Patrick Harris was in Year 11 when he was sponsored to attend the 2019 Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) in Perth. By his own admission, Patrick was not taking his faith ‘overly seriously’ when he was struck by the witness and pastoral nature of one of his ACYF group’s chaplains, Fr Michael Gallacher. The two remained in contact in the years that followed, discovering mutual friends from their alma mater and a shared love of competitive sport. When Patrick decided to pursue his calling to the priesthood, his friendship with Fr Gallacher meant he was well placed to receive support and advice. ‘He really threw himself into it,’ Fr Michael says of Patrick’s decision to discern the priesthood. ‘He wanted to take every opportunity that was there so that he didn’t miss what the Lord was calling him to.’
Patrick is now in his second year at Corpus Christi College and credits his friendship with the Lord in large part to Fr Michael’s encouragement. The two caught up recently and reflected on their shared desire to help more young people discover the way of Christ.
Patrick
I first met Fr Gallacher at the Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) in Perth in 2019. I was going to Whitefriars [College] at the time, and Father had graduated from there as a school captain, so we discovered that we had some mutual friends, and that established a bit of an early connection.
My next memory of Father was seeing him at the first Mass at ACYF, celebrated by Archbishop Comensoli. I was really struck by how careful he was with the Blessed Sacrament, and I hadn’t really seen a priest do that before. I wasn’t taking my faith overly seriously at the time, but I was kind of intrigued. I found it fascinating that a priest would be so careful with something that had the appearance of bread. So I was keen to talk to Father after that Mass, and from there I had many in-depth conversations with him about the faith and the tradition of the Church, and of course the Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. That really, I guess, laid a foundation for our friendship.
I joined his parish, St Roch’s, Glen Iris, and he really took me under his wing in many ways. He gave me some wonderful exposure to the apostolate and helped me understand what spiritual fatherhood was.
One of the things that people often think about when considering to become a priest is the burden of celibacy, but [he] was really influential in helping me understand that it’s actually not a burden—it’s a gift from the Church and it’s a gift from God, and if I throw myself into this entirely, and am a good pastor of souls, then I will never feel as though family is something missing in my life, because I will have a big, faithful family.
I thought that if I were to indulge myself with the Catholic tradition, the Lord would not make this hard for me. He’s not trying to hide anything from me. He’s going to make it clear if I completely invest in this. And sure enough, he did.
The first time I really decided to take discernment completely seriously, I was 20. I came back from Bright, in country Victoria, and I had a really honest conversation with Fr Gallacher. He said he would absolutely support me in the vocation of marriage if he thought that that was what the Lord was calling me to. I guess there was a burden off my shoulders; I felt as though I could discern the vocation completely and I wasn’t being trapped or forced into priesthood or the seminary.
From there, I completely invested myself in the parish, got to daily Mass, went to Confession regularly, got to adoration as much as I could, helped him run the youth group and put myself under his guidance as my spiritual director. Serving at as many Masses as I could really exposed me to what the priesthood is in its essence and helped me understand that if I’m being called to be a priest, the Lord will make that clear to me. I thought that if I were to indulge myself with the Catholic tradition, the Lord would not make this hard for me. He’s not trying to hide anything from me. He’s going to make it clear if I completely invest in this. And sure enough, he did.
Fr Gallagher and I enjoy sport, we enjoy fraternity, we enjoy spending time with our families, but I think probably a little bit deeper than that is the fact that we both think that the Catholic Church is an amazing institution that wants to do good for society, and we really feel a sense of loyalty to the Church and her teachings. Of course, our Lord and both of us want to expose people to that Good News, because we firmly believe that that is the best way for someone to live their life to the fullest, through the Catholic tradition. It’s a simple answer in many ways, but I guess the common thing is we’re both men that want to give our lives to God completely.
He was willing to do eight hours of travel to have a conversation with me, to chat with me, to see how my family was, and to just catch up and make sure that the friendship we established at ACYF was maintained.
Pastoral care is at the forefront of Father’s ministry. I’ve been very privileged to be able to see that and understand the sacrifices he’s willing to make and his desire to show Christ through his priesthood to the people of God.
When I was living in country Victoria, Father travelled up to Bright, which is a four-hour journey. He saw me on the Saturday morning and then drove home at midday to say a Saturday-night Mass. He was willing to do eight hours of travel to have a conversation with me, to chat with me, to see how my family was, and to just catch up and make sure that the friendship we established at ACYF was maintained, despite the fact that we were living at a distance. To be honest, I can’t think of a better example that sums up his pastoral care. It sums up his desire to always be available for the souls within his care. So that is the thing I admire most about him, because that is his vocation, and he’s faithfully fulfilling that.
