What was Father Bob like privately? Somehow kinder and funnier than he was publicly. We somehow ‘fought’ nonstop from the moment the record button was pressed in 2003, through documentaries, radio shows and books, right through to filming this year, but we never once fought. More than being kind in broad brushstrokes, he was kind in small ways. When an elderly congregant couldn’t catch the Collingwood matches, he organised tapes from Channel 7 that he would slip to her, along with the Eucharist wafer, during communion. Bob was wise as Buddha. He attracted all manner of outcasts, not all pleasant, but he was open hearted to those people too. I asked him how he did this and he said, “You don’t have to like people to love them.” I send condolences to, and wish solace for, Bob’s niece Peta who looked after him in his difficult final stretch, and to all his family and friends. When filming, it was an editor’s nightmare to cut from the shot before I’d burst out laughing each time Bob finished a sentence. I never thought Bob would ever stop making me laugh, but with the sad news of today, he finally has.
Vale Father Bob, you could nearly turn a bloke christian.
Thanks John. Your post was how I heard the news and the best way as I could imagine to hear it. My heart goes out to you. Vale' Father Bob. Some of the good actually don't go so young.