Written by Br. Francis Fam OP   

First Bishop of Gizo Solomon Islands 1960-1994

John Crawford was born in Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland, in the Diocese of Dromore, Ireland on 4^th Dec, 1917. His parents were Vincent and Rose Crawford, natives of the town. His father was Town Clerk in Warrenpoint. He had 4 siblings, 3 sisters, and one brother. He was baptised on the day of his birth . On completion of his primary school in the town, he travelled by train each day to attend the Abbey school in Newry, 6 miles away - run by the Irish Christian Brothers. He completed the Senior Certificate Examinations at end of 1934. His family was very musical and from his parents he developed a great love of music. He learnt the piano from age 8 under very good teachers. At the end of his schooling he sat for the National Music scholarship. He gained second place. He used to say that had he won the scholarship, his life would have been very different.

Warrenpoint, County Down North Ireland

St Peter’s Catholic Church, Warrenpoint

 

 

DOMINICAN LIFE 1934

 

John Crawford learnt the piano from an early age and became an accomplished pianist

 

John decided to enter the novitiate of the Irish Dominicans at Tallaght on Sept 1934 at age 16 and after his novitiate he was professed in 1935. He took Eusebius as his name in religion. He continued his studies at Tallaght Priory for the next 6 years and at the end of his studies he received the Dominican degree of lector in Sacred Theology. After all this study he was ordained to the priesthood in Dublin on 29^th March, 1941.

His musical education continued while a student for the priesthood. He was taught the organ by an excellent teacher. He maintained a strong interest in music all his life and many years later in Melbourne he worked with the late Burl Ives in the preparation of a collection of Australian Folk music. He was also involved with Dr Percy Jones with the St Patrick’s Cathedral Choir.

 

 

Tallaght Priory and chapel, Dublin - Dominican Studium for young men training to become Dominicans.

 

 

FIRST APPOINTMENT 1941– 45

 

His first assignment was to the Dominican College, Newbridge, a secondary boarding school for boys. He was appointed to the teaching staff and taught there during the war years 1941- 45.

 

AUSTRALIA 1946

 

In 1946 he was assigned to Australia, then a vicariate of the Irish Province. The Dominican Order in Australia had three foundations: St Laurence’s North Adelaide; St Dominic’s East Camberwell; Wahroonga Parish, Sydney. He sailed to Australia on the Blue Funnel cargo- liner, “Sarpedon” on August 3^rd, 1946 with Fr Bernard Curran OP and Fr Declan Geraghty OP. 3 years later he became a full member of the Province of the Assumption when it was established in 1950.

 

 

Fr Eusebius with the Dominican community, East Camberwell In the 1940’s.

 

 

 

He first landed in Australia in Perth, then travelled by boat to Adelaide, where he was welcomed to his new country by Fr Ambrose Crofts OP, the Vicar Provincial. He then continued his journey to Melbourne where he finally left the ship and was appointed to take up a position on the staff of the studium in East Camberwell. He took up his duties teaching in the studium in February, 1947. He taught Philosophy, Scripture, Hebrew and Greek to the Dominican students. In 1951, he was appointed Master of students and soon after also took on responsibilities as Novice Master after the death of Fr Bertrand Curran OP. This new appointment meant he could no longer continue with his teaching duties. In 1955, he went by sea to Naples as socius of the deffinitor for the General Chapter . In 1957, he was appointed Prior and Parish Priest in Wahroonga, Sydney. His next appointment was to become Prior of St Dominic’s in East Camberwell in July 1959 and he served in that position until March 26^th, 1960.

 

St Dominic’s Priory, East Camberwell where Fr Eusebius taught theology and Philosophy

 

 

Wahroonga Priory and Church, Sydney

Fr Eusebius was Prior and Parish Priest 1957– 59

 

Fr Eusebius was a member of the 1956 Chapter of the Dominican Province

 

 

 

 

He arrived in Rome to prepare for his consecration as Bishop. His family arrived in Rome for the ceremony

 

ORDINATION AS BISHOP May 8th 1960

 

 

 

He was ordained Titular Bishop of Caffa in St Peter’s Rome with 13 other bishops by Pope John XX111 on Sunday 8^th May, 1960. His father and brothers and sisters were present. Sadly, his mother had died in 1957.

He was ordained by Pope John XX111 with 13 other missionary bishops.

 

 

 

 

 

APPOINTED BISHOP 1960

 

 

 

On March 1^st, 1960 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the new Dominican mission in the West Solomon Islands. where Dominicans missionaries had been since 1956.

