Years of serving Townsville and Palm Is folk
FATHER Mick Peters has been a leader in his community for more than 40 years.
Now the parish priest at St Joseph’s Catholic Church is set to retire in early May, leaving a lasting legacy to the Townsville and Palm Island communities he has served.
Father Peters was ordained as a priest in 1971 in Warwick, west of Brisbane.
“Basically I just wanted to be involved in helping people and spend my life for others in the best way I could. That led me then to decide to become a priest,” he said.
Father Peters said he had spent a lifetime of “being with others, learning from them, serving them and loving them”. “We’re meant to be a person that serves others. That’s what I wanted to do.”
After his ordination, Father Peters worked for a number of diocese including the Catholic Church in Toowoomba in 1972 before coming to Townsville in 1973.
He left for Toowoomba again in 1982 but in early 1983 returned to Townsville to work as the Palm Island parish priest, a role he would hold for the next nine years.
He also worked part- time as the chaplain for the Aboriginal Catholic community.
In late 1998, Father Peters become parish priest at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, The Strand. He said one of his most significant memories was working with the people of Palm Island.
“What, you might say, changed my life to an extent was meeting and getting to
I JUST WANTED TO BE INVOLVED IN HELPING PEOPLE AND SPEND MY LIFE FOR OTHERS IN THE BEST WAY I COULD
know the indigenous people of Townsville and Palm Island,” Father Peters said.
“I discovered that their way of life was something I looked up to, how they cared for one another and emphasis on relationships. That more than anything else had a lasting effect on my life.”
Emeritus principal at St Joseph’s, The Strand, Paul Lucas said Father Peters had been a leader in the diocese.
“His finest characteristics have been patience and perseverance. As a priest you could say he’s got the ‘ P’s’ of priesthood, patience and perseverance,” Mr Lucas said.
Father Peters said he would miss the friends he had made, but looked forward to the next chapter in his life.
“There’s a sense of loss when anyone moves from one place to another but what I’ll take away will be some very fond memories and lasting memories,” he said.
“I will miss being here and being with the people I love, but the way I think about it, I think it’s time to turn over a new chapter in my life.”
Father Peters will retire on May 4 and move to Brisbane to spend time with family and friends. The parish is holding a retirement dinner for Father Peters tonight.