The Australian Catholic Church lost one of its genuine leaders on Monday morning with the death of 83-year-old Bishop Patrick Power, retired Auxiliary-Bishop of Canberra Goulburn.

Even though he’d been a bishop for 39 years, Patrick Power was always addressed simply as “Pat”, or “Father Pat” by more respectful people. A genuinely humble man, he was not one for titles. But he was also a courageous man who spoke the truth to authority which often landed him in trouble with ecclesiastical hierarchs, both here and in Rome, and even sometimes with secular authority.

Born in Cooma, NSW in February 1942, Pat’s family origins might explain something of his breadth of vision. His father was of Irish heritage, but his mother, Olga Bookallil, had Lebanese parents who arrived in Australia in about 1892 and who set up a general store in Cooma. He actually visited family in war-torn Lebanon in 2008.

Educated at Canberra’s Saint Edmunds College and at Chevalier College, Bowral, Pat studied for the priesthood and was ordained in 1965 in Queanbeyan. After seven years of parish ministry, Pat was sent to Rome in 1972 to study canon law, and after returning to Canberra served for 10 years as secretary to three archbishops. He also served on the archdiocesan Marriage Tribunal dealing with people who had experienced the pain of divorce.

Despite his involvement with the hierarchy, Pat was the antithesis of a closeted cleric. He looked outward to the world and its needs and he challenged Christians to engage with contemporary reality. In this he was much inspired by the Second Vatican Council’s document Gaudium et spes (1965) on the church in the modern world.

The result was that Pat’s life was dedicated to social justice and the service of people, particularly the marginalised in society and the church. In 2000, he chaired an important inquiry into poverty in the Australian Capital Territory.

When he was appointed Canberra Citizen of the Year in 2009, the then chief minister, Jon Stanhope said: “Bishop Power’s commitment extends far beyond the Catholic community. He can always be found providing comfort, companionship and spiritual guidance to those in need, attending to the sick and bereaved, speaking out against prejudice and inequality, or advocating publicly for Aboriginal reconciliation, refugee welfare, peacekeeping, racial respect, the unemployed and the rights of the old and the dying … [He] is not only an exceptional example of a priest, but is an extraordinary human being who has spent his life advocating for the betterment of our society.”

Pat never resiled from the tough questions in the church like the recognition of gay rights and he advocated for Aboriginal people, the East Timorese and the Palestinians. He conceded that Catholicism had “retreated from the promising outcomes” of Vatican II and that the church had to face issues including priestly celibacy, its teaching on sexuality and, particularly, the role of women in the church. He emphasised that bishops had to listen to the voices of the laity before pontificating on the issues.

He was sometimes in trouble with papal nuncios, the Holy See’s ambassadors in Australia. He often told the joke that on one occasion he was summoned to the papal nunciature in Vancouver Street, Red Hill, to be told off for something he had said on gay issues, and when then Italian nuncio opened the conversation by saying: “You know why you’re here, don’t you,” Pat responded: “I guess that at last the pope’s going to make me a cardinal!” The nuncio’s riposte is not recorded.

He also spoke up on behalf of marginalised people in society and church at the 1998 Oceania Synod of Bishops in Rome, and was also an outspoken defender of the voiceless in meetings of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. And we should never forget that he was a very public and proud supporter of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Personally, Pat was a true friend of mine. He supported me throughout my own contretemps with the Vatican over my 1997 book Papal Power and my later resignation from the priesthood and marriage. Canberra, Queanbeyan and the whole southern NSW region is full of people whom Pat helped in many different ways.

Among several books that Pat published was his 2015 reflection on his ministry entitled Joy and Hope: Pilgrim Priest and Bishop. The word “pilgrim” sums up Pat. He saw life as a journey shared with others from many different backgrounds. He listened to people, supported and engaged with them. He was not afraid of hard questions and shared people’s pain. He was in the truest sense a minister, a leader who served God and others in our various life journeys. May he rest in peace.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.