Our Lady of Victories, Bowen Hills
“Cometh the hour, cometh the man”: well, the hour certainly came for Queensland, and the man who came at that hour was James Patrick O’Sullivan. But Jim didn’t come from nowhere, nor did his strong moral compass, without which public life in any of its forms becomes a brutal free-for-all.
Jim was born in Kingaroy but grew up in Murphy’s Creek in the Lockyer Valley. He was the product of a rural Irish Catholic culture which could have its dark side but which also had the kind of bright side we see in Jim – where courage matters more than cowardice, truth matters more than lies, virtue more than vice, service more than power, self-sacrifice more than self-promotion, compassion more than exploitation, integrity more than corruption, where “we” matters more than “I”, and the “we” in Jim’s case was the people of Queensland.
For a man who joined the Queensland Police Service not because of any exalted sense of call but because it offered stable employment, Jim had an extraordinary public career, the facts of which are well known and have been recounted many times since his death. But he was more than his public career; it was the glittering tip of the iceberg. There was a deeper truth beneath the surface. Jim was a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a great grandfather and a friend to so many. He loved and was loved, and it was this that made him a son of God. That deeper truth we celebrate as we gather in this way in this place.
There were dark times, and through them all Jim’s guiding stars were not ambition and advancement but family and faith. He didn’t need to feather his own nest or nurture his own career prospects. He didn’t need the approval of others or seek their applause, because he drew an unshakable love from other and deeper sources – from Dell and the family and from the God in whom he put his faith and the family of believers that gathers around God.
This made Jim a free man – free enough to be and do what he was and did. Others were trapped in a web of selfishness and greed, corruption and deceit, opportunism and power. But not Jim: he was a free man, which is why he could seem different, just as Jesus does in the Sermon on the Mount. Jim seemed different because his focus was so clear at a time when for many the focus was blurred. He helped us all get the focus right, as Jesus does in the Beatitudes we have heard.
Jim’s great contribution may lie behind us, but his witness lives on in our midst; and we will be in trouble again should it ever die. He witnessed to something much bigger than himself, which is why it lives on beyond his time with the Queensland Police Service and now beyond his death. He witnessed to a power of humanity, which is why we say he was not only an exceptional police officer and public servant, but above all an exceptional human being. In Jim’s humanity we all glimpsed something of God – the faithful, compassionate, truthful, fearless, humble God of love whom we see and hear in Jesus and whom we also sensed in Jim.
Many words have been used in recent days to describe Jim O’Sullivan:
- As an investigator fearless (who took great risks and faced real threats)
- As a leader compassionate (not one of those moralising types, quick to condemn without ever seeing his own faults, but understanding of human frailty which is not the same as corruption)
- Honest (unafraid of the truth which, he believed, would set us free)
- Humble (never seeking the limelight, but drawn to light of a different kind)
- Respectful
- Professional
- Determined
- Courageous
- A man of integrity (who didn’t say one thing and do another)
- A family man (deeply devoted to Dell, Avis, Melinda and their families)
All these are true, but the final word is surely good: Jim O’Sullivan was a good man, a truly good man.
At the heart of his goodness was virtue, which may seem a rather old-fashioned word made weaker by some of its usages. But the question of what true virtue is and what the virtuous life looks like has haunted humanity down the ages. The question has mattered because the word “virtue” also meant and means “strength” in a world where what often passes for strength is in fact weakness and what often passes for weakness is strength. So the question is, What does it mean to be strong, truly strong? It’s also the question of what it means to live the good life, which is often taken to mean a life of ease and indulgence. If we in our time want to know more of what it means to be virtuous, strong and good, we need look no further than the man to whom we bid farewell and for whom we give thanks today, James Patrick O’Sullivan.
“Well done, good and faithful servant: now enter the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:23). Eternal rest give to Jim, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him; may he rest in peace.
Amen.