Fr John Cedric ‘Jack’ Ward, s.m. 5 Nov 1922 – 24 June 2012

Fr Jack Ward sm

..outdoorsman, WW2 navigator, lawyer, priest-teacher, missionary, prison chaplain, man of compassion...

The 24-carat gold nugget among our Jubilarians. On November 5th Jack celebrated his 87 th birthday. John Cedric - Lancaster navigator and airman, lawyer, pastor and patriot, adept chalk duster and disciplinarian in the classroom, missionary in Samoa, chaplain to prisons and hospitals with an extraordinary sense of compassion for those people others have passed by on the opposite side of the street.

Jack served in Nelson, St Bede’s and St Patrick’s Silverstream before joining an illustrious band of Marists in Oceania. In the Pacific he taught at Chanel College in Samoa, then served in parish ministries before returning to NZ in 1985 to continue his mission with the Samoan chaplaincy in Auckland, and then accepted the challenge of Maori Pastoral Care. Jack is still a legendary walker and tramper, with the DNA of either a Kenyan marathon runner or a Himalayan thar - maybe a genetic tad of both!

While in Otara Jack invited parish youth to join him for a wee stroll in the Waitakeres. They were delighted to go and look after this octogenarian, Patele Wati, and carry his pack. They didn’t know what hit them. It was not long before the kids were gasping and panting on the forest floor, muscles cramped, tongues and lungs hanging out while Jack, calm and composed, waited patiently at the next bend. Word soon got around. When Jack looked for companions on his weekend forays into the wilds, there wasn’t a kid or parent in Otara without some urgent commitment in another part of South Auckland on that day. 

For me Jack showed his real spirit and empathy, when he returned to Germany three years ago, 60 years after the end of the second World War, to share his pain and sympathy for the people of Bremmen who had suffered tragic casualties from allied bombing in the last few weeks of the war. It was an amazing trip. For me, that was the hallmark of Jack’s concern for others, the mark of the Marist we honour this evening.

by Kerry Prendeville sm