Page 7 - Unity Edn 43

Br. Ted Merritt MSC RIP UNITY
I

“In Him, who rose from the dead,

our hope of resurrection dawned.

The sadness of death gives way

to the bright promise of immortality.
Lord, for your faithful people life is changed,

not ended.

When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in
death

we gain an everlasting dwelling place in

heaven.”

y dear friends, as we link up together as best Brother Ted made his first commitment as a religious
we can this morning to commend to our loving brother mid-1954. Subsequently he worked as a
MGod the soul of a Missionary of the Sacred Heart, gardener at Douglas Park for two years, in the office of
Brother Edward Patrick Merritt, and to bless and honour the MSC publication “The Annals” for two years and in
his mortal remains, the words I have just quoted, from our boarding Colleges for a similar period. Again, this
one of the Requiem Mass Prefaces, sum up for us our range of tasks, together with the skills he had earlier
essential Christian belief in what happens to us when acquired in the workforce, prepared him for his life on
our life on this earth comes to an end. This belief is mission stations in the Northern Territory.
reinforced by St Paul’s statement in his letter to the
Romans (Chapter 8): “If the Spirit of him who raised Missionary life in the 60’s and 70’s was tough and at
Jesus from the dead has made his home in you, then he times, harsh in the extreme. Our Northern Territory
who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to missionaries in those years, were expected to be
your own mortal bodies, through his spirit living in you.” self-reliant men of grit and perseverance, capable
of enduring isolation and an exacting lifestyle, with
In other words, the victory of Jesus over death and sin expertise in sharing the faith, along with the practical
that we have but a few days ago celebrated, is the model skills needed to cope with almost any contingency.
and pattern of our own destiny. We too, are to pass
through death to life in Christ Jesus and see God face It was on June 30, 1966, that Brother Ted arrived in the
to face for all eternity. And the sorrow and sense of loss Northern Territory to begin more than half a century of
that we naturally experience at the death of someone dedicated commitment to the life and ministry of the
we have admired and loved, give way to a celebration of Diocese of Darwin in a special engagement with the
his personal gifts and of all that he achieved throughout Indigenous and the marginalised. For the last 15 years
a long and dedicated life. I lived at the MSC Centre in Nightcliff with Brother Ted
and witnessed at first hand his manner of life and his
And so, though this morning family, confreres and unswerving loyalty to his religious vocation lived out
friends are mourning Brother Ted’s departure from this with gospel simplicity.
life, we can be more intent on thanking God for all the
gifts he endowed Brother Ted with and in recalling how From 1960 onwards, Brother Ted lived and worked for
he used these gifts for the good of others. significant periods on all of our NT Mission stations: at
As we celebrate this Requiem Mass to commend his soul Bathurst Island, at Wadeye, at Woodycupaldiya where
to God, I must limit myself to recalling just a few of the he lived for a few years in a demountable, at Daly River
salient features from the life story of this quite unique and at Santa Teresa, 80 km south east of Alice Springs -
Religious Brother. at times the resident mechanic, at times the accountant
or the town clerk, and then at the age of 60 he learnt
Edward Patrick Merritt was born in 1928 at Corinda, a how to fly a plane and acquired his pilot’s licence. It
suburb of Brisbane. Even as a Secondary School student, is impossible in this short article to recall in any detail
young Ted felt a call to a religious vocation but it was the day-to-day challenges faced-up to, the dramas that
only when he was 25 years of age that he took ‘a leap occurred, the simple joys of life experienced, the many
in the dark’, as he put it, and travelled down to Douglas relationships forged.
Park, south of Sydney, to join the Missionaries of the
Sacred Heart as a Brother. Up till that point he had been In 2001 Brother Ted withdrew to Darwin, living at the
working in the motor industry, a job that would stand MSC Centre, commonly known as “The Ranch”. It was
him in good stead in his subsequent missionary labours. not to be a retirement but a new lease of life, dedicated
to the St Vincent de Paul Society, at the beck and call of

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