AU34/21/7/16/20/1

Wording of Sermon

6 January 1979

From: 1979 To: 1979

The wording of a sermon given by Rev. R P S Waddy, on the occasion of the golden jubilee of his ordination at Epiphany 1979, at the convent of All Hallows at St. Fursey, Ditchingham, Bungay, where he is chaplain and from where he is retiring: "Last Things Golden Jubilees are occaions when one is allowed, if not to blow one's own trumpet, at least to tootle on one's own shawm. And I am particularly fortunate in being able to celebrate my fiftieth anniversary as a priest here in All Hallows Convent, Ditchingham, in comparitively full working order. Today, two of my family, Charis and Broughton, are here who were also present in S.Martin's Cathedral, Leicester, on December 23rd 1928. My father shared in the Laying On of Hands that day; my mother had already made her contribution to the occasion. For when Cyril Bardsley, Bishop of Leicester, enquired on the usual form (as bishops tend to do) how my vocation had come about, I consulted my mother as a good son should; and she replied, 'Put down: Pre Natal Dedication.' I did as she bade; but either the bishop decided to let sleeping dogs life, or he never read it, so all was well. There are also present two fellow-missionaries of my first days in India,only one of whom I married (the other assures me that she was never among the starters.) There would have been more today, from the various far-flung fields in which I have laboured; but ice and snow has guided them, with greater wisdom than the Wise Men, to stay at home. To be at All Hallows has been the last chapter in a deliciously mixed career. Ronald Knox, who said and did more than his fair share of silly things, live in his declining years with the dread of ending his life as chaplain to a convent. He never had that privilege, and is now learning in Purgatory what he should have learnt here. But now retirement is drawing near - 'Your further retirement' one friend called it, which suggests burrowing ever deeper into a Hobbit warren. Another friend, who retired at 60, was comforted by a young well-wisher: 'I hope you have a very happy After Life.' I prefer to think of it as an energetic state of redirected activity. Lord Longford, who has been a cabinet minister and a leading figure in half a dozen walks of life, was asked at the age of 72 what was the high point in his career, and replied that he had not yet reached it. That seems a splendid motto for the future; spiced by the description of Hubert Humphrey as one who knew his weaknesses and was amused by them. My ideal would be Bishop Edward King, saintly Bishop of Lincoln. At least my grandchildren will be able to boast that their great-grandfather was ordained priest by him (Frederic Coxwell Young, whose mother was niece and adopted daughter of Charlotte and John Keble.) 'The signals of old age in the wreathed wrinkles only gave an additional emphasis to a face that was charged with the gaiety of an unconquerable gladness. His presence brimmed over with joy. After all, the earth was a good place, and heaven would be better still. God be thanked.' The cost of having stonemasons carve all that on my tombstone would be prohibitive, but it would be a good epitaph to deserve. Let me end by saying that I am not going to write an autobiography. It was Dean Inge who dissuaded me. Lives of great men all remind us, As we o'er their pages turn, So fear not. I shall devote those declining years to the task of incineration. Feast of the Epiphany, 1979 PAT STACY WADDY"

item

Waddy, Richard Patteson Stacy,
Charis,
Broughton,
Waddy, Margaret,
Bardsley, Cyril,
Knox, Ronald,
Pakenham, Frank,
Humphrey, Hubert,
King, Edward,
Coxwell Young, Frederic,
Keble, John,
Keble, Charlotte,
Inge, William

sermons, ordination, Jubilee, retirement, church services, chaplain, convents, Ditchingham, All Hallows, Bungay, Suffolk, Leicester, India