| By Nicole Ferrie
Chosen by the bishop
AFTER greeting the people before starting the 8.30am mass at the Sacred Heart Cathedral last Sunday, Monsignor Frank Marriott turned and walked towards the altar.
“I remember the light in one magnificent position,” he said.
“The whole place looked illuminous ... it was just so good to be there.”
At that moment, Mons. Marriott felt at home.
After spending almost six years in Wodonga, Mons Marriott this week conducted his first mass as administrator of the Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Bendigo born, Mons. Marriott was baptised in the cathedral and ordained as a priest in the same church.
In the late 90s and early 2000s, he was the parish priest at St Therese’s before leaving the city for a position in Wodonga.
He is now the first Bendigonian to be given the honour of administrator of the cathedral and chancellor of the diocese.
However, despite his initial sadness at leaving the city to take up a position at Wodonga, the decision to return to Bendigo was not easy.
Mons. Marriott had recently helped establish the Wodonga Catholic Schools Council which was scheduled to hold its first meeting.
He was also heavily involved in World Youth Day activities at a local level and proud of the fact he had helped the church community re-discover what it meant to be a parish.
But during Holy Week, Mons. Marriott answered the call by the Bishop of the Sandhurst Diocese, Joe Grech, and welcomed the move to return home.
“I’m very happy to be back,” he said.
“In theology it’s my home because I was baptised there, so it’s my spiritual home.”
Mons. Marriott has missed the ambience of Bendigo, and believes the city has changed in the short time he has been away.
Traffic is busier and city gardens have changed from colourful displays to drought-proof arrangements.
But the city is just as beautiful as he remembered.
“I’m surprised how much I’ve come to love my home city again,” he said.
“There are few places in Australia where you have got such beautiful buildings.”
And one such beautiful building is Mons. Marriott’s treasured cathedral – a building he hopes will play a significant role in Bendigo’s future.
“Where does the cathedral sit in the life of Bendigo, not just for the catholic community but every citizen?” he asked.
“What is the role of a big beautiful building like that in a provincial city ... which must be the envy of most cities in Australia.
“It’s not only a parish church, it’s a diocesan building so how do you use it well?
“And who cares for it?
“It’s wonderful to have a great big building, but who cares for it ... and it’s got to be relevant.
“We don’t want a museum piece, it’s got to be a living building.”
However despite his own ideas about how the cathedral should be used in the future, Mons. Marriott will be guided by his local community.
“Whatever I want to do is less important than what we can do together,” he said.
No less important, however, is his plan for his local parish.
“I would like to ensure that the public worship and celebration of the liturgy is as dynamic and life-giving as it possibly can be for the people,” he said.
“I would like to see the cathedral as welcoming, challenging and assuring to their spiritual life.”
It’s a hope for the parish the former administrator Monsignor John Duffus would be proud of.
A close friend of Mons. Marriott, Mons. Duffus passed away in January.
He had been administrator of the cathedral for more than 30 years.
“It’s impossible to fill his shoes ... I’m not going to try,” Mons. Marriott said.
But as Mons. Duffus would expect, Mons. Marriott plans to take up the challenge with “different eyes, and do the job differently”.
“Mons. Duffus would not want it any other way,” he said.
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