MONSIGNOR John White was certain of his future by his final year of high school at Assumption College, Kilmore.
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As the youngest of four children, he had already sensed his calling from God.
“It was very much spoken about in those days from the pulpit and schools,” he said yesterday.
Tonight he will celebrate the golden jubilee of his ordination as a Catholic priest with a special mass at his church, St Patrick’s at Wangaratta.
Monsignor White, 74, was born at Jerilderie and grew up at Yarrawonga after his father, a motor mechanic, was seconded to the Mulwala munitions factory during World War II.
He said the call from God “just grew within me’’.
“It wasn’t like the priesthood was ultra-attractive or seemed like a wonderful life,’’ he said.
“But I grew up in a very religious family.”
Monsignor White joined the seminary at Corpus Christi near Werribee for eight years of study with five classmates from Kilmore also becoming priests.
Half-way through his final seminary year, he was ordained at Yarrawonga on July 21, 1962.
His first posting was St Kilian’s church at Bendigo, renowned as one of the world’s oldest weatherboard churches.
Four years later Bishop Bernard Stewart invited him to be a chaplain in the air force.
Monsignor White was told initially that the role would last four years, but it stretched to 28.
He was made an MBE in 1970 for services in Vietnam.
“Chaplain was my primary appointment, but in a secondary role I was a civil affairs officer,” he said.
“Among other things, we built a four-classroom school for the local Baptist church.
“We were also heavily involved in an orphanage for 200 Vietnamese orphans.”
Monsignor White also spent time in Malaysia and at RAAF bases including Laverton, Wagga, Richmond, Darwin and Glenbrook.
He became a monsignor in 1984 and his final eight years with the air force were spent in Canberra before returning to the Sandhurst Diocese in 1995.
Three years later, he moved to Wangaratta as parish priest of St Patrick’s, where he has spent the past 13 years.
He is assisted by two other priests, Fathers Eugene De La Corte and Frank Hart.
They serve four other churches in the parish, at Eldorado, St Bernard’s at Wangaratta, Boorhaman and Tarrawingee.
St Brigid’s at Greta was closed in 2010.
“They have been wonderful years,” Monsignor White said.
“I don’t have any regrets at all about this vocation in life.
“Tremendous change has taken place in the last 50 years though.
“I was ordained in the old Latin rite.
“The lack of priests is a big issue these days.
“To a large degree it is the laity who have come to the fore.
“The buck ultimately stops with the priest.
“But if you trust your people and delegate, life can be a lot easier.”
Monsignor White has no immediate retirement plans.
He intends to continue working a little beyond his 75th birthday in December.