Roger Irving Pryke (12 February 1921 – 28 June 2009) was a scholar, Catholic priest, psychologist, and social activist who left an indelible impression on the Australian Catholic community and on the broader Australian community. As a priest he was a knowledgeable precursor, and later exponent, of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. As a preacher, lecturer and personal counsellor he was acknowledged as "(changing) thousands of people's lives" and influencing those thousands into "(becoming) a new kind of Catholic". As a personal guide to many, he applied the principles of psychology to the enrichment of the Christian life to great effect. His compelling social conscience led to his public involvement in issues such as apartheid in South Africa, the Vietnam War, and within the Church community, a leadership role and deep involvement, inter alia, in the reform of the Catholic Liturgy.
In 1972 he left the priesthood and married but still maintained a significant influence among Catholics and the general public until his retirement in 1995. Alzheimer's disease followed until his death in 2009.
Early life and preparation for the priesthood Schooling and formation Roger Pryke was born in Goulburn, New South Wales on 12 February 1921, the son of Emily and Edwin Pryke. When he was five years old, his family moved to Coogee, then Clovelly, beachside suburbs of Sydney. He attended primary school there, where he received his early education by the Sisters of St. Joseph (Brown Josephites).
He was inordinately and unusually devout for his age. From the age of eight he worried about the religious issues of sin and the "state of grace". From this time in his life into the latter years of primary school he attended daily Mass and Communion - no easy discipline as the church was a kilometre and a half walk from where he lived.
In his first year of secondary school he attended the Marist Brothers school at Randwick. The following year (1934) when he was thirteen, he won a bursary as a boarder to St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, also run by the Marist Brothers. At the end of 1937 “Pryke completed his Leaving Certificate brilliantly at St Josephs’s College”.
Initial training for the priesthood Following this Catholic education in a devout Catholic family, in 1938 aged 17, Pryke commenced his studies for the priesthood at St. Columba's College in Springwood in the Blue Mountains of NSW.
Seven months later he was one of a specially selected group to study at Propaganda Fide College in Rome. While in Rome he became exposed to the ferment of ideas and movement for reform, typified by the theologian Yves Congar, ideas which later led to the Second Vatican Council. He continued his studies in Rome from October 1938 until June 1940.
Escape from the war in Italy On the eve of the declaration of war on the Allies by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, Pryke was advised to leave Rome.
With a group of fellow students from Rome, the group made their way by train to Genoa where they boarded the ship, The Manhattan, bound for New York.
The group of students arrived in New York where they became involved with, and influenced by, the Dorothy Day House of Hospitality and the Catholic Worker Movement. This experience had a deep and indelible effect on Roger Pryke and his companions because they recognised that feeding the homeless, campaigning for justice and living by the corporal works of mercy were the most authentic expression of Catholicism and Christianity they had experienced.
Five of the group - Roger Pryke, Guilford Young, Vincent Butler, John Heffey and Kevin Shanahan - purchased a large second hand Buick car in New York and proceeded to drive across America visiting houses of hospitality, communal farms and various Catholic institutions. They received a special welcome at St John's Benedictine Abbey in Minnesota under the inspiring leadership of the liturgist, Godfrey Diekman. They proceeded to the west coast where, they boarded a ship RMS Aorangi back to Australia.
Preparation for the priesthood continued Pryke returned to St. Columba's Seminary in Springwood for a short period before commencing his final four years of preparation for the priesthood at St Patrick's College, Manly. The oppressive and “backward” atmosphere at Manly dispirited him. He wrote to his father, “(I find) a dead theology, a dead liturgy and precious little action.”. Nevertheless, he persevered and was ordained a priest in St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney on 22 July 1944. He spent several months as a curate in the inner city parish of Newtown.
The Apostolic Delegation Recognising his above average intellect, his experience in Rome and his fluency in Latin and Italian, Roger Pryke became an obvious choice to fill a need at the office of the Apostolic Delegate. The newly ordained priest spent four years in the Delegation office. He was awarded the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice for excellent work.
Secretary to Cardinal Gilroy Early in 1949,Cardinal Norman Gilroy withdrew Roger Pryke from the Apostolic Delegation to a position of “second” secretary to the Cardinal at St Mary's Cathedral, a position he endured to the end of 1950. He was often taken aback by the Cardinal's excessive and often irrational frugality, which the senior priests had to “work around” to receive the normal necessities of living.
Chaplain to the University of Sydney While still working for the Cardinal, and intending to give himself a break from soul-destroying administrative duties, Roger Pryke enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree at Sydney University.
