FATHER FIGURE
CATHOLIC PRIEST ROD WARD WILL AGAIN BE COMBINING TWO ENDURING LOVES — MEDICINE AND RUGBY LEAGUE — WHEN HE TAKES HIS PLACE ON THE SIDELINES AT THIS YEAR’S AARON PAYNE CUP AS IGNATIUS PARK COLLEGE’S MEDICAL SUPPORT PERSON, WRITES
“The great joy I get out of it is seeing the team working together and being successful. That gives me a lot energy.
“What I try to do is try to keep them healthy and also manage their injuries, quickly and appropriately.
“I enjoy the game of rugby league. It’s a passion of mine and I enjoy it more when I have an active role, rather than sitting in the stands.
“You see the good and the bad; you’ve either won and done well, and there’s great enthusiasm and it’s a great experience for all those involved. Or you haven’t won, and you get that bad feeling. So I suppose it’s learning about life as well and dealing with those difficult times when you don’t win.”
Fr Ward began playing rugby league in his hometown Gympie as a junior, and regularly travelled with his father to Brisbane to watch major footy games.
He went to Nudgee College in Brisbane, where he dabbled in rugby union. He resumed playing
rugby league after entering medical college.
From there his involvement in the game only grew stronger. His past roles in rugby league include being president of Townsville Rugby League, and the league’s chief medical officer, along with roles with the army and Townsville Blackhawks.
He has seen former Ignatius Park students such as Valentine Holmes, Coen Hess and Michael Morgan enter the NRL ranks, and countless other young people go on to achieve life goals. It all fills Fr Ward with pride.
“When a team’s been successful, won a premiership or even just been together all year, that relationship continues probably for the rest of their lives,” he said.
“When we see the boys around town who have been through here in years past, they stop and have a chat. That continuing support structure is important because they know they can come back and seek advice and support at any time.”
Fr Ward himself has achieved plenty in both his roles as a doctor and a priest. The process of him becoming a priest began many years into his medical career.
“People who were at the end of life, who knew that they were dying — whether it be cancer or whatever terminal illness they had — would start to share their understanding or attempt to understand the spiritual side of who they were, and what it meant for life beyond,” Fr Ward said.
“In that time a lot of people, especially if they’ve got the faith, are starting to try to understand what this means — the end of life — and where it leads to.
“I’ve talked to other Catholic doctors and they’ve had that same experience. They tend to be jumping from the spiritual to the physical, and it became a very easy movement for me.
“The spiritual part of it became stronger progressively. I had thought of joining the priesthood in my younger days, so that thought became stronger until it just became too strong to deny.
“So I told the Bishop (Michael Putney) that I was thinking about becoming a priest, and he nearly fell off the chair.
“But he said yes, so I went through the sermon process for a year and went to the seminary in Brisbane, and was eventually ordained a priest.”
His life story is worthy of a movie script, but Fr Ward is keen to stress that his experiences in the medical profession and priesthood have come with many challenges.
“We have the pastoral issues we deal with, people and their difficulties, and people who are injured are not always in a happy state,” he said.
Fr Ward says he feels privileged to be connected with the Townsville community and also Ignatius Park College, where he is the chaplain.
“Bishop Michael Putney asked me to look after Ignatius Park College, that’s how I ended up being here,” Fr Ward said.
“Ignatius Park College said OK, so I’ve been here ever since.”