Fifty years ago, Leonard Danvers and Joe Stack were on the threshold of their ordination as Catholic priests – naive young men, they told Viv Posselt. They were on the cusp of a lifelong commitment to the church. Next week, they will mark that jubilee in services acknowledging their unwavering loyalty.
Go preach the gospel: Monsignors Leonard Danvers, left and Joe Stack, right hold the Book of Gospels over Bishop Richard Laurenson with outgoing bishop Steve Lowe in the background. Photo: Deearn Strawbridge.
The longtime friends, both septuagenarians sporting grey beards and a collegial banter, now hold the title of monsignor, granted by the Pope to denote a special honorary clerical status.
They will mark their 50-year milestones in separate jubilee services in Waikato next week. Mons Stack, who leads St Patrick’s Church in Te Awamutu, will celebrate on May 11, while Mons Danvers, who leads St Peter’s Church Cambridge, will mark his on May 12.
That their collective contribution to the Catholic Church in New Zealand has reached this point seems to surprise neither of them. After all, they suggest, that was the purpose of seven years of study at seminary… seven years in which many of their original class of 31 dropped out, leaving just 10 who were ordained.
What they share now is a deep appreciation at how well it’s gone, how much they have packed in and how much they have learned along the way.
Bishop Richard Laurenson centre with Waipā parish priests Leonard Danvers and Joe Stack at right sandwiched by Bishop Steve Lowe at Laurenson’s ordination.
“This is so much more than a career,” said Danvers, “it is really a calling. Above all, it is relationship-based. We intersect with people at some the most significant times of their lives and they don’t forget that. We see that as a real privilege.”
Stack agreed, adding that over and above their commitment to their respective congregations, both have also held administrative roles within the church and the Hamilton diocese during those years.
Both men grew up in strongly Catholic families. Danvers was born in Hastings but moved with his sister to be raised by their Manurewa-based grandparents after his mother’s death. He became an altar boy, then went to St Peter’s College where early thoughts of entering the priesthood began to percolate.
“We used to have ‘old boy’ priests who came to talk to us,” he said. “I guess you could say they introduced the vocation to me from a human level. On leaving school, I applied to the bishop for acceptance into the Holy Name Seminary in Christchurch. He gave me the nod and off I went.”
Stack took a similar route. Born in Auckland to a Catholic family, he too attended Catholic schools and became an altar boy. He joined his family in other church-led community endeavours and by the sixth form, he felt ready to apply for a seminary place.
“I had some – not very accurate – thoughts about what life as a priest might be. I was young and idealistic.”
Stack started in 1967, Danvers in 1968. Seven years of training included philosophy, with four years of theology then taught at Mosgiel. There were various points at which students could reaffirm their commitment, but there were also occasions when students opted out, often leaving with no forewarning to their classmates.
“That was quite unsettling, but it is what was done back then,” said Stack.
Go preach the gospel: Monsignors Joe Stack (obscured) and Leonard Danvers hold the Book of Gospels over Bishop Richard Laurenson. Photo: Deearn Strawbridge.
He added a further year’s university study to his training, which meant the two twenty-somethings – Stack and Danvers – were ordained in 1974, each in their home diocese. Stack was ordained in Ellerslie, and Danvers in New Zealand’s first outdoor ordination, organised to accommodate his being the first Manurewa old boy to become a priest.
Stack’s work has taken him across the North Island and he moved to Te Awamutu almost a decade ago, while Danvers – who studied at Boston College in the United States in the mid-1980s – has worked primarily in Auckland, Tauranga and the Waikato. He has led St Peter’s Church in Cambridge since 2013.
The pair became foundation priests when the Hamilton diocese was formed in 1980.
Both men are grateful for the timing of their five decades… things are very different now. The seminary they attended closed in 1978 as student numbers dropped, training shifted to Auckland and much of the philosophy they enjoyed has now disappeared from the curriculum.
New priests, once accommodated in presbyteries with more senior priests with whom to share tasks within the role, now mostly live alone. Congregations are smaller, priests are challenged more than in the past. Times are changing.
As Danvers and Stark reach their 50-year milestones they’re taking a cautionary approach to the prospect of retirement. There’s no pressure to give up, but both admit to having a few things on their bucket lists …
Genial monsignors Joe Stack and Leonard Danvers, who celebrate their 50th year as Catholic priests next week, are quite often mistaken for brothers. Photo: Viv Posselt
