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JohnCorcoranWallis(1910to2001)AManofVision

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John CorcoranWallis (1910-2001), Catholic priest,missionary and founder of theMissionarySistersofService,wasbornon11June1910inYea,thesecondofsixchildrenborntoAbrahamKnightandEmmaKathleen(néeCorcoran). JohnWalliswaseducatedlocallyandattheMaristBrothers’AssumptionCollege,Kilmore(1924-26)whereattendanceatspiritualretreatshelpedcrystalize his decision to become a priest.1In 1927, the tall, gangly and ‘somewhatweedy 16year old’ began training for the priesthood at St Columba’s Seminary, Springwood, NSW andlater StPatrick’s,Manly.Witha specialdispensation forhis youngage,Walliswasordainedapriest atKilmoreon18December1932.Throughoutmostofhis life,Walliswasapriestwhowent about doing what he referred to as ‘the Master’s business’.2His daily readings of thescripturesandthe liturgywere thecoreofhis theologicaldevelopmentandnourishedhis life.HewasamanwhoseeffortscontributedtochangeintheAustralianCatholicChurch.

TheWallisfamilypicturedonFrWallis'ordinationday.

During the 1930s the Catholic Church was renewing its attention to a theologicalframeworkforthedevotionalandintellectualpracticesofCatholics.PapalEncyclicalsrefocusedthe way Catholic men and women should live their lives and ranged from issues such ascontraceptionandabortiontochildren’seducation.Twoencyclicalswereissuedin1931whileJohnWalliswas training for thepriesthood.QuadragesimoAnno (OnReconstructing theSocialOrder) andNonabbiamobisogno (ConcerningCatholicAction)wereparticularly significant ininfluencing Catholic intellectual thought and activity.3His interest in the work of the laitythroughCatholicAction,andhisdesiretoteachdisadvantagedCatholicslivingintheAustralianoutback,maybe tracedback tohisunderstandingand interpretationof these twoencyclicals.Wallis was involved in the work of Catholic Action and the development of a matureunderstandingoftheproperplaceofthelayvocationinthelifeoftheChurchwhichbecame‘thecornerstone’of theSecondVaticanCouncil’sunderstandingof theChurchand its engagementwiththeworld.4

1‘EarlyhistoryoftheHomeMissionarySistersofOurLady’,MSSBeginnings,MissionarySistersofServiceArchive,2PenelopeEEdman,OneMan’sYestoGod,MissionarySistersofService,ForrestHill,1992,p.6.3AFremantle,ThePapalEncyclicalsintheirHistoricalContext,NewAmericanLibrary,NewYork,1956,pp.228-235.4MaxVodola,‘IntheVanguardandaheadoftheirtimes:JohnXXIII,JohnWallis,GuildfordYoungandVaticanII’,JohnWallisMemorialLecture,Launceston,22October2012,p.4.


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In 1937 Wallis wassent to Launceston, Tasmaniawhere, in 1938, he wasappointed Diocesan Directorfor Catholic Action. Thisappointment allowed him toexplore the possibilities ofworking toward changing theCatholic Church’s attitude toecclesiastical teaching. On hisfirst visit to the small Catholiccongregation on Bruny Islandin 1933, Wallis met Mrs KitHawkins, an anxious andconcernedmotherwho asked:‘Has the Church noresponsibility for souls ofpeople in the country – out ofsight, out of mind?’5This cryfor help was an S.O.S. to theChurch; ithada lasting impactonWallis.

