Fr James Michael Honner

Early Life

James Honner was born at Brentwood on Yorke Peninsula, the son of James and Veronica, nee Shanahan. He had a sister, Sr Margaret ibvm and a brother Anthony.

He was educated initially at the Brentwood Primary School and his secondary studies were at St Francis Xavier's Seminary where he also commenced his ecclesiastical studies in 1949. From there in 1957 he went to St Patrick's College Manly to complete his study of theology.

He was ordained priest in St Francis Xavier's Cathedral on July 16 1960.

Appointments

On returning to the diocese after completing his studies he was initially appointed Assistant Priest in Mount Gambier. He was in fact replacing Fr Bob Tully who was tragically killed in a car accident a couple of months prior.

However this was a short term appointment as on May 1 1961 he was transferred to Salisbury parish. Two years later on August 1 1963 he went to Thebarton and on January 6 1966 he became Assistant priest at St Peters.

Jim had developed a great love of travel. During his time in the seminary he went to the USA and Canada with his family. On another occasion he travelled around Australia, clocking up hundreds of thousands of miles in his Holden station wagon, often sleeping in a swag.

He was appointed Parish Priest of Tailem Bend on January 4 1968. After seven years at Tailem Bend he took extended leave – three months LSL, two months annual leave and three months without pay. From early age Jim developed a great love of learning. He became fascinated with the Bible and embarked on a lifetime pursuit of ordering, integrating and orienting the various areas of truth, secular and sacred to the spiritual bedrock of Christian faith, the Sacred Scriptures, the science of the soul. Over the years Jim assembled a magnificent library specialising in his studies that complemented his primary focus on Scripture. His thoroughly researched and valued sermons emerged from this background.

Fr Jim had developed a real love of the Holy Land and the Middle East where he spent a great deal of this "time off" from December 1974 to July 1975.  He wandered the Earth from east to west, following the Silk Road, the ancient network of trade routes connecting the East and West, East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North African countries, Egypt and Europe.

On his return to duties he was appointed Administrator of Glenelg parish during the long service leave of the parish priest.

At the end of January 1976 he was appointed Parish Priest of Penola. During 1980 he again took some extended leave to further his interests in world cultures in the Middle East.

On his return he was appointed Parish Priest of Greenacres on January 28 1982 where he remained until the end of 1993. It was here that Fr Jim developed a great relationship with the Italian community. In this parish the women went to Mass but the men usually worked seven days a week. When it came to paving the car park outside the Church, the congregation of men assembled their equipment. When Jim asked for the costs of the bricks and mortar they said “no, no cost Father". They did not always go to Church but this was their commitment to God. Jim could not stop them as they went on to build a massive perimeter wall.

His next appointment was to Victor Harbor where he remained for five years.

His final appointment in April 1999 was to Blackwood Parish where he served for 12 years. During this time his health declined significantly. While planning another overseas trip in 2001, as a precaution he went for a medical test, only to discover that he had a major heart problem that led rather rapidly to coronary bypass surgery, which he was lucky to survive.

However he did go overseas again in 2005, spending three months at Tantur Ecumenical Institute furthering his studies of Judaism, Islam and various strains of Christianity. Fr Jim had untapped knowledge from reading and travelling, only snippets of this were revealed in his great homilies.

During 2010 Fr Jim had further heart problems leading to heart valve replacement. So at he beginning of 2011 Fr Jim retired and took up residence at Murphy Villa. His health deteriorated during 2018. In December he moved to full time care in Conifer House, Southern Cross Care at The Pines. This is where he peacefully died on January 16 2019.

Requiem Mass was celebrated in St Peter Claver Church at Dulwich on January 25.

In accordance with Fr Jim's wishes it was a very simple Mass celebrated by Fr Philip Marshall, and attended by several priests and a large gathering of family and friends and former parishioners. Fr Jim insisted that there be no Mass booklets, no memorial cards, no eulogy, no floral tributes, followed by cremation with ashes to be interred at Minlaton near his parents.

Long time friend, Fr Jack Boog delivered the homily and described Fr Jim a great preacher and a gentle pastor. He was a shy person and spent a lot of his time learning Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and many other languages. His very extensive library on Scripture and Islam helped him in his many sojourns in the Middle East as a backpacker in understanding the culture of the time.

May he rest in peace.