WANGARATTA’S three Catholic parishes will be served by only two priests when Monsignor John White retires next month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The responsibility of the Wangaratta, South Wangaratta and Moyhu parishes will be shared between newly appointed priest Father Michael Pullar and assistant priest Father Eugene De La Corte.
Father Frank Hart, who had been based in Wangaratta, also retired late last month.
Monsignor White will follow him into retirement on April 17 after agreeing to staying on for the Wangaratta parish’s 150-year celebrations and Easter.
He turned 75 last December and will retire to his hometown Yarrawonga.
Monsignor White 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.
Father Pullar, 65, is based in the Golden Square parish in Bendigo and like Monsignor White, has previous experience in the air force.
Monsignor White spent nearly three decades as an airforce chaplain and in 1970 was awarded an MBE for services in Vietnam.
He became a monsignor in 1984 when he was still with the air force.
Father Pullar is a Kiwi, who has spent time with the New Zealand and Royal Australian air forces.
Monsignor White has been the St Patrick’s parish priest in Wangaratta since 1998.
He said there were no plans to close down other churches with a reduced number of priests in Wangaratta.
“It adds to the pressure of work and burden of office,” Monsignor White said.
“You have to make decisions as to what the priorities are.
“It is reality because we haven’t got the numbers.”
The most recent church to close down in the Wangaratta area was St Brigid’s at Greta in 2010.
One of Monsignor White’s last official roles was the recent funeral and burial of Australian bushranger Ned Kelly, 132 years after his death.
The service was conducted in St Patrick’s Church, but was not without its controversy for the departing monsignor, who was criticised for his involvement.
“That is the nature of Ned Kelly,” he said.
“He was a divisive element during his lifetime and will be for the whole of Australia’s history.
“I’ve got no regrets.
“We didn’t eulogise him and it was a case of giving him a Christian burial which we do for anyone.
“We are a church of saints and sinners.”