austraLasia #1813

One of the Region's great men goes to God

SYDNEY: 13th April 2007 --  austraLasia does not usually run an obituary service, but it readily recognises the moment when a word or two is called for, even if that must interrupt the prodigious flow of material from Vietnam currently, from the Rector Major's visit there.  Brother Peter Swain, of the Australian Province, went off quietly to God at 5.00 am today.  He had long surrendered himself to this moment and was given the grace, one can say, of a long and tidy preparation for it.  But that was Peter, too, in everything he did, and it was fitting that the Lord would want to even choose this week of resurrection appearances for the moment "when he passed over from this world to his Father" (another 13 - John 13:1).
    We must also respect Peter's essentially private nature, which he combined with outstanding warmth and bonhomie. I have several notes from him warning me not to say too much about him... and some of those more recent than not!  But the reality is that he was one of the best known men of the Region and, one might say, of the Congregation, because it is several 'regions' we are talking about! Peter goes back through any number of regional 'shapes' in the Congregation - he was a novice in England in 1939, after all, and will be just as much remembered there as everywhere else.  He had served his Province, his Region and the Congregation in ways that are both publicly known and in other ways that will come to light over time.  The Region (and his Province) will remember Peter as an outstanding secretary, amongst many other things. He was a stalwart, too, of all those meetings of Brothers at regional and world level, and in so many ways epitomized precisely what Don Bosco had in mind as the model 'Coadjutor' (a term he did not readily agree with - Peter was also a most talented translator).
    Peter will have had one small regret - his beloved football (Aussie Rules) team, Carlton, does not look like premiership material this year. Peter had been no mean footballer in his day and for those who knew him at the time I first came to know him (1958), the stories were rife of his prowess on the field and how he had given up a certainly prominent football career with Carlton to join the Salesians. We, and the thousands of young people he served in that latter 'career' were the winners, no doubt about that!
    Vale Peter - certainly from the Australian Province gathered in Chapter, where you will be farewelled with much affection, and from the Rome-Pisana community you loved so much as well.
       _________________
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