celebrated at St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral on December 16 and he was buried in West Terrace Cemetery.
At the Requiem Mass Archbishop Faulkner said:
“For Monsignor Redden his life as a priest was a tremendous privilege and a great responsibility. He never lost that respect and sense of wonder for the priesthood. ... In the years since the second Vatican Council and in the years since his retirement as parish priest he remained young in his faith and in the Church. He continued to read theology and he continued to study the documents of the Vatican Council. He was able to do that and yet at the same time keep the best of the traditional values.”
He was always regarded as a “true gentleman”. He gave great leadership to his fellow priests and always treated people with a lot of love and with great respect.
May he rest in peace! |
