The quote “Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow” is from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare a play well know to the Parish Priest at St Gregory the Great in Stratford upon Avon. His love of the arts has helped to make him a well known figure in Stratford upon Avon.
Father Alex Austin OSB has been the parish priest of St Gregory the Great and Our Lady of Peace since 2010 and departed to start a new role as guestmaster at Douai Abbey in Berkshire on Wednesday 18th September. He is familiar with Douai Abbey having been a Benedictine monk since 1974. Father Alex Austin OSB 74, was born in Birmingham and grew up in Solihull and has known Stratford all his life, having an aunt and uncle who farmed in the area.
In the parish newsletter it said:
“Dear Fr Alex, as you prepare to move on to your new role at Douai Abbey, we wanted to express our gratitude for your time with us at St Gregory’s since 2010. Your dedication, compassion, and spiritual guidance have been a blessing to our community. You have touched the lives of so many with your kindness and devotion, and your presence will be greatly missed. Thank you for all the ways you have strengthened our faith. While we are sad to see you go, we are excited for the new journey God has planned for you. Please know that you will always remain in our hearts and prayers. With heartfelt thanks and prayers. Parishioners at St Gregory’s and Our Lady of Peace.”
On Saturday 7 September 2024 the 5:30pm Mass at St Gregory’s church was offered in celebration for the feast day of St Gregory the Great. Following this there was a farewell party for Fr Alex in thanks for the time he has been parish priest. The party was in the school hall was limited to 250 and tickets were quickly snapped up. Following a presentation he replied with :
“You’ve heard it all before, but here we go again for one last time! Of course I am heartbroken as you know, delicate creature that I am and a lot of you are heartbroken too. As Lesley Gore sang ‘It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry if I want to. You would cry too if it happened to you!’ That’s cheered us all up hasn’t it? What we’re actually celebrating is 14 wonderful and incredibly blessed years together. They’ve been very happy years for me so thank you for making me so welcome and taking me to your hearts. It’s great to have made so many friends and becoming part of so many families. There’ll be one or two glad to see me go but your overwhelming response of regret has been really touching and I’m very grateful. Thank you for all the lovely cards and letters of appreciation you’ve sent. They’ve made me even more big-headed than I was already.
Moving is something I’ve always hated. I’ve had three big moves before – from the monastery in 2000, from Pershore in 2002 and from Studly in 2010 and now my beloved Stratford. They’ve all felt like the expulsion from paradise especially this one. There is though an element of relief as it’s been flipping hard work, especially at first when there was a lot of resistance to change and I had to lay the law down. Somebody came to me and said, father one or two parishioners call you a tyrant. I said I couldn’t care less what they call me so long as they do what I tell them! It’s a very large and demanding parish and needs more than one priest so keep praying for vocations. We’ve had our fair share of tragedies, covid and hassles. As you know it’s all taken its toll on my health, which hasn’t been too great recently and I’m pretty burnt out. I’m actually totally knackered and ready to be put out to grass. I had hoped to stagger on for another year and get our Shottery church renovation completed but the abbot has dragged me away kicking and screaming as the abbey needs were too great and my successor , Father Oliver Holt can sort it out. I leave you in good Benedictine hands but make sure he doesn’t get all the credit as we’ve been working on it for ten years. As I Corinthians states Paul did the planting, Apollos did the watering but God made things grow. Neither the planter nor the waterer matters: only God makes things grow. We’re all fellow workers with Him. Co-operating together and taking co-responsibility the Holy Spirit can do its work. That’s the message of the synodal way and I do think the Holy Spirit has done great things here.
When I arrived at the parish was a bit on the stuffy side, very white middle class and not particularly friendly or welcoming to outsiders. It’s now friendlier and more cohesive and wonderfully diverse with parishioners from almost every country in Europe – loads of Irish and Poles of course and from every continent Africans, Asians, Indians, Chinese which is great. We’ve got an excellent and effective Parish Pastoral Council to run things and a very beautifully renovated parish church which everyone loves. I’m very proud of you and what we’ve achieved together with God. We’re by far the largest worshipping christian congregation in Stratford.
