Calling is an act of faith

Father Neil Muir’s initial calling had nothing to do with the church. He spent four years as an accountant before entering the priesthood.

FATHER Neil Muir’s initial calling had nothing to do with the church.

The former accountant spent four years in the profession before he decided to enter the seminary and become a Catholic priest.

The 52-year-old has been a priest for 23 years and said he had always thought about the vocation when he was young.

“I grew up towards the end of an era where being a priest was still very much promoted,” he said.

“I felt a call, and the local parish I grew up in Atherton, impressed on me the importance of faith and the priest as a community servant. There were also two very good priests there who influenced me.”

Fr Muir said meeting and helping people was the best part of the job.

“(Some days) I will do a wedding rehearsal and then I will go and visit someone in hospital facing a tough battle with cancer.

“You are interacting with people at different moments of their life journeys,” he said.

But the job does take an emotional toll.

“I’ve recently lost 25kg. The important thing is to debrief. I have really good friends who I can go to and talk about the day and week. And fellow priests are supportive too,” he said.

“(For those considering the priesthood), I would tell them it had to be a calling, a vo- cation. It would have to be something you have to discern very carefully,” Fr Muir said.

“A person has to know what they’re doing. It’s a celibate lifestyle, you don’t go home to a wife and children, so you don’t have that support, really have just the support of the community. And you have to have a maturity.

“I had worked and experienced life, I’d had girlfriends before I decided to be a priest. We’re not monks in a monastery, we are in the community.”