Yesterday we celebrated Father Bob Maguire's 50th Anniversary as a Catholic Priest. If you live in Melbourne, you probably know of Father Bob, he's somewhat of a celebrity these days, appearing on television, radio, Twitter, Podcasts and even has his own Wiki entry. Bob's commitment to humanitarian and charity work through the Father Bob Foundation is long standing and well known.
But Father Bob is more to us than priest, community leader and charity worker. He is also The Bloke's Great Uncle, and so we proudly joined a huge family contingent at Sts Peter and Pauls in South Melbourne yesterday for a special Mass celebrating Bob's 50 years in the priesthood. This is the same beautiful church where The Bloke and I were married, by Father Bob, more than 11 years ago.
I love this photo of Bob with my little Cheeseboy, taken at a family wedding a few months ago.
It was a wonderful celebration, which Bob took in his stride although he did seem a bit bemused about 'all the fuss'. At one point during the service he said he hoped the Church police weren't here because they would lock him up and throw away the key if they saw this Altar Cloth made for him by members of the parish:
Congratulations Bob, on 50 years of service to the community and generally being an all round caring and compassionate man. We love you.