 

 

 

 

 

Bishop Crawford’s Episcopal motto

Highlights of the ceremony of ordination

· First Mass as Bishop

· Homage paid to the Pope

· Blessing of the people

· Pope greets Bishop Crawford

 

New missionary bishops meet Pope John XX111 in audience

 

Vatican II

 

2nd from the left 2nd row Bishop Crawford S951

 

 

Bishop Crawford attended all the sessions of the Second Vatican Council from 1962– 1965.

He took part in the discussions and the voting on all the documents that came out of the Council.

The decrees of the Council were to form the basis of his administration of his new Diocese in Gizo once he returned to his Vicariate Apostolic after the Council

The Decrees of the Council that would have an important impact on his pastoral ministry as Bishop were:

-The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium

-The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation

- The Decree on Ecumenism

-The Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church

-The Declaration on the relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions

-The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World

Visit to Ireland

 

 

 

Bishop Crawford returned to Ireland after his ordination as Bishop to be received in his hometown of Warrenpoint and in visiting his family. The locals rejoiced in having one of their own as a Bishop

 

During the Vatican Council he had the chance to meet with all the Dominican Bishops across the world to discuss the missionary work of the Order

DOMINICAN MISSION IN THE WEST SOLOMONS ISLANDS

 

First Dominican Missionaries to West Solomon Islands 1956

The story of the Dominican Mission in the West Solomons went back to 1956 when the first group of missionaries, both Dominican priests, brothers and sisters, came to the West Solomon, under the leadership of Fr Peter McDonald. In 1960 the territory of the mission was placed under direct episcopal supervision by the creation of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Western Solomons. This area, assigned to Bishop Crawford in the West Solomons, was detached from the missionary Dioceses of the North Solomons (Bishop Wade S.M.) and the Southern Solomons (Bishop Stuyvenberg S.M.). In 1966 the Vicariate Apostolic was raised to the status of a diocese, that of Gizo. It was in this diocese that Bishop Crawford served until his retirement 34 years later in 1994.

Salve Regina—the missionary boat for the vicariate of Gizo, used by Bishop Crawford for many years

 

 

Bishop Crawford left Brisbane with Fr Jerome O’Rorke, the Prior Provincial, to travel to the West Solomons at end of October, 1960. He and Fr O’Rorke arrived first in Munda and were met there by the mission ship, Salve Regina. He left on the Salve Regina the next morning for Gizo which was a journey of 5 hours. Fr Paul Purcell was Captain of boat. The new Bishop was welcomed at the wharf by the local people, including the District Commissioner. The Government was worried by the arrival of a Catholic Bishop in the area as it was a strong Methodist mission area. Fortunately, over time, good relations developed between the two churches. The ship then moved to Loga Island, 7 miles away, an island purchased by the Dominicans a few years earlier. Bishop Crawford was welcomesdthere by the Dominican Sisters and Fr Dominic Meese, business manager of the mission.

 

Bishop Crawford was installed in his new vicariate at the mission station at Nila in Shortland Islands, five hours from Gizo. Fr Bernard O’Grady OP was priest in charge of Nila and welcomed him. At the Nila Church he presented his papers to Bishop Lemay S.M. Bishop Bougainville and celebrated his first Mass. Nila was first mission station in Solomons Islands established by Marist Fathers in 1899.

A leaf Church had been built on Loga Island and in time, became the cathedral of the new Diocese of Gizo in 1966. Bishop Crawford and Fr Peter McDonald lived in a leaf house. The sisters cooked meals for them. They relied on Kerosene refrigerators and there was no electricity and for lighting they relied on pressure lamps. Eventually, once Gizo became a diocese in its own right in 1966, Bishop Crawford decided to take up residence in Gizo which was the only township in the new diocese and was the centre of civil administration in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIOCESE

Bishop Crawford’s own account of the development of the Diocese of Gizo is instructive. On his arrival in Gizo there was no Church in the town, only a house for the priest. Fr Dominic Meese O.P., business manager of the mission lived there and said Mass in St Peter’s Catholic School, a junior primary school. St Peter’s Church, was finally built in Gizo Town by a lay missionary, Joseph de Dassel before he returned to Australia in 1964. It is now the Cathedral of the Diocese of Gizo. When he first arrived in Gizo in 1960 the Catholic population was 1800. By 1995, when Bishop Crawford retired, the Catholic population had risen to 7000 out of a population of 78,000.

 

A significant date in the history of the Solomons Mission was the year 1966 when the prefectures and vicariates of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands were formally erected into dioceses. This meant that the Vicariate Apostolic of the Western Solomons became the Diocese of Gizo and part of the ecclesiastical province presided over by the Archbishop of Honiara. The two suffragan dioceses are Gizo and Auki. Bishop Crawford became the first Bishop of the Diocese of Gizo in 1966.

