Inspired by God’s love, through worship, prayer and scriptural reflection, we seek to live our Christ-centred values by meeting the The needs of our communities through serving and accepting others. Issue: 086 A Newspaperdvocate of the Anglican Diocese of Wangaratta I www.wangaratta-anglican.org.au August/September 2019 Bishop John reflects on BY SIMONE KERWIN eventfula bit underresourced, but we punch 11 years Courtesy Wangaratta Chronicle a bit above our weight.” Bishop John Parkes delights in Originally from the UK, Bishop telling how he decided to relocate John completed his primary from Brisbane to Wangaratta. education in public schools before winning a scholarship to a private It was the end of 2007, and he school, and from there earning a had been asked by Archbishop place at Sheffield University Law of Brisbane Phillip Aspinall (for School. The decision to pursue law whom he had been commissary) to was made for him, through career become principal at Queensland’s guidance with the school’s biology St Francis’ Theological College the master, who said his performance following year. However, a move in science ruled out medicine, and to the North East was also on the the fact he’d had to write 1000 lines radar for the then Assistant Bishop on the importance of reverence in and Dean of Brisbane’s St John’s the school chapel meant religion Cathedral, along with his wife was out. Margaret, and children Nell and James. “He said, ’Law – that’s the career for you’, so off I went and did a “So Marg and I took a week off and degree in law in the late ’60s,” he came down to Melbourne, hired a said. car, and I thought, ‘I’d better have a look at this place before I say no’,” “I’d been a very straitlaced child, he said. but at university in the ’60s, I grew my hair down to my shoulders, “We were driving up from wore a leather headband and Alexandra to Mansfield, when we a kaftan, had a copy of Sartre’s came across Bonnie Doon. ‘Being and Nothingness’ in one hand and packet of Gauloises “Now, I thought Bonnie Doon was cigarettes in the other, thinking that a mythical town invented only for I was a communist, an idealist. the best Australian film that’s ever been, ‘The Castle’, so as we came “I was never quite sure about to Bonnie Doon, I said to Margaret, practising law, so I left university ‘I’m the Bishop of Bonnie Doon’.” and got a job working for Chrysler UK as export scheduling Bishop John’s booming laugh coordinator - the best name for accompanies the punchline, but filing clerk I’ve ever heard. he quickly adds: “That’s part of the story”. “It was clear to me that this “I had a great old time, but realised was where God was calling me,” that that was not what I was meant he said. to do with my life, so at the end of two years, with a pocket full of As he prepares to celebrate 10 money and not much sense of years at the helm of the Diocese what to do with my life, I went to of Wangaratta with a thanksgiving Australia on holiday, and here I am service in Holy Trinity Cathedral 45 years later – jet lag is a terrible tomorrow morning, Bishop John thing.” reflected on the decade. “In some ways it feels like five minutes; in Staying with family in Sydney, he some ways it feels like I’ve always enjoyed the sense of freedom and “I firmly believe that I was called here been here,” he said. being judged on “who you were, by God because of the mix of skills and rather than where you fitted into “It’s been a good time; it’s not the class system”. experience that I bring”. - BISHOP JOHN PARKES been an easy time for all sorts of reasons, but it’s certainly been a “I also took naturally to the bush, good time, from my work point of I’ve always loved the bush,” he view, from my family, for my James, said. who is a dear man with autism and has settled in to Wangaratta “My intention was to go back to to Sir John Moore, then president He completed the solicitor’s and is happy and safe - and for a England and do the solicitor’s of the Australian Conciliation and professional skills course at the “I went to church as a child on my parent, that’s what you want for professional exams; when I didn’t Arbitration Commission.” College of Law, and was admitted own, though I had no interest in your kids. “My daughter’s made a go back, they exempted me from as a barrister in 1977, then practised Sunday school – it was worship I career at Cathedral College, and is about two thirds of the barrister’s This was also where the future at the Sydney Bar, but was “never loved,” he said. blossoming. admission board here on the bishop met his future wife, quite convinced the law was it – the strength of my English degree, so Margaret. God stuff had always been there”. Conitinued on page 2 “WeJean are Henderson a small diocese here, and I got a fabulous job as associate Inside the Advocate this month ....... PAGE 3 PAGE 5 PAGE 6 2 THE ADVOCATE August/September 2019 reason why we’re here. challenge for our Roman Catholic brothers, is how we celebrate “We are obviously having to the Eucharist in the absence of a craft solutions that ensure good stipendiary priest. are is given into the future in an increasingly challenging market.” “But also how we engender and sustain ministry, because the National issues like the Royal ministry is the call of all baptised Commission into Institutional people. Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and the same sex marriage debate, “A community cannot just dissolve have also been addressed locally. its responsibility for ministry into the hands of a priest. So that’s a “The Royal Commission has been a challenge for us.” real challenge for the whole church,” Bishop John said. Despite the challenging terrain of his tenure, and additional roles as “We have not escaped the evil of it, co-chair of the Anglican-Uniting although we haven’t had the same Church dialogue, representing level of institutional abuse other Australian Anglican bishops at places have had. the International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and “There is nothing to say in the Mission, and on the Trinity College face of the findings of the Royal and theological school boards, then returned to Canberra, for roles Continued from front page Wodonga and Cobram. Commission other than ‘Lord, have Bishop John is sure his move to as Rector of All Saints Ainslie, and mercy; Christ have mercy; Lord Wangaratta was the right one. “I walked out of the church about the Archdeacon of Canberra South. “One of the things I’m most pleased have mercy’, and to seek as best we time I went to university; the church with is being able to lead the can to apologise for and to undo the “I firmly believe that I was called here was a bit passe, but God was good, The next move was north, where schools into the Anglican Schools harm which was perpetrated in the by God because of the mix of skills God’s always been good. the Diocese of Brisbane was Commission, and seeing them church by people who should have and experience that I bring,” he said. searching for a new Dean of flourish,” he said. been safe for vulnerable people, and “But during the time at the bar, the St John’s Cathedral, a role that who proved to be wickedly unsafe.” “The next bishop will be very different God stuff really started to chrystalise. included overseeing completion of Cathedral College joined the to me, and needs to be. the cathedral. commission in 2011, securing its Bishop John said he was “A lot of the people I dealt with were future in the rural city, where Bishop overwhelmed by the level of support “Some of the frustration I have just people who’d fallen off the edge The cathedral project drew on John says it is “going gangbusters at the diocesan synod this year, was that I wasn’t really ordained of life and, yeah, they needed a good Bishop John’s business acumen, – it’s just about the school of choice when he raised the possibility and consecrated to be a business lawyer, but that was a symptom, not and he helped attract millions of around here”. of blessing same sex marriages manager, and that some of the a cause, and I dollars in donations. following last year’s national vote. things that give me joy and energy, was a bit more interested in dealing Albury-Wodonga’s Trinity Anglican like preaching and teaching and with causes. “We had five or six magic years in College, and Cobram’s Anglican “I’m still awaiting some legal advice dreaming the future, I think I’ve had Brisbane,” he said. Then came the Grammar School joined the on what my powers are in terms of too little time to do. “So I deliberately wound down the Parkes family’s relocation to the commission in 2015. being able to give blessings to same practice, and for a couple of years North East, and his installation as sex unions, but it is my intention “I think the next bishop who comes or so, made violins, which gave me Bishop of Wangaratta on December “The blessing has been twofold; to tell the bishops next year that I after me will have to be a bit of a a chance to contemplate; after two 13, 2008.