Wodonga priest Father David Holloway, marks 50 years of service

Father David Holloway was ordained as an Anglican deacon in February 1972, in Wangaratta diocese, and as a priest the following year.

His parish work has included stints at Wodonga, Shepparton, Moyhu, Kilmore, Corryong, Numurkah and Nathalia, and he often visited people as part of his pastoral care.

But more rare was the reverse; somebody coming to see the minister not because they were clergy, but because they too belong to the church family.

"To have somebody actually come in and say, 'I'm coming to visit you' was one of the best things I've ever had happen to me," Father Holloway recalled.

That story points to the evolution he has witnessed within the church over the past five decades.

"When I came in clergy were dressed in black and collars and all that sort of stuff - I never liked black," the 77 year-old said with a laugh.

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"I came into a very calcified church, hadn't changed its ways for years and years and years.

"And it's changed dramatically (since).

"We've gotten people to do their own ministries as much as they can these days rather than us do the ministry for them.

"It's much more inclusive and people are involved."

Raised in an Anglican family that moved around with his father's bank job, Father Holloway trained for five years in Adelaide. He was then accepted for ordination by Bishop Keith Rayner, later the Anglican Primate of Australia and Archbishop of Melbourne.

"Basically you're serving the Lord and serving your people, being there for them and helping them because they're the ones you're ministering to, helping them to do their job," Father Holloway said.

He met his future wife Heather while at Moyhu and the couple have two adult children and one grandchild.

In 1984 Father Holloway became an industrial chaplain with the Inter-Church, Trade and Industry Mission, supporting public and private workplaces in an area from Corryong to Echuca and down to Woods Point.

"By the time I left they were beginning to break my area into about three areas, it was immense," he said.

Whether it was the police, V/Line, Kraft or Bonlac, Australian Newsprint Mills or the Country Fire Authority, he never had an office but walked through on the same day every week.

"That means people didn't have to go to an office to see you, so therefore anything they had privately to tell you, they could talk on the floor, which made a big difference," he said.

Though it took time to get to know people, eventually he gained trust and offered support to families as well as the employees themselves.

Father Holloway returned to parish ministry in 1989 and retired originally in 2005, but since then has done regular locum and assistant work and "I just fill in if people need me now".

"It has been fulfilling," he said of his 50-year career.

"I've met some marvellous people, those who I've ministered to and who have ministered to me."

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