Early in 1951, alarmed at the influence of the atheist and libertarian Professor John Anderson at the University of Sydney, Gilroy was advised that he should appoint a chaplain to the students at the university. At the time Pryke was thirty years of age, sophisticated, "tall, athletic, and urbane". As a travelled, educated, intellectually accomplished and current student, he was an obvious appointment. He was therefore domiciled, with part time duties, at the nearby St. Benedict's Parish Church in Broadway. From this base he became chaplain to the 1000 Catholic university students and to many others in the 9000 total student population.
He was immediately confronted with issues regarding the Movement under the leadership of B. A. Santamaria. The militantly anti-communist movement consisted of Catholics who met secretly to plan effective influence over the trade unions and the Australian Labor Party. In the context of the university, Paul Ormonde writes: By 1951 the Movement controlled the Student Representative Council (SRC), the student newspaper Honi Soit, the Students’ Union, most of the lively faculty groups. These included the Medical Society and the Science Society, and, not surprisingly, the Catholic students organisation – the Newman Society. Pryke immediately had reservations about its methodology and developed a nuanced approach to its existence. He preferred to encourage and advise the students as individuals to allow their Christianity to enrich their own personal spirituality and character. The Movement people at the University did not know how to assess Father Pryke. ... He was an unusual priest. He had an open unfettered, tolerant approach to religion, which did not fit the Movement's style. He had a warm, straight-from-the-shoulder personality. His bush-Australian style hid a sharp intellect, which attracted many students to him, Catholic and non-Catholic, left wing and right wing.
In 1955 Roger Pryke had attained his Bachelor of Arts Degree with honours, majoring in psychology.We lose, Rome gains Father Pryke, (pro tem), Honi Soit, Sydney University, 4 August 1960 Pryke's understanding of psychology merged with his understanding of Catholicism and Christianity - a radical change at the time. In his conversations, talks and sermons he encouraged his connections to work on psychological balance. He advocated facing reality with courage as a means of preserving a healthy sanity. He taught his constituency that sanity depends the esteem of significant others. He explained the importance of making meaningful and mutually supportive friendships. He encouraged forgiveness and a loving attitude to others. He highlighted the research which showed how cruelty by one person to another is the basis for much mental illness. He preached the development of a personal and social conscience and how this often demands practical, peaceful and effective action in the wider community.
His knowledge of what constitutes a healthy sexuality and the value of intimacy, while very helpful to others, also exacerbated angst regarding his own obligation of celibacy.
New opportunities: the living Church In 1955, Cardinal Gilroy appointed him as parish priest of St.Joseph's, Camperdown - somewhat closer to the university, and a venue which enabled him to continue his university work, but which also provided new opportunities.
The feminist educator Within the male dominated Catholic Church, Pryke's next initiative would, in later times, have earned him the title of “feminist”. He recognised that Catholic nuns did the most valuable work in the Church, yet received least recognition and attention. He considered that the Catholic community needed to know about the exciting changes being discussed throughout the Catholic world, and more than anyone else, the nuns deserved to be informed and educated.
Pryke put together a course of study modelled on the structure of learning at the Manly seminary. He assembled a team of the “best and brightest” of his contemporaries to assist him. They included Bede Heather, Grove Johnson, Kevin Walsh, Brian Crittenden, and Ted Kennedy. With this team he created a series of lectures and discussion sessions for nuns of all religious orders held at nearby Sancta Sophia College. The priests involved in the project communicated many new ideas, which portended the coming reforms of the Second Vatican Council, but they were couched within the parameters of traditional Catholic theology. The titles included references to the Trinity, the Incarnation, and Salvation history, which helped convince Cardinal Gilroy and his bishops that Pryke and his colleagues were not stepping over the line.
A living Church While this was happening Roger Pryke was asked by a young Fr. Tony Newman to assist him in his ideal of injecting life into the liturgical ceremonies of the Church. Pryke wholeheartedly agreed with Newman that liturgical reform was necessary to “breathe life” into the “hidebound” Church of the 1950s. Within a relatively short time the reformers had introduced the Dialogue Mass, wherein the congregation participated in the liturgical responses normally uttered by altar boys. This limited liturgical change was highly successful.
By far the most successful initiative was the publishing of The Living Parish Hymn Book, which contained traditional hymns as well as some more contemporary new hymns composed by the poet James McAuley, and set to the music of Richard Connolly. The sales of the Hymnal, described as “sensational”, overwhelmed Pryke and Newman, bringing in a million and a half dollars in revenue and requiring a business infrastructure.