Native Vocations

 

INDIGENOUS CLERGY AND RELIGIOUS

Bishop Crawford took great pride in the development of local indigenous clergy. Over the years numbers of young Solomon Islanders entered the Dominican Order and Bishop Crawford took great pride in the ordination of the first priest for the Diocese in The Dominican Sisters had a steady stream of Solomonese Sisters who became engaged in pastoral, nursing and educational ministries. The Sisters of the Order established a very successful Domestic Science school for girls at Nila. .

 

 

Bishop Crawford was given great support by the Australian Prior Provincials over the years. This photo shows Bishop Crawford with two Prior provincials of the Australian Province: Fr Nick Punch OP (1980– 89); Fr Jerome O’Rorke OP(1956—72)

 

 

Missionaries who worked with Bishop Crawford from 1960—1994

Bishop Bernard O'Grady OP, Fr Maurice Keating OP, Fr Stephen Kamoa OP,

Fr John Tiroko OP, Fr Callistus Tavisibatu OP, Fr Simon Suvenava OP,

Fr Henry Paroi OP , Fr Matthias Walsh, Br Frank McKinnon OP,

Fr Brendan Phillips OP, Fr Peter Kobakina OP, Br Patrick Hynes OP

Fr John Aleke, Fr Michael Lomiri, Br Paul Purcell OP

 

The various missions the Diocese administered were at Nila in the Shortland Islands; Sirovanga, N-E Choiseul; Moli, South end of Choiseul Island. Bishop Crawford expresses his gratitude for the work of the Dominican Sisters on the mission stations in the Diocese, They became the main teachers in the primary schools, assisted by lay missionaries from Australia and New Zealand.

Bishop Crawford Baptises

TRAVELS TO ROME

Each Bishop is required to visit Rome on his Ad Limina visit to report to the Pope on his Diocese. Bishop Crawford made these visits as required and met successive Popes. He also had time to meet with other Dominican Bishops to discuss the missionary work of the Church across the world.

 

 

Bishop Crawford visited Pope John Paul a number of times over his 34 years as Bishop to report on his Diocese.

These photos come from one of his later visits to see the Pope.

Bishop Crawford meets Pope John Paul 11 in his private study

Retiremenet and Jubilee

 

In 1991, Bishop Crawford celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a priest. He was honoured on the occasion by Church and Government. In the 1970 he had received the CBE from the Queen on the occasion of her visit to the Solomon Islands.

 

 

ASSESSMENT OF HIS MINISTRY AS BISHOP OF GIZO

 

On 3rd February Bishop Crawford retired as the Bishop of Gizo at the age of 75 years. His successor, Bishop Cyril O’Grady was ordained Bishop of Gizo in May, 1995 by Bishop Crawford. Bishop O’Grady, who worked with his predecessor from his early days in Gizo, has provided a wonderful assessment of his long term as the first Bishop of Gizo.

 

Bishop Crawford

 

 

 

Bishop O’Grady,Bishop of Gizo (1995-2008 )

Bishop O’Grady points to the many obstacles Bishop Crawford had to over come in carrying out his mission- the long hours travelling by boat, coping with rough seas, coping with crocodiles and malaria in his travels. He brought to this challenge many skills. He notes how he put his musical skills to good use. His perfect pitch helped him to learn a smattering of local languages. He could celebrate mass in 3 languages with a perfect accent. He was also a good listener and considerate to those not always in a listening mood themselves. He had a strong sense of the importance of hospitality and introduced a Happy Hour and loved to offer a drink to whoever came along. It was always with the same words, “ You are most welcome!” often, stressed missionaries came to see him to off load their worries and on arrival were presented with a beer and a warm welcome.

 

 

Bishop Crawford and Br Dominic Mahony OP, his missionary companion. They worked together in building the Diocese of Gizo from 1960—95.

Bishop O’Grady states he was full of understanding of the conditions under which people worked on the outer stations and parishes and showed his appreciation for the work they did. Bishop O’Grady also points to the importance of the spirit of Vatican II in Bishop Crawford’s management of his Diocese. Ecumenism took on great importance for him in the West Solomons. He understood the many beliefs the different Christian ,faiths working in the Solomons, had in common, especially their common Baptism. He was proud of the way the churches could come together to worship on special occasions and to share the things they had in common. Bishop Crawford saw the opening of a Catholic School on the islands that had a majority of non- Catholic students. In later times Bishop O’Grady notes that the title ‘Our Bishop’ was taken on by many churches out of appreciation for his ecumenical spirit. The spirit of Vatican 11 became, in the words of Bishop O’Grady, a ‘burning fire” around which the local church was built. His method of administration was to enable those under him to act freely and creatively in carrying our Bishop Crawford’s vision for the Church in Gizo.

