Biographical notes on
Fr Dominic William Meese OP
1926 - 2006
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William James Meese was born on 21 March 1926 in Northcote, a suburb of Melbourne, the second of seven children of Joe and Alice Meese. He was educated at St Mary's Primary School, Thornbury, St Thomas', Clifton Hill, and Christian Brothers' College on the Parade, East Melbourne. He was an excellent student. On leaving school, William felt he had a vocation to the religious life. After speaking to, among others, Fr Ambrose Crofts of the Dominican Order, he entered the novitiate of that Order at St Dominic's, East Camberwell, in January 1944, taking the religious name 'Dominic'. He made religious profession on 25 February 1945. After initial ecclesiastical studies, he was chosen in 1948 to go to Rome to undertake postgraduate work in philosophy and theology at the Dominican University of St Thomas, the Angelicum. He was ordained priest on 20 March 1950 in Rome by Cardinal Norman Gilroy, Archbishop of Sydney. On returning to Australia, Dominic taught logic, the history of philosophy, fundamental theology and Greek in the Dominican House of Studies in Melbourne until 1955 when he was assigned to teach at the Dominicans' school in Adelaide, Blackfriars Priory School. It was at this point that he received the assignation that would shape the rest of his life, procurator to the recently-opened Dominican mission in the Western Province of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, as it was then known. His first task was to go to Sydney to help refit a second-hand vessel which had been acquired to support mission activities. In 1957, together with Br (now Fr) Paul Purcell and a motley crew including a one legged Norwegian sea captain recently released from Long Bay Gaol, he sailed this ship, now named Salve Regina, to the Solomons, a voyage of 2,500 kilometres. Dominic's initial six-month assignment to the Western Solomons missions as procurator turned into a committed life time of 47 years. His first posting was to the mission station at Sirovanga. Conditions were very primitive and he found himself accommodated in a leaf hut. He was then transferred to Gizo where he was appointed as Vicar General and Chancellor of the Diocese, administrator of St Peter's cathedral and secretary to the Dominican Bishop, Eusebius Crawford. He supervised the construction of the cathedral, as well as the Bishop's house and a novitiate and chapel building for the Dominican Sisters on Loga. A man of passion, dedication, energy and enthusiasm, Dominic was a generous, hardworking servant of the Lord, the Church and his beloved Solomon Islanders. He was a man of many talents, active as priest, preacher, evangelist, teacher, administrator, organiser, businessman, builder, sailor. He easily acquired several of the local languages and served at mission stations at Nila and Tulagi, as well as Gizo and Sirovanga. Wherever he was posted, he always gave a priority to improving the health of the population by providing literature and medical supplies to villages, hospitals and clinics and he was instrumental in arranging for regular visits to various locations throughout the Solomons by leading Australian eye specialists. Dominic was a man of outstanding administrative ability and business acumen. At Gizo he liaised with the government on official matters, served as the representative of the Western Province on the Solomon Islands Ports Authority, functioned as the customs and immigration agent and a taxation consultant and was the local representative of businesses trading in sewing machines, soft drink, beer and cigarettes. He also helped to establish a branch of the Commonwealth Bank. He had many friends from both the indigenous and European communities, as well has helping the early Chinese people to establish their businesses. He was once described as virtually the Mayor of Gizo. A volatile temperament was balanced by a lively sense of humour. After his posting to the Solomon Islands, he devoted the whole of the rest of his life to the missions, except for a brief period in Rome as a fund raiser for the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas and the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem. On his return to the Solomon Islands in 1989 he worked in the Archdiocese of Honiara. While he called the Solomons Islands home, he returned to Australia at frequent intervals on family visits. His family was a very important part of his life and he would delight in sitting around the dinner table in the home of his brother, Harry, and sister-in-law, Joan, laughing mightily, cigar in hand, as he recalled stories, events characters of the islands. Harry organised fund-raising events to assist his brother's work. Poor health and old age eventually forced Dominic to return to Australia for good in 2000. He lived at St Dominic's Priory, Melbourne, until his deteriorating condition necessitated his transfer to St Catherine's Nursing Home, Balwyn, where he passed away peacefully on 29 July 2006. The funeral Mass was celebrated at St Dominic's, in the presence of Father Dominic's family and friends, on 2 August by the Dominican Bishop of Gizo, Bernard O'Grady, several Dominican priests concelebrating. The body was interred in the Dominican section of the Box Hill Cemetery. The same day a Requiem Mass was held in Holy Cross cathedral, Honiara, celebrated by Bishop Christopher Cardone of Auki, also a Dominican, and concelebrated by the Archbishop of Honiara, Adrian Smith and other priests. The music for this occasion was provided by students of St Joseph's School, Tenaru, and Bishop Epalle Catholic School, Rove. Dominic had been awarded a papal honour, the Cross pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, for his significant contribution to the evangelisation of the Solomon Islands. Christopher Dowd, OP Provincial Archivist/Historian |
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