Peter arrived at St Virgil’s in 1958 as a boarder from Burnie where his father had been appointed as Headmaster of the local high school.
Peter arrived at St Virgil’s in 1958 as a boarder from Burnie where his father had been appointed as Headmaster of the local high school. His nickname at the time was ‘Elvis’ given his similar visage to that of the then teen idol. He was an outstanding student and was part of the First VIII and the First XVIII in his final year, 1960. It certainly got the tongues wagging when from what appeared to be very much left field the word went around that he had decided to enter the priesthood. He was ordained a priest of the Columban Missionary Society at St Mary’s, Star of the Sea Church, Burnie, Tasmania, by Bishop Guildford Young, on July 14 1967. After ordination Fr Peter was appointed to Peru and following language studies served in parish ministry in the squatter areas of Lima until 1977 when he was appointed to mission education and vocations work in Australia for three years. After some study in Berkeley, California, he returned to parish work in Peru until 2001 when he came back to Australia and further study at Latrobe University in Melbourne where he eventually received a PhD for a thesis on rural life and culture in the Andes. A final re-appointment to Peru in 2005 continued until 2009 when he returned to Australia and began a new career as a reporter of stories about mission and missionaries for The Far East magazine. Many of these stories were compiled into a book titled ‘Columbans on Mission’. Fr Peter continues to use his writing skills as editor of both the Australian Journal of Mission Studies and ‘Columban Intercom’, an in-house Columban newsletter. Father Peter (2nd from left) celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Ordination last year – congratulations from all Old Virgilians.
