As we continue “Archbishop Mark Coleridge’s Reflections on 50 Years of Pastoral Service” series, this week, Archbishop Mark was asked what he would title a biography about his life, if someone were to write about his life.
He humorously hoped that it would not be written anytime soon. He then suggested that the appropriate title would be “Always from Somewhere Else,” which reflecting his life as a perpetual traveller and outsider. Born in Melbourne, he moved frequently, living in Adelaide, various parishes in Melbourne, Rome, Jerusalem, and across Europe. His career included teaching in Melbourne, working at the Vatican, and serving as a bishop in Melbourne, Canberra, and Brisbane. This constant movement led him to feel as if he was always “from somewhere else” and found the concept of home elusive. He even described himself as a pilgrim, and “the original rolling stone – always on the move, always from somewhere else.”
Watch the Archbishop’s reflection here:
Ep7 – Always from Somewhere Else
Well I am toying with the idea of having a crack at my memoirs when I retire. And I was thinking recently that if I do write my own memoirs or perhaps if someone writes a biography, God help us if they do. And I hope if it’s ever done, I hope it’s not for a very long time. But I think the title that I would give my autobiography is probably ‘Always from Somewhere Else’. Because I have been the original rolling stone.
Even as a kid. I was born in Melbourne, but did my primary schooling in Adelaide, came back to Melbourne, we moved around within Melbourne. As a priest I was in various parishes in Melbourne,
then I went to Rome and Jerusalem and different parts of Europe. Eventually I came back and taught in Melbourne. But then I was asked to go back to Rome to work in the Vatican, came back as a bishop, I was in Melbourne, I was the Archbishop of Canberra, I was the Archbishop of Brisbane. And when I was in Rome I was always from Australia, when I came back to Australia I was always from Rome, when I was in Canberra I was always from Melbourne, when I came to Brisbane again I was always from somewhere else.
And even as I looked to retirement, people have said to me, oh are you going home to Melbourne for retirement? And I’ve said, well no Melbourne’s not home for me anymore. But home’s a mysterious thing. Because in some ways I’m more at home in Rome than I am in Australia, not in every way, but in some ways. I lived there for thirteen years and they were important years in my life.
So where am I from? Where is home, hard to say. So something like, ‘Always from Somewhere Else’. I have been a pilgrim. No moss on this rolling stone.