Fr Frank Cresp, Good and Faithful Servants: Recalling the Spirit of the Deceased Priests of the Diocese of Port Augusta and Port Pirie 1888-2008, 2008:
McCurtin, Michael

Born: 1900 in Co Clare, Ireland.
Ordained: 10/6/1928 at Carlow College, Ireland.
Worked in Georgetown 1928; Peterborough 1931-1932; Whyalla 1933-1936; Ceduna 1936-1941; Port Lincoln 1942; Minnipa 1942-1954; Georgetown 1954-1961; Renmark 1961-1965; Pekina 1968-1970.
Left for USA in 1970.
Died: 27/11/1984.

Memories: Father Michael McCurtin

Born: 1900
Ordained: 1928
Died: 1984. Buried in California, USA.

Father McCurtin was born in County Clare, Ireland, about 1900, ordained at St Patrick's, Carlow, in June 1928. He spent all of his ordained ministry in Australia and on retirement in 1970 chose to live in America, moving to California.

On arrival in Australia as a newly ordained priest he was appointed as assistant priest at Georgetown, serving under Monsignor Mulcahy, riding his pushbike to Gladstone and Laura. His later appointments were to Whyalla, Ceduna, Port Lincoln, Minnipa, Georgetown, Renmark and finally Pekina.

Ceduna, in Father Mac's time (1936-41), was an outpost, and he lived in a room at the local hotel. It was possibly during this lonely period that his interest in writing came to the fore and he became a regular correspondent of letters to the editor and articles for The Advertiser, the Southern Cross and the local papers. He wrote lengthy articles for the Southern Cross on a range of topics, with favourites being the Holy Land, St Patrick and the rosary. He obviously had the ear of the editor of the 'Southern Cross', as the laying of the foundation stone of the new church at Chandada, featured in the five issues early in 1954. No event, even significant ones of the archdiocese, received so much promotion! One of the articles was titled 'Nothing but the best for Chandada', another 'Bishop walks barefoot to foundation stone ceremony.' He had solicited donations and support from the two previous Bishops of the Port Pirie Diocese, Cardinal Gilroy and Bishop McCabe of Wollongong - possibly offering to acknowledge them on 'a little plaque' as was his custom for donors of items for the churches. The dramatic headline, 'Bishop walks barefoot', dramatized Bishop Gallagher's 300 mile trip during which he was bogged for eight hours between Iron Knob and Kimba, with water 5ft deep flowing across the road - relayed with typical Fr Mac embellishments.

Following the death of Fr Morrissey in 1954, the Georgetown parish was served for a short time by Father Ray Pope until Father McCurtin, whose first appointment was as a curate at Georgetown, returned as Parish Priest the next year, arriving from the west coast in his battered Skoda. The parishioners took up a collection enabling him to buy a new cream coloured Vanguard from Cyril Eiffe of Georgetown, later followed by a blue one of the later new look models of the late 50s with a smiley grill, just like its owner's face. However pride in vehicles did not come naturally to Father Mac and his vehicles were always untidy, possibly more so by scooping everything into a heap when he took the nuns (the holy girls) of Georgetown and Gladstone visiting the other towns.

Memories of Michael McCurtin
At Pekina, Father Michael McCurtin, Mons Kain's successor, was a fiery, animated Irishman, who had a taste for the dramatic. He liked the idea of lots of altar servers and at one stage he had just about a footy team up there around the altar. He carted us around in his grey station wagon at Easter time from Church to Church. During the Stations of the Cross be really liked to Jay it on, the blood, the pain the suffering - it was better than any movie that I have ever seen. For all that he was a most genial and friendly man who loved people.

During this time at Pekina (1965-70) the men of the parish erected flagpoles outside the church from which the flags of three nations were often flown - the Stars and Stripes of America, the Australian flag and the flag of the Irish Republic.
Paul McNamara's recollection in "No Place like Pekina".
Mannion/McKinnon, Pekina 125 Committee, 1999.

Father Mac's sermons followed the style of his writings. Wondrous tales of the Holy Land, of the plight of the orphans at Crystal Brook, of the prisoners at Gladstone Gaol. One of his traditions was the 8.30 Mass at the prison each Monday morning. For Christmas be solicited Christmas cakes for each prisoner, with heart rendering tales of how much they were appreciated. One can only imagine Fr Mac turning up in his normal flurry with a Vanguard staked with dozens of cakes. And of course the fifties was the era of fear of the Communists, and we trembled at being told that they were closer to Darwin than Darwin was to Tasmania - the communists seemed to be on the doorstep.

He loved gadgetry and would have been in his element in this era of computers and electronics. He arranged for a radio to be fitted to the Motor Mission car, had many film evenings with his Bell and Howell movie projector and slide shows of his trips to the Holy Land. Amplification systems were installed in all three churches. One of the first things Mons Nesdale did was to take them out.
Greg Slattery

Fr Mac often spoke of his cousin in America and of his admiration for virtually all things American. The American cousins seemed to be generous towards him and he spoke of the several suits bought for him by his Americans cousins. Mons Nesdale said he had only ever seen one of them!
Christine Slattery

When Bill and I were newly marrieds at Renmark, Fr Mac invited us back to the presbytery one Sunday morning after Mass for a cuppa. This changed to a breakfast of toast and boiled eggs. Then came the cuppa from the same hot water in the kettle as the boiled eggs! Being in the early stages of pregnancy at the time, the memory of this is as vivid as though it was yesterday.
Yvonne Slattery

(Reproduced with the approval of Sister Mary Cresp RSM)