Tony Percy is the parish priest at Queanbeyan and once owned a dog that spoke Mandarin. If you’re looking for him on a Friday, he’ll be out on the local fairway, improving his handicap.
I was born in Rockdale in 1963 but three years later my parents moved to Cooma for Dad to run a newsagency. I grew up around retail. I went to primary school at St Patricks Cooma and then went to the state high school for four years.
Mum worked at the local county council and had seven children. One of her babies died after three hours, so we were left with four girls and two boys. She spent a lot of time at home or working at the newsagency when required.
Dad was the biggest influence on me in terms of faith, not so much catechetical but religious sentiment. He really gave me a great love for the Blessed Sacrament. He would visit the Blessed Sacrament often, either during or after work.
I enjoyed a very happy childhood. We’d do a little bit of skiing; I wasn’t too interested in that. In summer I’d hike up to Mount Kosciuszko. It’s lovely countryside. I used to play rugby league but was too skinny and used to get belted around a bit.
It was a great time, because the Snowy Hydro Scheme bought many different cultures to Cooma; The world was there. Our next-door neighbour was a guy who came from Czechoslovakia who had skied across the border to freedom.
I used to love working in Dad’s shop. It gave me the opportunity to meet anyone and everyone, from the wealthy graziers, to people who were very poor. It was a wonderful training to be a priest because it taught me how to handle different people.
I went to St Joseph’s in Sydney for my last two years of school and then went to New South Wales University and did an honours degree in finance. Halfway through that I felt the strong call to become a priest. It was a bit inexplicable really.
I went to Warrane College at university which is run by Opus Dei. I picked up some basic books on the faith; the creed, the sacraments, the commandments, the moral life and the prayer life, I thought, hang on this is really worth pursuing.
And one of the first things I did was picked up St Paul’s Letter to the Romans, not really understanding that this was most mature work, and it just captivated me. I had a really strong experience of God.
I also picked up a book called The Soul of the Apostolate. It was an old book that Pius X kept beside his bedside. It’s probably a little outdated now, but the basic idea is that if you want to be fruitful in life, you must have an interior life. This was something that really struck me. So, I made up my mind that I was going to pray every day. This was well before I had any thoughts about becoming a priest. It was the best decision I ever made in my life.
I eventually went to the seminary in Manly and got ordained in 1995. I was very grateful for the education that I received there but there were problems with discipline at the seminary at that time. It was a mixed experience to be honest.
I was ordained at St Christopher’s in Canberra. I went out to Young, the cherry capital of Australia for three years, that was great. Then to Queanbeyan, and then back out west.
Next, I went to the US to do doctoral work in Washington. Because of my background in finance, my thesis was on the theological meaning of money. I thought that the church was good on social justice issues, but someone’s got to produce the wealth, because otherwise you don’t have any wealth to distribute. So, I focused on the importance of the entrepreneur and business for the common good.
Scripture says that the love of money is the root of all evil, because it is. But having an interest in money is a very good thing. Like every other material possession, you can’t fall in love with it, you’ve got to use it as a way of benefitting others.
All in all, I’ve had 27 years of formal education, it’s been one of the greatest gifts that I’ve ever received, especially being able to use that education for the benefit of others.
After doing my doctoral work in Washington, I came back to Goulburn to help in the restoration of the only greenstone church in the world. The rock it’s built from is 400 million years old. It was quarried just outside the city of Goulburn in the late 19th century. It’s a truly remarkable piece of work, and of restoration. And we’ve just finished it.
In 2008, George Pell asked me to head up the Sydney seminary which I did for six and a half years. I had a fantastic time as rector. I worked with a team, and we reformed the formation process, one of the things we did was to get the seminarians up and preaching from second year, to help them learn how to speak and be at peace with themselves in order to communicate the word of God.
I was rector at the Good Shepherd Seminary for six and a half years, from 2008. I had a fantastic time. Cardinal George Pell had asked me to take on the role and he was great to work with. He backed every reform our team put in place. I had a dog with me, William the Conqueror. The seminarians nearly killed him with food. He was a magnificent dog, he spoke Mandarin. He’s gone to heaven. St Augustine says all creation will be there so no doubt William will be there as well.
I worked very closely with George Pell and got to know him well, and actually visited him in gaol. It was a fantastic experience. I came away just stunned at the joy of George and his toughness and spirituality.
When I take the collar off, I like to play a bit of golf. I try to get a swing in every week. They’ll usually find me on the green on a Friday.
This month I’ll have spent 34 years as a priest. I haven’t felt like I’ve worked a day in my life.