Fr Brian Schmidt

Early life

Brian Schmidt was born on June 2, 1926 in Port Lincoln, one of two children of James and Annie Schmidt. He had one sister, Kathleen. He received his early schooling at St Joseph’s School in Port Lincoln, at Ashbourne in the Adelaide Hills and then at Unley Primary School.

During World War II he served as a rigger with the Royal Australian Air Force, being discharged in September 1946. He then worked as painter at the Osborne Power House. Brian was very proud of his German heritage. When he was in the Air Force during the war, there was a good deal of pressure on him to change his name to “Smith”.

He adamantly refused, so he was called “Schmidt de spy” or “Messerschmitt.”  In latter years in the seminary, if anyone called him, “Smithy”, he would snap back, “Don’t you call me Smithy, my name’s Schmidt” and he would punch out the surname emphatically.

Seminary life

He commenced his studies for the priesthood at St Francis Xavier’s Seminary in 1953 and was one of the first to do all his studies in Adelaide. He was much older than others in his class but he seemed to cope with this well, although study did not come easy to him. 

He entered the seminary as a late vocation after only a basic education, 10 years in the workforce and some introductory lessons in Latin – in those days an essential tool for priestly studies. He faced nine years of concentrated study. It was tough, very, very tough.  

He was 26 and he had to fit in with a class of 14 and 15 year olds. He was also losing his hair, so his fellow students often called him, “Uncle Brian” or “Pops” – sensitive little people they were! Voices were sometimes heard to say that he would never make it.

On top of all the ordinary difficulties, he had a particular one of his own. He had a stammer. He would spend endless hours reading aloud to himself in an empty dining room, while the rest enjoyed themselves at sport. Many will have seen the movie The King’s Speech featuring the work of the therapist Lionel Logue. Sadly, there was no-one like that to help Brian.

He had received a Call to be a priest. He had embraced it fully, responded enthusiastically to it and nothing, not even a stammer, was going to stop him answering the Call.

He was ordained priest in St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral on July 1, 1961.

Appointments

His first appointment was as Assistant Priest at Glenelg, and three years later he moved to Semaphore. In January 1966 he took up his first appointment as Parish Priest on Kangaroo Island. Three years later he moved to Kingston in the South East where he stayed for nearly three years before being transferred to Birdwood as Parish Priest.

He took some long service leave from October to December 1981.

In February 1983 he was elected a member of the Senate of Priests as a representative of the Upper South East Region of Priests.

In January 1984 he was appointed Parish Priest of Balaklava. In February 1990 he was appointed a Member of the Council of Priests for a three-year term. He stayed at Balaklava for 12 years until his retirement in January 1996.

Brian always kept in close contact with his family, especially his sister Kathleen and her family – husband Jack, and children John, Mary, Michael, Robert, Anne and Patricia, as well as his great nieces and nephews. He always showed great kindness to the children and loved spending time with them.

He was a genuine, humble man, with no illusions about himself. He was kind and generous with what he had. He was very hospitable – the fridge and pantry were always well stocked for visitors.

Brian was one who was always on the side of those he thought were not getting a fair go in life – the less well off, those on the fringes. Some of his particular ministries were with single mothers and divorced and remarried Catholics.

Despite his speech difficulties, his sermons were down to earth, practical, spiced with relevant anecdotes, often from his own life, occasional bits of humour and never too long. Not a bad formula for a preacher. He was a dedicated and conscientious priest with the Mass and the Eucharist at the centre of his life.

Retirement and death

Retiring in January 1996 with the title Pastor Emeritus he took up residence at Murphy Villa where he continued some pastoral work, especially among the residents of Southern Cross Homes. In December 2003 he was appointed a member of the Senior Priests Care Committee, a position he held for three years.

In the latter years of his retirement at Francis Murphy Villa, life became more difficult as his health was failing, his legs had nearly gone on him and he was losing his hearing to an extent that hearing aids didn’t solve the problem.

Soon after celebrating his Golden Jubilee of ordination with his class-mate Fr John Chambers in July 2011, his health deteriorated and he moved to the Tappeiner Court Nursing Home at Kensington where he died peacefully on the November 18, 2012. His Funeral Mass was celebrated in St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral on November 28, and his remains were interred at the Centennial Park Cemetery.

At the Funeral Mass, Colin Jarrett, a former class-mate in the Seminary and life-long friend said of Brian: “You have fought the good fight. You have finished the race, a long and often difficult one. You not only kept the faith, you nourished it in thousands of others as well. Rest in peace now, dear friend, in the presence of the God you have loved and served so well. Rest in peace, good and faithful servant.”