Bishop ‘Bob’ Leamy was a born leader

Bishop Robin “Bob” Leamy, SM, was a born leader and, if he had been an All Black, he would have been the captain.

“[But] he became a Marist, so he ended up [as] provincial, and later a missionary bishop,” said Msgr Paul Farmer during a homily at the funeral Mass for Bishop Leamy celebrated at the Church of St Therese, Mangere East, Auckland, on January 7.

Cardinal John Dew was the principal celebrant at the Mass, and among the concelebrants werethe current Bishop of Rarotonga, Bishop Paul Donoghue, SM, and Bishop Emeritus of Rarotonga, Bishop Denis Browne, as well as the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa, and Bishops Patrick Dunn, Michael Gielen and Michael Dooley.

The new Bishop of Auckland, Bishop Stephen Lowe, sent his apologies.

During the Mass, Archbishop Rugambwa read out messages of condolence from Pope Francis and from Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

Bishop Leamy, who was Bishop Emeritus of Rarotonga, Cook Islands, died at St Joseph’s Home, Ponsonby, on January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. He was aged 87.

Msgr Farmer, who worked as a priest in Rarotonga when Bishop Leamy was bishop there, described him as a “beautiful man”.

“And I wondered where this gift of God’s love got its maturity, and its groundedness and togetherness,” Msgr Farmer said.

“I often thought, you don’t get this in a boarding school. You don’t get this in a seminary. You don’t get this in an institution. As I got to know Bob’s family, I realised that it was from his family that he got the precious gifts that made him who he was.”

Bishop Leamy grew up in Khandallah, Wellington, and attended St Patrick’s College, Silverstream, after winning a boarding scholarship. As a young man, he excelled at many sports — rugby, tennis, cricket, boxing. But cricket was his first love, and he captained the first XI when he was aged 16 and 17, and he also played club cricket.

Speaking at the funeral, his brother Terry noted that the New Zealand cricket hierarchy saw him
as a future captain of the national side, and tried to talk him out of going to the seminary.

The young Robin Leamy was selected as captain of the New Zealand Brabin Shield under-21 side that was scheduled to tour Australia early in 1952. But a waterfront strike disrupted travel plans, and the tour was cancelled. So Robin headed for Greenmeadows. (Msgr Farmer noted that Bishop Leamy also spoke of Archbishop McKeefry visiting the family home in Khandallah, and trying to convince Robin to be a priest of the Archdiocese of Wellington and not a Marist.)

After being ordained as a priest by Archbishop McKeefry in Wellington in 1958, Fr Leamy went
to the University of Canterbury, where he would gain an MA degree in Latin and History. During his
first year there, he also taught at St Bede’s College.

Terry Leamy noted that his brother played rugby and cricket during this time, and was selected for
Bishop Leamy’s casket at St Therese church Bishop Leamy’s crozier is processed out of the church
the New Zealand Universities cricket team.

Missionary

According to his autobiography, “Truly Blessed — My Story”, published in 2011, Bishop Leamy
spent 14 years as a missionary in Samoa, from 1963 to 1977. He next served as Marist provincial for Oceania, living in Suva, Fiji, from 1977 to 1983.

Speaking at the funeral Mass, Sr Patricia Leamy, SMSM, the youngest of Bishop Leamy’s siblings,
said that she and her brother were both called to be missionaries beyond New Zealand.

“While never living in the same country, except for recent years in Auckland, our paths have
crossed in 11 countries,” Sr Patricia said. “I believe this is part of the ‘one hundred fold’ given
to those who follow Christ.”

Msgr Farmer said that it is often said that extroverts make the best missionaries, or that they are
the best to work in a cross-cultural environment.

“Extrovert he was. He loved people — [he] was energised by them. You could be with him in his
office, talking about something ever so serious, and he’d see somebody walk past the window,
and hello, he’s out on the street being greeted and energised. He was drawn to people.”

Bishop Leamy was appointed as Bishop of Rarotonga in 1984.

Msgr Farmer related a tale of how, during Bishop Leamy’s first full day in Rarotonga, he was not
to be found in the office — instead, he went out in shorts and tee shirt, with racquet and tennis
shoes, found a tennis court and enjoyed playing a game with complete strangers.

“He was a mature man,” Msgr Farmer said, “well-grounded and put together in every way. He
knew how to give himself space, and this he would not compromise on. He didn’t get his identity
from his work. He wasn’t one to rush around in order to save the world. His love of sport — especially cricket, tennis, rugby and golf — all of these opened avenues to people of all walks of life.”

Msgr Farmer told of how he once received a memo from Bishop Leamy. When the two met later
in Rarotonga, Bishop Leamy asked Msgr Farmer’s opinion on the content of the memo. Msgr Farmer
said he thought “Leamy’s lost his marbles”. And Bishop Leamy responded: “God, we had better
have a gin!!”

“You couldn’t threaten him. That was the kind of person he was. He could speak his mind, he
was always honest,” Msgr Farmer said.

Sister Patricia said that her brother was “a man of deep faith — not in a preachy way, but in his
life. He was sensitive to injustice, and would go to bat and advocate on behalf of the underdog. The
photo in The New Zealand Herald some years ago of him sitting in a cage in downtown Auckland,
to draw attention to Ahmed Zaoui’s situation, graphically illustrates this”.

Msgr Farmer said that Bishop Leamy was “a man of faith. It was a simple faith. It was an uncluttered faith. He didn’t clutter it with piousity and religiosity”.

Retirement

In his autobiography, Bishop Leamy wrote that he fell ill in 1996, and was diagnosed with pancreatitis and a heart disorder. St John Paul II accepted his resignation as Bishop of Rarotonga, and Bishop Leamy returned to Auckland, where he assisted Bishop Patrick Dunn.

He also served the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference as delegate to the Mixed Commission, and as the bishops’ representative on the board of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand.

His final years were spent at St Joseph’s Home in Ponsonby, and these were “challenging, as age took control”, Msgr Farmer said. But Bishop Leamy knew how to grow old gracefully.

Msgr Farmer also noted that Bishop Leamy had “always very strongly identified himself as a Marist, a son of Mary, a disciple of Mary. How fitting it was that he should die in the first hours of January 1, the great solemnity of Mary, Mother of God?”

“For Bob, Mary was his mother. Whenever he spoke of Mary, there was something very personal
about it,” Msgr Farmer said.

Sr Patricia added that “It is beautiful that Jesus and Mary came for you [Bob] on a Saturday, and
on the solemnity of the Mother of God”.

“Bob, thank you for being such a thoughtful, loving, generous brother,” she said.

Msgr Farmer concluded by saying, “You have sailed the Pacific in rust buckets, like the apostle Paul, for the sake of the Gospel, but now you are at home [in the Father’s house]”.

Bishop Leamy’s remains were interred at Panmure Catholic Cemetery