Homily at Fr Francis Dickinson CSsR funeral...

Homily preached by Fr Timothy Buckley CSsR 

HOMILY FOR FUNERAL OF FR FRANCIS DICKINSON, CSsR

At the Rite of Election in the Cathedral for those preparing for Baptism or Reception into full Communion with the Church this coming Easter, Archbishop Malcolm acknowledged that it is not always easy to discern how, why or when God is calling us. He hinted that often it is through our lived experience that the realisation comes, and it led me to reflect again on my own conviction that it is when we see the connections that we see the hand of God at work in our lives. I am confident that this congregation perfectly illustrates the point. I am certain that the majority of you here today – including those joining us online – are giving thanks because Dicky (as he loved to call himself) was part of your experience of God’s invitation to follow Christ. 

True to form, at the end of his life, Dicky had reduced his needs to an absolute minimum, but he had left enough to help me prepare for today. No great fuss over the liturgy – just some suggestions regarding hymns and preferably just one first reading and a few notes about the unfolding story of his life. I knew that both he and John McCann were from Nelson, However, I had not known that their call to the Redemptorists was the result of the pair of them, at the age of 12, serving the early morning Mass at a Mission in their town, given by Fr John Lawrence in 1944. John McCann had told the missioner that he wanted to be a priest, and Dicky decided he had better go along with the idea too. Before the end of that year they were here at Bishop Eton in the Juvenate and went on to spend their lives preaching plentiful redemption. They were imbued with the compassionate spirit of our founder, St Alphonsus, and wanted us all to know, that no matter what, we are loved by God. Yet, they were utterly contrasting characters: John, physically a giant by comparison with the diminutive Dicky. John, with a huge voice you could hear a mile away, travelling the country, giving missions and having congregations rolling in the isles; Dicky, with his quiet, humble unassuming presence reaching into the hearts of all whom encountered and with his own dry, wry sense of humour, which could transform your mood in a second.

A connection I hadn’t noted before was that I too was just twelve years old when I met Dicky in the sacristy of St Mary’s, Clapham. He was responding to the fact that the previous day, I had decided to please Bro Anselm, the sacristan, by telling him that I might decide to become a priest one day. Within no time, I was part of the London vocations’ group and coming on an Easter Meeting to Bishop Eton where I met John McCann, who had brought a group of youngsters down from the North-East.

In the providence of God I believe our lives are interwoven and as we see the connections we are moved to thank God more and more because we can we see, as St Paul tells us, that God can turn everything to good. I have many happy memories of missions with John McCann, who died over twenty years ago, but somehow Dicky, rather like Bev Ahearn, seemed to have been there as a special confidant, notably when the going was difficult. His pilgrimage through life enabled him to use his remarkable talents to proclaim the Gospel. His first assignment was to the Novena magazine, and I will never forget that day back in the summer of 1959, when I first met him and he gave me a tour of the monastery in Clapham, showing me the hive of activity in what is now the archive room where he worked. He would go on to edit the magazine and be part of the pioneering group that moved the whole operation to Chawton, establishing Redemptorist Publications, which has contributed so much to life of the Church, not only in this country but across the world. Jim Casey and Michael Henesy would join him there and lend their considerable skills to the business which would rapidly expand and flourish. Dicky used his meticulous attention to detail to provide those wonderfully accessible booklets on the Mass and the Sacraments, when the Second Vatican Council authorised the use of the vernacular. Grateful priests bought them in their tens of thousands.

When he was appointed Novice Master in 1972, with his usual thoroughness he prepared by visiting novitiates in South Africa, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, the United States and Canada. His novices give testimony to the fact that he taught them above all by his good example. So, if we want an example of how to respond to today’s call from CAFOD to live simply, we need look no further than Dicky. The little things mattered to him: he never wasted a morsel of food, he was diligent in everything he did, but he was long-suffering of those who could not always follow his example. It was a standing joke that his efforts to get the novices to work in the garden fell largely on stoney ground. It seems to be well documented that they would simply walk past and encourage him as he toiled away. There was a short period in the mid-70s when there were no novices and he looked after the northern district of the travelling mission in Wales, but from 1978 onwards he would be engaged in serving three of our parishes, Sunderland, Erdington and Liverpool, with a dedication at which we could only marvel. I am sure that all of you who were blessed by his ministry look back with the same gratitude and affection as I do. Indeed, I never recall so many messages of condolence arriving on the death of a confrère as over the past ten days. In the late seventies when I was looking after the vocations work and giving missions, I enjoyed three years with him in Sunderland before I moved to Birmingham. He then joined me as assistant priest in Birmingham before taking over the parish in 1987 when I moved to Sunderland… (anecdote? leaving a child at the orphanage)

When he was here in Liverpool for six years, he invited Fr Charlie Corrigan and me to give a mission to the parish: another treasured memory of 1999. Between 2006 and 2008 we would work together again in Erdington, while Fr Gabby Maguire wrestled with some serious health problems.

Of course, Dicky had to cope with some major health problems himself. In the early 2000s a serious dose of shingles meant that he struggled with his eyesight for the rest of his life. He also recovered from major cancer surgery in 2005. He was uncomplaining, recognising that our sufferings can be united with those of the Lord himself and thereby be part of God’s redeeming presence in our broken world. His devotion to the Eucharist was the foundation of his spiritual life, recognising that here we are caught up in the mystery of the cross as well as looking forward to the ultimate fulfilment of Christ’s promises. That reading from Isaiah foretells how God will transform the suffering of our troubled world and lead us up the mountain to enjoy the banquet he is preparing for us in his Kingdom. And, of course, the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus combines their recognition of the Lord in the breaking of the bread, but only after their hearts had burned within them when he explained the scriptures to them. Dicky spent his life explaining the Scriptures to us so that we too can recognise Christ in the breaking of the bread. So let us now do just that and realise that in these precious moments Christ will once again unite us with his Father and with all those who have gone before us, believing in the promise of the resurrection. Dicky was ready to find out exactly how it is all going to work out. A couple of weeks ago, when his osteoporosis had not troubled him quite so much as it sometimes did, he said how wonderful it would have been if the Lord had decided to take him then and there. The Lord obviously got the message. It seems fitting and providential that he should have had this last year where it all began eighty years before, quietly encouraging our aging community with his loving and prayerful presence. Providential too that his nephew, Gerard, should have called in and had tea with him the evening before he died. We thank God for him and pray…

Eternal rest….