There have been a lot of physical changes in the parish with a new office and sacristy, church porch and entrance ramp, car park and stable flats, the re-development of the old school in the town centre (now BTP), St Gregory’s church and plaza and soon to be completed OLP expansion. I’ve certainly left a physical mark on the parish which I’ve enjoyed doing.
So much of my time here has been hugely enjoyable. I’ve loved the work – saying mass, preaching, hearing confessions, baptising, marrying, even funerals, visiting the sick and the school. You’re dealing with people of all different backgrounds and ages, often at key moments of their lives. You’re part of many different families and at the heart of the local community. Being a parish priest is the best job in the world and a huge privilege. I’ve loved the people, the town, the countryside, the theatre, the music and the opera, the tennis and the racing. I’ve loved my garden and of course my dog Otto.
Losing your parish, your dog and your freedom in the same year is quite a blow but it’s about time I had more penance in my life so I’ll be a brave little soldier as always. Although I’m rather apprehensive about returning to the monastery after a quarter of a century outside playing fast and loose on the parishes, as you know too well, but don’t be too sorry for me as I’m going to be guestmaster there which I’ll enjoy, liking people, so you’ve all got to come and see me. I’ve also got a lovely year off lined up for next year learning to paint icons in Italy, studying theology in Rome and visiting monasteries, shrines and pals around Europe. Also I’m only back at the monastery for a week before I’m off to Mallorca for a weeks holiday, arranged before I knew I was leaving. So I’ll start as I mean to carry on!
Unlike me there are a lot of exceptionally good and holy people here who make a huge contribution to our parish life. St Gregory’s is full of saints. I’m not going to name people individually, there’s too many of them and I’m sure to leave someone out. We all know who they are, so thank you. You’ve been a wonderful support to me. We’ve had some great celebrations together – the church’s 150th anniversary, my 40th anniversary of ordination, the open day, as well as the annual 1st holy communions, confirmations, baptisms and weddings. There have also been the traumas of the burglaries. The thief we made a citizens arrest on by sitting on him, the religious fanatic goldilocks, chain smoker with body odour who while I was at the abbey slept in my bed and told the police it was ok as the pope had given him permission. Then there was the young man I found asleep in my kitchen with just a t-shirt and underpants on who escaped up the road half naked as I hoped the neighbours weren’t watching. I later found his trousers in the middle of the road and was highly embarrassed to have to tell the police I’d got his trousers here. Oh yes they said! Burglars also trashed the house while I was away on one of my very rare holidays! The priestly life is dangerous!
On that exciting note I’d better shut up as I’ve rambled on for far too long. I’m good on short sermons but bad on long farewells! Thank you so much for everything, especially to all the Faith in Action Committee for organising the magnificent leaving bash. Thank you all for being patient and tolerant of all my too obvious weaknesses and for being appreciative and co-operative. It’s been a great joy to serve you and a huge privilege for which I am profoundly grateful. You’ll always have a very special place in my heart. I’ll miss you all terribly. Hopefully you’ll miss me too! Oremus pro invicem – We can pray for each other and please pray for Fr Oliver who won’t know what’s hit him. To finish as Shakespeare wrote “parting is a such a sweet sorrow” (Romeo and Juliet). And Henry VI “So part we sadly in this troublous world to meet with joy in sweet Jerusalem” i.e. see you in heaven! “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” “
Also in 2022 he made the local news for tackling a burglar who was caught stealing from the donations boxes in the church. https://www.stratford-herald.com/news/priest-details-thief-by-sitting-on-him-9273805/
In his last parish newsletter he said:
“Dear parishioners,
Departing, I bid you all a fond farewell and thank everyone for the hard work and valuable contribution to parish life over the past 14 years. A huge thank you to the faith in action committee and to all who helped and attended the fabulous farewell party at the school which was marvellous and hugely enjoyable. Many thanks too for the enormous leaving check and the many gifts, letters and cards which were all very flattering and gratefully received! I’ve bought a very posh Ruark CD player with some of the dosh to have a permanent reminder of you in my new monastic cell! My final thanks and goodbye will be in next week’s newsletter.
God bless you now and always. We will pray for each other.
Father Alex.”
Photographs