SixyearsafterhisvisittoBrunyIsland,WallisheardoftheworkoftheSistersofService(S.O.S)inCanada,foundedbyCatherineDonnelly.Heimmediatelyinvestigatedthepossibilityofhavinga‘conventthatrunsonwheels’operatinginoutbackAustraliaandbegancorrespondingwith Redemptorist Father George Daly, spiritual director of the Sisters of Service.6WallisinstinctivelyknewthatAustralianCatholicsinremoteareasneededanequivalentoftheSistersofService.Inthe1930shefirstapproachedJustinDanielSimonds,ArchbishopofTasmania,withhisvisionofwomenreligiousseekingoutCatholicsinisolatedareas.Hewastold‘itwouldneverbe approved’ because themoral and physical dangerwould be toomuch forwomen.7Yet hepersisted with his ideas of a mobile service for Catholics in the outback. In 1941 thedevelopmentofhisideaswereportrayedinhisseminalarticle‘WhyNotPeregrinatingSisters?’published as ‘Home Missionary Sisters: An Australian Need’, in Emmaus in 1942.8 Whileobediencewasvery important toWallis,hewasknownasonewho found itdifficult toaccept‘no’forananswer.9Rather,WalliswashappytoarguehispointwithhisBishop,butiftheBishopinsisted, hewould offer ‘tacit resistance’ then go and dowhat hewas told. As he often said:‘Someregulationscallforpassiveresistance.’10

From September to November 1943, meetings of priests and the laity to discuss thepossibilityofforminganassociationofwomenwithapassiontoreachouttoCatholicsinremotelocationswereheldinHobartandLaunceston.Moneywasraisedfortheventureandon8July1944, four women committed to serving the church, came together as the Home MissionarySistersofOurLadyinLaunceston.DirectlymodeledontheSistersofServiceinToronto,Canada,thecommunitywasofficiallyinauguratedon15August1944.On3November1944theymadepromisesofPoverty,ChastityandObedienceforaperiodoftwelvemonths.

5Rev.JCWallis,‘HomeMissionarySisters:AnAustralianNeed’,Emmaus,1942.6http://www.catherinedonnellyfoundation.org/cath.html7OneMan’sYestoGod,p.7.8OneMan’sYestoGod,p.7andp.23,andPenelopeEEdman,AroundtheKitchenTable,MissionarySistersofService,Rangeview,2008,p.42.9InterviewwithSrBernadetteWallis,June2013.10InspirationsfromFatherJohn,MementosofJohnputtogetherontheoccasionofthe70thanniversaryofhisOrdinationtothePriesthoodon18December1932,MissionarySistersofService,2002.

MrsKitHawkinswithFrJohnWallis(1969)


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In1947permissionwasgivenfortheSisterstoliveasaSocietyofReligiousWomeninCommunitywithoutpublicvows.Theirfirstfull-scalemissiontonorth-eastTasmaniabeganin1948and in1949the firstmissionhousewasestablished inLongford,nearLaunceston.11ThenameoftheCongregationwaschangedtotheMissionarySistersofServicein1971.12

In1950WallisenjoyedhisfirstoverseastriptoRomeascompaniontoArchbishopofHobart,DrErnestTweedy.AtaprivateaudiencewithHisHoliness,PopePiusXIIinNovember1950,theyreceivedthePope’sblessingforthenewreligiouscommunity.Thestatusofthecommunitywasalso raised to a Religious Congregationwith public vows. Less than one year later, in August1951, twelve Sisters took public vows and the Home Missionary Sisters of Our Lady wasformallyconstitutedasareligiouscongregation.OnthisoccasionWalliswrote:

InsomerealsensetheHomeMissionarySistersofOurLadyareamodernCongregation–moderninpointoftime,modernindressandmodern,too,inthewaysandmeansofcarryingontheirapostolate.13

11AroundtheKitchenTable,p.3.12AroundtheKitchenTable,p.4.13OneMan’sYestoGod,p.39.

TheSisterstooktheirfirstpublicvowson15August1951.

TheSistersonmissionwith

thecaravan.


