Not how did he die; but how did he live?
Not what did he gain; but how did he give?
These are the units to measure the worth
of a man as a man regardless of birth.
Not what was his station but had he a heart
and how did he play his God-given part?
Not what did the words in the newspaper say;
But how many were sorry when he passed away?
We were sent a ‘life outline’ which the late Father Ellis Clifford had written in his retirement.
It was indeed the measure of the man who was known best as Father Ellis.
It was brief and without embellishment – a humble rendering of the man who as a Catholic priest, school teacher, scientist, retail worker, sibling and son, enriched so many lives.
The only real insight into the character of the man who was the parish Priest in Boonah for 12 years, was found on the last page where he paraphrased the famous poem by Summer Sandercox (above).
The final line … But how many were sorry when he passed away? … can now be answered using the measure of the number of people who contacted the Fassifern Guardian about his passing, the number of people who attended or watched the live streaming of the funeral Mass on Wednesday and the conversations on the street.
How many were sorry about his passing? Too many to count.
Father Ellis Clifford passed away on Thursday, January 6 after a long illness.
Father Josh Whitehead gave the homily during the funeral Mass at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Brisbane. Father Whitehead is based in the Caloundra Parish and was mentored by Father Ellis through a vocations program set up by the Archdiocese of Brisbane.
Father Whitehead opened by asking everyone to think of their favourite memories of Father Ellis recalling his own as his warm, friendly smile; his love of sharing a cuppa and … “his unimposing, gentle, humble nature … and the significant suffering he endured” with patience”.
“Now, it’s not my intention to canonise him here this morning but did you notice that everything we just said about Ellis can also be said about Jesus? He truly pointed the way to Christ by the way he lived.”
He spoke of Father Ellis’ absence of arrogance as he didn’t ever assume that his salvation was an absolute.
“Any lack of confidence in his salvation was rooted in a genuine humility; never once presuming that he could earn his way into heaven - even by being a priest - but relying solely upon God’s grace and a healthy fear of the God.”
During the last ten years of his life, Father Ellis gradually lost the capacity to be able to stand for long periods of time such as presiding at an Altar for Mass.
“This didn’t reduce his opportunities to interact with others though,” said Father Whitehead, “If anything, it actually increased them, as many of us gained the opportunity to spend more time with him, making his transition into retirement smoother. This also magnified his human strengths which, standing out at the top of the list would be ‘relationships with people’.”
ELLIS Clifford was born in 1942 in Munduberra.
“Mum and her sister were driving to Brisbane [from Eidsvold where his parents lived] for me to be born, but they rolled the car outside Munduberra and I came into this life there,” Father Ellis wrote in his Life Outline.
He grew up around Eidsvold, Theodore, Munduberra and Gayndah and after boarding at St Joseph’s College at Nudgee, attained a teaching diploma at Kedron Park Teachers College.
His first postings were to Upper Mt Gravatt, Redland Bay and Camooweal.
He was 22 when he travelled by ship to the British Isles, Europe and finally Africa for 12 years.
In Africa, Ellis’ working life was varied.
“I taught at Highbury, a private boys primary school; at a government school at Westville, attended the University of Pietermaritzburg studying Environmental Science and Geography; calibrated cattle dips for the Pfizer Laboratory in the Bantu Homelands; worked in a trading store in Zululand.”
Adding to the variety of vocations, Ellis also worked in Botswana for 12 months in the Chobe Game Reserve, assisting two scientists from the University of Texas.
On his return to Australia, he taught at Gunpowder outside Mt Isa for 12 months until the mine closed.
He spent the next five years teaching in Catholic schools in Perth while studying for and completing a Bachelor’s degree in Education.
“I became involved in parish work, before staying at the old St Charles Borromeo Seminary with the intent of finding out more about … the feeling that I had of being called to ordained ministry in the church,” he wrote.
After 18 months at the seminary within the Perth Archdiocese he transferred to Brisbane and obtained a Bachelor of Theology at St Paul’s Seminary Kensington through the University of Sydney.
Father Ellis was ordained as a Deacon in 1984 at Sandgate by Bishop James Cuskelly and ordained a Priest the following year by Archbishop Francis Rush.
Following his ordination, he was placed at St Mary’s Parish in Ipswich, then to Stafford, Murgon and Manly.
His final placement before retiring due to ill health was to Boonah.