Richard Fitzpatrick - August 2010

I left the Mittagong Marists in January 1967 after two years in the Juniorate and one year in the
Novitiate because I found myself day after day in the morning meditation period drifting off to “how much would I earn if I was working in a job, how much of that would I save and how much would I invest to buy things . . . .” And little did I realise that one day I would end up as an accountant! When I went to see Brother Fergus to tell him of my desire to leave I was shocked when he agreed . . . . I had expected him to try to talk me into staying and giving it another go. However looking back I can see that I was pretty restless in that year at the Nov and getting up to a fair bit of mischief – going rabbiting one day during the middle of a six day retreat, restoring an old wagon that I and another boy had found in a paddock and then parading it back to the Novitiate, the midnight food fest in the hay barn, etc. I guess that Brother Fergus could see better than I could the need for me to try a different path.

Early 1967 I started studying science part time at the NSW Institute of Technology, Broadway and 12 months later I became an atheist . . . . . a year of that and reason stepped in to say that atheism was illogical and so I settled for agnosticism for the next six years. In the meantime a good friend of mine convinced me to switch to accounting after three years, part time, of my science degree and eventually I became a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants where I am now a Fellow.

My career in accounting has been very generous to me . . . . . . I spent my first ten years with Touche Ross & Co (now part of KPMG) in Sydney with stints in their London and PNG offices. After that I joined a mid-tier accounting firm, became a partner in 1983 and then a few years later became managing partner of the NSW practice, chairman of the board of NSW partners, a director on the board of the national firm and a delegate to the meetings of the international firm. All of this was a lot of hard work, great exposure to corporate business events, lots of travel and very rewarding. However it wasn’t very good for the work/life balance.

Fortunately an opportunity came to me in 1996 to carve my section of the business out of the firm and join a smaller group with less work pressures. This came just as our eldest was starting high school at St Aloysius’ College (Jesuits at Milsons Point, Sydney) and so I was able to spend more time with my family, with our local church . .. . . . Holy Name at Wahroonga . . . . . .and with spirituality.
Yes, I had come back to the fold of Christ! In 1975 while backpacking through Europe for several
months prior to starting employment in the London office of Touche Ross & Co I returned to the
Church. However when you throw your Faith away for no good reason God does not just hand it
back to you on a platter! While I thereafter regularly went to Mass I did not straight away regain my
Faith. This took many years. I must say that memories of the liturgy, theology classes and other
religious events at the Novitiate and Juniorate helped me on that path back to God. Many, many
times I was able to think back and recall what Brother Fergus had said or what Brother Colgan had taught us in scripture classes or what Brother Claudius had said in the Juniorate or details from the John Henry Newman books I had read in the library, which, if my memory serves me correctly, was at the corner of the bend in the walkway down towards the classrooms at the Novitiate. In time I was a restored believer. Thanks be to God. In recent years my Faith has strengthened . . . . . . six years ago I undertook the Jesuit “Great Retreat” under the guidance of Father Tom O’Hara SJ at St Marys, North Sydney. At least it was Tom’s version of the great retreat for lay people. The great retreat normally lasts for 40 days but Tom’s lay version lasts for one hour a day for 40 weeks . . . . . . .almost a full year! Anyway, I did the retreat, up at 5am each day to do my hour and then off to work. The retreatants then met once a week for discussion and joint study.

Following that very beneficial experience with the Jesuits I became more involved with the
Dominicans (Holy Name Wahrooonga used to be a Dominican parish and a Priory and our four
children went from K to 6 at Prouille, a Dominican school in Wahroonga) and I’m now a Lay
Dominican. I made my final Profession last year. We Laity make a solemn promise to be bound by
the Dominican Rule but, clearly, do not take vows of Poverty or Chastity and therefore are not
Consecrated Religious members of the Order. Instead we are committed to our married or single
vocations while still being members of the Order. As such, I am now a Dominican, an OP, and try as much as possible to reach out to other people in all aspects of my daily life and through several ministries in our local Church & the Jesuit Churches in North Sydney & Lavender Bay (both near my office) and as a member of the Catholic Chaplaincy team at Parklea Correctional Centre (North Western Sydney, near Blacktown).

All of the above has been solely about me . . . . . . . the story needed to flow as a unit . . . . . . . now for the important people in my life, my family.

I am married to a wonderful woman, Janet and we have four delightful children.

_ Brad is 28, lives in London, is an accountant like his dad and one day plans to return to
Sydney, settle down and have a family. I’m flying to London to visit Brad for two weeks in
October and while I’m there he will be running in the Dublin marathon and so I will be his
coach, mentor, cheer squad and fellow Guinness drinker after the event!

_ Liesl is 26, lives in Paddington and is the creative member of the family. Soon after finishing
her HSC at Loreto Normanhurst (IBVM Sisters) she started an all girl rock band called “Post
Panache” where she was the lead singer, song writer and lyricist however she came to
realize that it was not a good way to make money, unless you are extremely talented and
very lucky. Now she works as an executive with EMI Music Australia.

_ Aline is 24, lives at home and has just finished her five years international studies and
communications degrees, with the last 18 months at a university in Valparaiso, Chile and is
now embarking on her career path.

_ Rachel is 21, based at home but is a resident student at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst in
her final year of a primary school teaching degree (4 Years).

_ My dear wife teaches three days a week in mainstream and disability classes at Hornsby
TAFE and Meadowbank TAFE and is an Executive Assistant for two days a week in the
Director’s unit at Hornsby TAFE.

_ Yours truly is now working four days a week in my accounting practice at North Sydney.
Fortunately I have very loyal staff members who keep the business running on the day I am
not there.

Hobbies and interests . . . . . . apart from everything above . . . . . . I sing classical church music in our choir at Holy Name Wahroonga, I sing in a religious choir in Sydney known as The Sydney Singers (and I thank the Music Master, Brother Valerius from the Juniorate for my love of singing. I’m not a soloist but can hold my place in a choir), I am an avid snow skier both downhill and cross country and I sail whenever possible, which is not so often these days, on our 25ft sloop “Papillon”.

I cannot say how much my three years at Mittagong has meant to me . . . . . . the boys in my year,
the year prior, the year following and the Marists Brothers who looked after us in those years. And DOM David in the Juniorate, the Chinese cook in the Juniorate (I’ve forgotten his name!) and Father Peter in the Novitiate. All of these good people are part of my Marist Mittagong story.

Everyone has their individual path to God . . . . . . always give it 110%!!!