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Wallis’smethodandapproachtothepastoraloutreachoftheChurchintothecommunitywasaheadof its time;newandmodern, itembracedsomeof the idealsofCatholicAction.Hisgroupof‘peregrinatingsisters’firstoperatedinTasmaniathenextendedintoNewSouthWales,Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. They soon became fondly known, especially inVictoria,asthe‘CaravanSisters’forthemilestheytravelledinthespiritoftheGospels,seekingout people in small remote communities and isolated properties. Once the congregation wassecurelyestablished,Wallisceasedtohavedirect involvementwiththeorderyetheremainedtheir spiritual guide. Notwithstanding his lack of direct involvement, his spiritual teachingsremainedpivotaltotheworkoftheorder.AsCatholichistorian,MaxVodolahaswritten:

ThevisionofJohnWallisinfoundingtheCongregation…verymuchpavedthewayforanewstyleofreligiouslifehereinAustralia,astyleofreligiouslifeandpastoralministryverymuchadaptedtotheneedsofthiscountry,asopposedtoimportinga‘stockstandard’Europeanmodel.AnewstyleofpastoralministryandadaptationtonewandchangingconditionswerethehallmarksoftheSecondVaticanCouncil…’.14

Wallisandhisvisionofnunslivingtheirlivesoutsideconventwallswasaradical,effectiveandeminently successful idea for the times. Ina smallway,hisattitudeprogressed thechangingrole ofwomen – especiallywomen religious. His enlightened thinking is one example of hisbeliefthatonemust‘readthesignsofthetimes!’15

In1956WalliswasappointedparishpriesttothenewparishofGlenorchy,inTasmania,apositionheheldforsevenyears.Initiallytheparishhadonlyonechurch;Wallissoonchangedthissituation.DuringhistermatGlenorchy,hebuilttheStJohn’scomplex,StMonica’schurch,Chigwell,andplannedandbuiltHolyRosarySchool.Todothishehadtoconvinceanorderofnuns to establish a congregation in Tasmania. After approaching eleven orders of nuns andreceiving nine rejections to his request, historian Penelope Edman writes that the tenthresponse propelled him into action. He flew to Sydney where he: ‘persuaded the Dominican

14MaxVodola,‘IntheVanguardandaheadoftheirtimes:JohnXXIII,JohnWallis,GuildfordYoungandVaticanII’,JohnWallisMemorialLecture,22October2012,p.1.15InspirationsfromFatherJohn,MementosofJohnputtogetherontheoccasionofthe70thanniversaryofhisOrdinationtothePriesthoodon18December1932,MissionarySistersofService,2002.

TheVicarGeneral,MonsignorCullen(right)farewellsArchbishopTweedyandFrWallisastheysetoffforRomein1950,


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Sisters that “No”wasnot the answer the Lord expected them to give to his request that theyshouldcometoTasmania’.SoconvincingwashisappealtotheDominicans,thattheyagreedandarrivedinTasmaniainJanuary1959.16

The next major phase of Wallis’s life began with the Second Vatican Council whichopened in October 1962. Wallis followed all developments enthusiastically. As the Council’sdocumentscameoffthepress,‘he“devoured”themandspokeaboutthemregularly,frequentlyand often!’. His informative and insightful commentaries of Vatican decisions and theiranticipatedoutcomesforthechurch,thelaityandthecongregationwerewidelydistributed.He‘fed the Sisters on a diet of sixteen conciliar documents’ andnot only introduced them to thedocuments, ‘but luredus inside them,walkedusaround them, in them, climbedupanddownthroughthem.Hisenthusiasmknewnobounds.Hewantedeveryonetosee,feelandtastewhathesawandfeltandtasted.’VodoladrawsilluminatingparallelsbetweentheworkofJohnWallisand that of Pope John XXIII. He believes they were both men who intuited change; they‘discerned changing conditions in theChurch and in theworld’. Furthermorehe sees themasmenwho‘wereabletoreturntothebiblicalimperativegivenbyJesusintheGospelto“readthesignsof thetimes”’.17WallisalwaysdescribedVaticanIIasthe ‘biggestevent inhis life’.18TheCatholic Church’s relationship to the world formed one of the themes of Vatican II. Wallis’senlightened attitudes to pastoral teaching began in the 1930s. His early promotion of nunsmoving wherever their presence was required and allowing them to journey freely in thecommunityisillustrativeofhissignificanceasaCatholicintellectual.

