A baptismal pilgrimage - Teresa Pirola

What do you know of your baptism day? Where was it held? Who was present? Does this event continue to enliven your story of faith and family? Here, Archbishop Leonard Faulkner (Archbishop Emeritus of Adelaide) reminisces on the baptismal currents that flow through his own family history in the southern Flinders Ranges region of South Australia.

We are ten in our family. A precious document for us is a single sheet entitled: ‘Faulkner Baptisms at Booleroo Centre’. Produced 30 years ago, it lists the baptism details of myself and seven of my brothers and sisters. Two more siblings were baptised in other towns to which Dad moved looking for work.

In 2005 the five remaining ‘boys’ in our family (all over 70) made a pilgrimage to our place of baptism in Booleroo Centre. We stayed at the local hotel, had dinner there with the local parish priest, pastoral associate and about 20 people who have connections with our family. We left the district 70 years ago! When we gathered for Mass the next morning the homily invited a sharing of what baptism has meant for each one. The local people made a strong connection between their baptism, the Eucharist, and the church. We adjourned to a morning tea in the presbytery, and continued our baptism sharing.

My brothers and I then visited the site of our family home, in a fairly remote area. The house is a heap of stones but we were able to distinguish the kitchen in which we said the rosary. We recalled how, after the rosary, Dad would continue on his knees praying the ‘Thirty Days Prayer’ for a job, as he was unemployed at that time. Then Dad would stand up, gaze fondly at us children and say, ‘God will look after us.’ Our baptismal life was strongly supported by a trust in divine providence, knowing that God does indeed look after us.

We continued on to Hawker, staying in the caravan park, and spent a couple of days in the Flinders Ranges which were in view of our family home. My brother Peter, a Christian Brother and geologist, facilitates an annual retreat in the Flinders. He has a strong sense of his baptism inviting him to all God’s creation.

We stayed overnight at Sevenhill where our mother was born, baptised and married. In a way, this is our spiritual home. The Mass and homily in St Aloysius Church again took up the ‘baptism’ theme. About 20 cousins joined us, also for a dinner the night before.

We came home through Polish Hill River and Mintaro, the district in which our great-grandparents settled, and are now buried. Our great grandfather, George Faulkner, was not a Catholic, but his Irish wife insisted on baptism for the children. Within a few years George himself was baptised by the Jesuits of Sevenhill. He was a man who truly lived his baptism.

Last year our sister Mary died. Her godmother, Eileen (now 95 years), is the only sponsor still living among those who witnessed the Faulkner baptisms. She has been a dear friend to our family, and an excellent godmother to Mary despite living hundreds of miles away. After Mary’s death, my brother Peter and I drove to Port Pirie to have lunch with Eileen and talk about her relationship with Mary, her godchild. We took the sheet listing the Faulkner baptisms. She knew each one of us and was close to my parents—but especially to Mary.

In January the church celebrates the Baptism of the Lord. Treasure your own baptismal story.

‘Baptismal pilgrims’, from left: Peter (Christian Brother), Vin (married with four children), Len (Archbishop), Gerry (Christian Brother), and Leo (married with four children).