 

Bishop O’Grady also notes the importance of the Dominican spirit and the search for truth in all that he did. He sought out the truth of the culture of the people he lived with so that the faith could be built on what the early Marist missionaries had done as well as what he recognised as profound in the natives own culture. His challenge was always to adapt the new while still respecting the past.

 

 

BISHOP CRAWFORD AND DOMINICAN SISTERS

 

 

On the occasion of his retirement, the native Dominican Sisters of the Solomons with whom Bishop Crawford had worked over many years paid a tribute to him in their farewell. The qualities the tribute talks about are his great sense of humour, his teaching to them over the years, the many meals he shared with them over the years and the enjoyment they gained from these shared times together. It also mentions the good health he had over the 34 years. Two malaria attacks seemed to have been the only incidents of health problems that he experienced. His qualities are summed up in this poem the sisters wrote:

Kind and gentle

Welcoming smile,

Patient, tolerant and a leader,

Easy to talk to and firm I affirming.

Wise with wise judgments.

Good at decision making.

Musical gifts you master,

Sense of humour you own,

Teacher of faith, your sermons touch many hearts,

Simple living, simple heart,

Own very little, possessing of nothing.

You live your vows and that is what you have taught us all these years.

 

 

DIOCESE OF GIZO - A BISHOP’S LEGACY

 

 

In his memoirs of his work in the Diocese of Gizo, Bishop Crawford states;

“It is now a fine Diocese and its early missionaries, priests, brothers and sisters, have done outstanding work in training local leaders of the Church. This is a most important work. The Church is highly regarded and provides a praiseworthy Christian leadership to the people of the Western Solomons.”

 

 

“The Diocese of Gizo is one of three Dioceses in the Solomon Islands and was formed from the Vicariates of North and South Solomons in the early 1960s. It encompasses three Provinces: Choiseul, Santa Isabel and the Western Province. It spreads over an area of 12,600 square kilometres, populated by 92,000 people, of whom approximate. When Bishop Crawford first arrived in Gizo in 1960 the Catholic population was 1800. By 1995, when Bishop Crawford retired, the Catholic population had risen to 7000 out of a population 78,000 people. Today, with a population of 92,000 people, approximately. 16,000 are Catholics.

The Diocese consists of six parishes, all of them spread over several villages. Catechists care for the Catholic needs of these communities on a day to day basis, supported by regular visits from the Parish Priest.

Most priests of the Diocese are locally trained Dominicans and Diocesan clergy from the local communities. Dominican nuns also help to serve the needs of the local communities, with contributions as teachers, nurses, and in a variety of pastoral positions. The early mission was well assisted by many men and women volunteers from other countries like Australia and New Zealand. Now all sisters working in the Diocese are from local communities.”

“Education has always been a priority for the Gizo Diocese. During the 1950s and 60s, Catholic primary schools were established in several centres, with many young people travelling to them from outlying villages. With Independence in 1978, the Solomon Islands Government took over these schools, establishing in the process mostly village schools. A recent development means that most will again be coming back under the control of the Diocese. In Gizo. There is a thriving kindergarten which has prepared children for school and there are three Regional Training Centres, at St Anne's, Nila, (for girls), at St Dominic's Vanga (for boys) and a Community college, St Therese's Wagina, for young men and women of post- school age.”

Indigenous clergy from the Diocese of Gizo with Bishop O’Grady OP

 

 

BISHOP CRAWFORD - A DOMINICAN BISHOP

 

 

Bishop Crawford worked all his life with his Dominican Priest, Brothers and Sisters. He regularly made trips back to Australia to ordain Dominicans as Deacons and priests. He also attended local Dominican Chapters when he was able to. His regular correspondence with Prior Provincials is extensive and a clear sign of his ongoing interest in all matters concerned with the Dominican order.

 

 

Bishop Crawford at the 1972 Dominican Chapter

 

 

RETIREMENT 1995-2002

After 34 years in the Solomons, Bishop Crawford tendered his resignation to the Pope at age 75 in 1994 and retired after ordaining Bishop O’Grady in 1995. In retirement he chose to live at Blackfriars Priory in Canberra .

 

 

Bishop Crawford died on May 31^st, 2002 and was buried in the Canberra Cemetery in Woden