In other days younger clergy looked to the senior clergy for advice in times of confusion and doubt. These father figures were men of great wisdom, who had lived with the problems and tensions of ministry over a long life. When one knocked at their doors there was always a welcome and a listening ear. Their passing leaves a void.
Arthur Crawford was such a priest, and we mourn his passing after almost 60 years of ministry. To a younger priest he was an encouraging friend who had great wisdom to share. In retirement he had that great gift of availability, in a world devoid of fax machines, mobile phones, and computers. There was a wonderful, simple, uncomplicated presence in his life; his car was his one luxury.
I first met Arthur and his wife Chris over almost half-a-century ago in a rural parish close to Carlow. There was the warm, generous, welcoming smile which made you feel at ease. His wife as a younger woman had a regal and almost patrician bearing. Chris never forgot the poor widow, and each week in season there was the perpetual gift of flowers, fruit and vegetables from the rectory garden. Her generosity was so appreciated.
Theology, music and education were close to Arthur's heart. He had little time for dogmatic fundamentalism, and preferred to ask questions. He loved the writing of John McQuarrie and his breath of vision. He was so excited to attend a clergy course taken by the British theologian at Portrush; Arthur was a prolific reader of theology and nursed a refreshing radicalism. His love of music and singing was boundless. As he sat in Tullynally Castle and listened to the Takacs Quartet he was in seventh heaven. He perceived perfection and loved string music. He gave unrelenting energy to the Meath Diocesan Board of Education and to Wilson's Hospital, Multyfarnham.
Forty years on, in the evening of his life, we met again at his retirement home of Klosters overlooking the magical lake Derravaragh at Crookedwood. We were neighbours; he so loved his visits to Klosters in Switzerland with his dear Chris. It was a pilgrimage that he always enjoyed, going to the same hotel each year and renewing friendships with fellow travellers. In the midst of his long life, his family was always near to him and he rejoiced in spending time with his grandchildren.
Arthur knew ill health and for many years he battled with the reality of cancer. He adopted an infectious and positive attitude to the "thorn in the flesh"; many times he triumphed over the imminence of the disease. He didn't talk much about the infirmity. Now his mortal remains, freed from the burden of the flesh, return to his native Co Antrim. The Church of Ireland has been blessed with one man's ministry. I have lost a dear friend and counsellor. I thank God on every remembrance of him.
N.T.R.