Fr Gallacher taught me that God needs to be the most important thing in my life, and I won’t be happy without him. God knows what’s best for me better than I do, and that’s quite a humbling thing to remember. I went from being a Sunday Mass-goer who didn’t really understand what the Church taught or wasn’t overly devout and certainly didn’t have a prayer life, to someone who felt as though the Lord was calling me to be a priest. Without those conversations with Father and without his ongoing support, I certainly wouldn’t be sitting here now.
Fr Gallacher
Pat was part of the general group of about 100 young people in the Melbourne collective group at ACYF in Perth. I was allocated to his group as a chaplain. He was a young man who’d obviously been brought up in the faith but was very open to learning more and prepared to be challenged. He really threw himself into the week at ACYF and tried to learn as much as possible. I found him very, very humble and open.
We were sitting on the lawn at ACYF waiting for the final Mass to occur, and Pat came to the point of the conversation where he said that something had been unsettling him for a couple of days. I was aware that he’d been a bit unsettled, but he hadn’t told me what it was. He said, ‘I think you know what it is.’ I said, ‘Yeah, maybe I do, but I want you to say it.’ But he refused to say it. So I said, ‘Do you think it might be that the Lord’s calling you to be a priest?’ to which he immediately replied, ‘Yes.’
We’d had a lot to do with each other in that week, and I’d learnt a lot about him and his family and background, and I could certainly see that it was quite possible that the Lord was calling him to be a priest, and was excited that this was really the start of a journey of discernment for the next few years where he’d be able to settle on that moving forward.
My advice to him was certainly not to be scared of the vocation, to be open to it and to try to make the most of the opportunities that were there—to read, to deepen in his faith and to frequent the sacraments; to be regular at Confession and Mass as often as possible—not just at the weekend but during the week as well, where possible.
He knew that he would never be content making a decision unless he threw himself into discernment fully.
We went to the same school, which I was still involved in, so we were able to keep in touch. After ACYF, his family made the move, so to speak, to my parish, so Pat was then a parishioner of mine. He got really involved in the parish and was helpful with our teenagers and youth group. He ended up being the organiser of all my altar servers and then was seeing me for spiritual direction as well.
What I admire about Pat, particularly with regard to the vocation discernment, is that he really threw himself into it. He wanted to take every opportunity that was there so that he didn’t miss what the Lord was calling him to. At the time, he was still working full time in a trade as an arborist. He would be up trees at 4.30 in the afternoon in distant parts of Melbourne, but still somehow managed to get back in time for a 5.30 Mass. That was the sort of commitment that he had: he was really keen to be at Mass, to pray every day, asking lots of questions, doing lots of good reading, really opening himself up.
None of us like the idea of being called to the priesthood. It’s tricky. But he knew that he would never be content making a decision unless he threw himself into discernment fully.
I was also in year 11 and 17—the same age that Pat was—when I first felt the call. We had been on a retreat with the Carmelites, and one of those Carmelites after the retreat joked about my friend and I becoming priests. And there was a little flutter of excitement deep down inside, which I tried to ignore, but couldn’t really. It persisted. So I had to investigate the faith myself. I started practising the faith and then, long story short, I’m standing before you as a priest. The mate who was with me at the time had had a similar experience and is also a priest today, with the Capuchins, so it’s funny how the Lord works.
I feel a great sense of peace that this is what the Lord’s made me for. It doesn’t mean I haven’t had doubts about particular jobs within the priesthood, but that’s a very different thing to doubting a vocation. It’s not that the life is easy—there are plenty of challenges—but I’m very confident, nearly 13 years into the priesthood, that this is exactly where the Lord wants me.
Pat has reminded me of the optimism and the idealism that I had when I was at his stage in the vocational journey as well—just to be reminded to be joyful and really excited about what the Lord is doing.
Coming from different generations, Pat and I have certainly got a different sense of what’s going on. Pat’s very much connected to the current generation. I certainly try to support the current generation, but sometimes he needs to update me on some language—the jargon—that I don’t understand. There’ll be little phrases that are used that I have to get ‘translated’!
In many ways, I also think he’s a good example to me. He exhibits a lot of patience in the way that he deals with challenging situations, and I’ve certainly learnt a lot from his example.
Pat has reminded me of the optimism and the idealism that I had when I was at his stage in the vocational journey as well—just to be reminded to be joyful and really excited about what the Lord is doing. Sometimes, particularly as a parish priest, you get caught in lots of administrative things and can be a bit stuck, but Pat has certainly helped to bring me out of that and to see the positivity that is in the Church, and to see the idealism in him gives me a lot of encouragement.
