Parish and School News

Farewell Fr Des of Drysdale

Tuesday 4 Septemeber 2012

By Edwina Hall
Kairos Catholic Journal

LAST month Fr Des Panton celebrated three important milestones: his Golden Jubilee, his retirement as parish priest of St Thomas’, Drysdale, where he had been pastor for 32 years, and his 75th birthday.

As parish priest of Drysdale Fr Des served four churches on the Bellarine Peninsula: St Thomas’, Drysdale; Lumen Christi, Leopold; Ss Philip and James, St Leonards; and St Patrick’s, Portarlington.

He is well loved by all who know him and is famous for both his singing and storytelling. His homilies were often characterised by storytelling and it was common for him to burst into song.

On Sunday 22 July a special Mass was held for Fr Des at St Thomas’, which was overflowing with people who had come to farewell him.

“It was sensational,” Fr Des said. “We had Mass at 2pm and there were about 15 priests concelebrating. Fr Fitzpatrick preached and the singing was just magnificent.”

After Mass afternoon tea was prepared by parishioners and held at St Thomas’ Primary School.

Fr Des reflected on how love had carried him through his 50 years in the priesthood.

“Being at the service of people and being loved by people as you love people is what carries you through it; whatever you are doing for them they appreciate and care about you just as you try and care about them.”

Fr Panton entered the priesthoodat the age of 25. He was ordained on 21 July 1962 at St Patrick’s Cathedral by Archbishop Simmonds.

“As a kid I always thought about being a priest. My father had a great respect for priests and the priesthood; so I saw through him how important the priesthood was,” Fr Des said.

“When I was ordained a priest I went down to bless him and he was crying. It was the first time I saw my father cry. Emotionally he was thinking, ‘Wow my son is a priest, what a great blessing, what an extraordinary gift God has given to me to have my son a priest.’"

“We went to Mass every Sunday when I was growing up and my brother and I often went to Mass during the week—we used to fight over who would say the first Mass when we were priests.

“My brother Robert died when he was about 27. He wanted to be a priest and he went away to become a priest but his health gave way and it got worse and eventually he died.”

Fr Des, who was educated at Assumption College, Kilmore, grew up in Prahran, where his father owned a chook shop at the Prahran Market.

“Fathers are terribly, terribly important. Without my father I wouldn’t have got to where I got. Without his humour and the way he loved us it was just extraordinary,” he said.

“He was a great, great Dad and Mum was great too. We knew they loved us so much and did everything for us and spent money educating us when they didn’t have much money.”

Fr Des said building Lumen Christi Church at Leopold, the new St Thomas’ Church in Drysdale, and setting up St Ignatius College Drysdale and then connecting it with St Thomas’ Primary School were some of his biggest achievements as parish priest of Drysdale.
Baptisms are Fr Des’s favourite sacrament as he said they give us hope for the future.

“Baptisms are special because you are involved with babies and their families and it’s a great celebration for them. It’s a great joy to see the little bubba come in.”

He said that over the years he has drawn his strength from prayer.

“Praying and talking to God about the story and asking him to guide and to forgive.”

Fr Des’s favourite hymns include I thank my God ; All I ask of you is to remember me as loving you; I’ve carved you in the palm of my hand; Come to the water and Eagles Wings-which he sang as his responsorial at his Farewell Mass.

“I’ve always liked singing at Mass and encouraged people to sing,” Fr Des said.

“The parishioners have taught me that they care about me and therefore they see significance in me, whereas perhaps they could see insignificance. In the words of Padovano, “there’s no such thing as an insignificant person, it’s just the significance we fail to see.”

“I hope to be remembered as someone who came and tried to love you and tried to do things for the people.

“I will miss the people, being amongst people, being there for people,” he said.

Fr Des will live out his retirement in Drysdale.

Fr Des has served as:

• president of the Corpus Christi Priests’ Association for 22 years.
• the Geelong representative on the Senate of Priests and was elected chairman for two years during the time of Archbishop Little.
• a foundation member of St Patrick’s Committee, set up by the Archdiocese to provide funds and care for priests who had left the priesthood.
• president of the Canonical Administrators of Saint Ignatius College, Geelong, for the past seven years.

Photo 1 supplied by Fr James Puppady
Photo 2 supplied by Mr Paul Lewis