In1964WalliswasappointedVicarforReligious,apositionheretainedintothe1990s.InDecember1982hecelebrated thegolden jubileeofhisordination to thepriesthood.By thetimeofhisretirementhehadalsobecomewellknownforleadingretreats,somethinghevaluedandpracticedaspartofhisownspiritualdevelopment.HeservedundersixArchbishops,servedintendifferentparishes,someformorethanoneperiod;hadbeenMissionsDirector,FounderofthethenSchoolsProvidentFund(nowtheCatholicDevelopmentFund),FounderoftheCatholicBookshop in Hobart, Vicar for Religious, retreat director, hospital chaplain, and founder of areligiouscongregation.19

After sixty years as a priest, in 1992 his veryimportant work was recognised by the Australiangovernment.FatherJohnWalliswasawardedtheMemberof the Order of Australia in the General Division ‘ForServiceToReligion’.20

Wallis is described as ‘a man of God and a truepastorforhispeople,seekingthemout intheirhomes, inhospitals and prisons’.21Two of hismost constantly usedphrasesandtoolsforteachingwere‘humanomodo’or‘inahumanway’,and‘supremalexcaritas’,thatis‘thesupremelaw is love/charity’.22Fundamental to his belief was hisview that the Sisters of Service were ‘called to be a

16OneMan’sYestoGod,p.27.17Vodola,p.4.18OneMan’sYestoGod,p.6.19ArchbishopAdrian,EulogiesandHomilyfortheVigilLiturgyandMassofChristianBurialforFatherJohnCWallis,StMary’sCathedral,Hobart,7and8August,2001,p.10.20http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=885808&search_type=quick&showInd=true21http://www.johnwallisfoundation.org.au/about-john-wallis/22SrBernadetteWallis,MSS,EulogiesandHomilyfortheVigilLiturgyandMassofChristianBurialforFatherJohnCWallis,StMary’sCathedral,Hobart,7and8August,2001,p.2.

FatherJohnCorcoranWallis


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“journeying”community,goingintothehighways,bywaysandskywaysoftheoutback’.23

The young JohnWallis often displayed tendencies to resistance, a trait that remainedwithhimthroughoutlife.Heisalsodescribedasamanwhowas‘notastrangertopranks’,andhissenseoffunanddelightintheridiculous,‘sawhimthroughmanystickysituations’.Inlaterlife,whilestillenjoyingastrongsenseof joyandwonder,peopleexperiencedhimasamanofdeephumanity,understanding, compassionandwisdom,aswell asakeensenseofhumour.24Wallis’spassionandabilitytoembracetheidealsofthe1931EncyclicalonCatholicActionandlater effectively communicate the radical changes instigated by the edicts of Vatican II, histeachingsandspiritualguidancefromthe1930stothe1990s,cannotbeunderestimated.

John CorcoranWallis was a priest for sixty-nine years. The once shy, tall, and ganglyteenagerwho,against theodds,enteredthepriesthoodat theveryyoungageofsixteen,grewinto a man of solid stature both physically and spiritually. He was a man sometimesunderestimated by his peers and at times very much on the periphery of Church life, ‘goingabouthiswork’withlittlefussandfanfare.25Hediedon3August2001,aged91,andwasburiedatCornelianBayHobart.TheJohnWallisFoundationwasestablishedin2010bytheMissionarySistersofServicetocontinuethevisionandmissionofFather JohnandtheSisters. IthonoursthememoryofthisenlightenedAustralianpriest.

FayWoodhouse17.09.14

23InspirationsfromFatherJohn,MementosofJohnputtogetherontheoccasionofthe70thanniversaryofhisOrdinationtothePriesthoodon18December1932,MissionarySistersofService,2002.24http://www.missionarysisters.org.au/our-founder/.25Vodola,p.2.