SURFERS PRIEST ON THE DAY HE MADE ASS OF HIMSELF
FATHER Peter Dillon knew it wasn’t a matter of if the donkey would be brought up but when.
“I’ve always been a little bit about pushing the envelope,” the 61-year-old laughs of that memorable day more than three decades ago when he made the most Gold Coast of entrances to a Palm Sunday mass at Surfers Paradise’s all-new St Vincent’s Catholic Church.
“I was 28 and someone brought this donkey along and suggested I ride it down the aisle ... I think being on the Coast enthused me to have a go and be a bit silly.”
Fr Dillon has been talking about his donkey a lot of late after returning to Surfers Paradise to oversee the parish where he cut his teeth as a fresh-faced priest all those years ago.
Having gained broad experience across Brisbane, as well as eight years as parish priest of Southport and most recently Ipswich, he has embraced the challenge of filling the shoes of Father Tim Harris following his elevation to Bishop of Townsville.
“I had the energy of 32 years ago,” Fr Dillon smiles of his first stint in Surfers.
“I was burning the candle at both ends. I’d go for a run, do mass, then pop off for breakfast and that evening I might have been at the Surfers Paradise Beer Garden having dinner with friends. It was incredible.
“The great difference I notice (about the parish) now is back then it was a holiday place with some locals. Now there are two communities – all the stuff happening in the tourist areas and elsewhere people are raising families and having careers.”
With nine masses at its three churches each weekend and three schools in its catchment, Surfers Paradise is one of the country’s largest Catholic parishes. Fr Dillon also doubles as dean of the South Coast Deanery, playing a pastoral role for more than a dozen priests from Coolangatta to Coomera.