May, 2005
| Fr Paul Jackson died at Nazareth House, Melbourne, of pulmonary oedema on Thursday, 12th May, 2005, after an extended period of illness. He was 76. Malcolm Kingston Jackson was born on 26 June 1928 in the Adelaide Hills town of Balhannah. His parents were William, a teacher, and Iris (née North), a pianist, and he had six sisters and two brothers, all younger. As a teacher with the Education Department of South Australia, Mr Jackson had several moves in his professional career which meant several changes of school for young Malcolm. He commenced his primary schooling with the Dominican Sisters at Cabra in Adelaide and then attended a series of state primary schools at country towns around South Australia, Copley, Daveyston, Roseworthy, Gawler and Allendale East (near Mount Gambier). On returning to Adelaide, his secondary education was carried out at the Christian Brothers' Rostrevor College at Magill. Malcolm Jackson joined the Dominican Order in 1945, being given the religious name 'Paul'. He made his first profession on 7 April 1946. After studying for the priesthood at the Order's two Australian houses of studies, St Dominic's Priory at East Camberwell, Melbourne, and Holy Name Priory at Wahroonga, Sydney, he was ordained on 30 November 1951 by the Archbishop of Adelaide, Matthew Beovich, in St Francis Xavier's cathedral. The newly-ordained Fr Paul spent a final year of studies at Wahroonga before being sent to Rome where he studied for his licentiate and doctorate in sacred theology at the Dominican University of St Thomas, the 'Angelicum', in the years 1953 and 1954. His doctoral thesis was titled, 'The "Prologue of St John's Gospel" in the Theology of St Thomas Aquinas'. On returning to Australia, he was appointed to the academic staff of the house of studies at Wahroonga, lecturing in theology, Old Testament exegesis, patristics and archaeology. In 1957 Fr Paul was assigned to the Dominican community at Camp Hill, Brisbane, where he served as conventual bursar, director of the Holy Name Society and the altar servers' guild and lecturer in theology and scripture to the Dominican and Presentation Sisters. Fr Paul's next move, in 1960, was to New Zealand, to Aquinas Hall in Dunedin, a residential facility for young men attending the University of Otago run by the Dominican friars. He was the Dean and Bursar of the Hall, chaplain to the Newman Society and lecturer in theology to the Dominican Sisters in the city and at their retreat house and conference centre at Teschemakers. He was also the director of the local Dominican laity chapter and worked with the Legion of Mary. He was active in civil welfare organisations, including the Lions Club, and on more than one occasion played the role of Father Christmas at children's Christmas parties. In 1965 he was appointed as the Provincial Promoter of Vocations for New Zealand. The Dunedin mission was to prove Fr Paul's longest single assignation, fifteen years, during which period he exercised a beneficial influence over several generations of young men passing through Aquinas Hall. Fr Paul loved Dunedin and, by all accounts, the Catholic community in the city loved him. Fr Paul left Dunedin in 1975 for new work as assistant parish priest and giver of retreats and missions in the Dominican parish in Perth, Our Lady of the Rosary, Doubleview. After a couple of years there he moved again to Canberra where he took up the offices of Dean and Deputy Master of John XXIII College at the Australian National University. At this time he was closely involved with the Dominican laity, both as Assistant Provincial Promoter and chaplain to the chapters at Watson and Moss Vale. He also resumed his teaching work, lecturing in the theology of the documents of the Second Vatican Council to the novices of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart at Hartzer Park in Bowral. In 1981 he was appointed as Master of John XXIII College and superior of the Dominican community. At the end of his term of office as Master at the College six years later, Fr Paul was assigned to the main Dominican community in Adelaide, St Laurence's Priory at North Adelaide, to help out in the parish and the chaplaincy at Calvary Hospital. He was re-assigned to St Dominic's Priory in Melbourne in 1989 and was chaplain to the local Dominican laity, as well as to Nazareth House, a retirement hospital run by the Congregation of the Poor Sisters of Nazareth. About this time Fr Paul was honoured for his life-long contribution to education by being made a Member of the Australian College of Education (MACE). Some years before, soon after leaving Dunedin, he had been made an Honorary Life Member of the New Zealand Associations of Heads and University Halls and Colleges. Fr Paul served on the Provincial Council in the early 1970s and on the Economic Council in the late 1980s and into the '90s. As Fr Paul's health began to fail, he took up residence at Nazareth House. Fortunately, he was well enough to travel to his home town of Adelaide in 2001 to celebrate the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood with his family, friends and brethren at a special Mass in St Laurence's church. Over the next few years his general health deteriorated markedly, but in his debility and frailty he was beautifully cared for to the end by the Sisters and staff at Nazareth House. Fr Paul Mary Jackson died as the dawn was approaching on 12 May 2005, the memorial of the martyr saints Nereus, Achilleus and Pancras. - Fr Christopher Dowd, O.P. Provincial Historian |
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