Mass and Burial, Noel Mansfield MSC and Kevin Ehlefeldt MSC
This homily and eulogy for our two confreres from Malcolm Fyfe MSC is a requiem reflection – and also an opportunity to read of the lives and ministries of Noel and Kevin.
With thanks to Malcolm for his text, to Claude Mostowik for Mass photos and John Walker for graveside photos.
Dear Friends, we have come together this morning to commend the souls of Fathers Noel Mansfield and Kevin Ehlefeldt to God, in the presence of their mortal remains. The MSC Community welcomes visitors who have been able to come here for this Requiem Mass.
We offer Father Kevin’s nieces, Mary and Pauline and other family members and friends our sympathy at the loss of someone they have cherished.
To Noel’s sister, Sister Joan in Broome and other relatives and friends, we likewise offer our condolences and our union with them in prayer. In recent weeks I have been in touch with Sister Joan a couple of times. When I offered my condolences, she assured me that rather than grieving, she was very happy at the thought that Noel had gone to God. She also told me that at the same time as we are celebrating Noel’s Requiem here, there are 50 or so St John of God Sisters attending a special Mass for Noel at Subiaco in Perth.
Today at this Mass, we thank God for the lives of two of our MSC confreres, Father Noel and Father Kevin and we are celebrating their impressive and varied ministries. Before proceeding, let me say that it will not be possible to do justice to either of their multilayered life-stories and significant achievements: I can only try to comment selectively on certain aspects presented from just one person's point of view. Last night at the Sharing of Memories you heard tributes offered by many others who have been touched by their lives.
As Christians, our belief in what happens to us when our life on earth comes to an end is supported by an array of Biblical texts. St Paul, for example, in his Letter to the Romans (Chapter 8) states: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead has made his home in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies, through his spirit living in you.” Again, St Paul’s words in the Second Letter to Timothy (Chapter 4) provide a similar testimony when St Paul’s own life was drawing to a close: “The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” With their commitment to the Gospel message and to the MSC Charism, I believe both Father Noel and Father Kevin could well have used those words of St Paul: “The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness”.
The victory of Jesus over death and sin is the model and pattern of our own destiny. And so, the sorrow and sense of loss that we naturally experience at the death of people we have admired and valued, give way to a celebration of their personal gifts and of all that they achieved throughout their long and dedicated lives. This morning we thank God for the privilege of having known our two departed confreres.
Noel was called to eternal life on Friday May 16th. He was 92 years of age, having been born on New Year’s Day, 1933, in Brisbane. His sister Joan told me that theirs was a family devoted to the Sacred Heart and that their father was a daily Mass goer. When Noel was 5 years old, his sister Anne was born. She had no arms but went on to live a very full life, buoyed up by extraordinary courage and determination. Noel attended Primary School in Bundaberg for 7 years, followed by 4 years Secondary studies at Downlands College, from 1948 to 1951.
Perhaps at this point I should indicate why I asked to celebrate Noel’s Requiem Mass and say something about his life. Let me explain: One day in late January back in 1952, I arrived at Douglas Park for a final year of Secondary studies at the Sacred Heart Apostolic School, the mandated minimum period before one could enter the Postulancy and Novitiate. And so it was almost 75 years ago that I first met Noel Mansfield, along with fifteen other candidates for the MSC priesthood. Together we formed one of the largest batches of clerical candidates for priesthood in our Australian Province’s history. However I am the only surviving member of that noteworthy batch who is available to celebrate Noel’s Requiem.
Well, after that year of Leaving Certificate studies, effectively a sort of Pre-Novitiate or Postulancy, came the Novitiate, with Fr McGuane the very saintly and dutiful Novice Master.
After our 1-year successfully survived Novitiate, the 16 of us travelled down to Croydon Monastery in Victoria for our 3 years of Philosophy studies.
Then, in 1956, due to a shortage of available MSC priest teachers, Noel and I were asked to teach at the Apostolic School. It was a sort of gap year between our Philosophy and Theology studies. In those days, MSC Community life was compartmentalised – priests, brothers, those in Formation: each subset of the MSCs lived and worked within their respective ambience with minimal contact with the other subsets of the Community. And so it was that for one whole year, Noel and I ate and recreated, prepared classes and prayed, largely as a community of two. Quarantined as we were from everyone else, we never argued or disagreed about anything. I think each of us instinctively knew that if an argument started between us, it might never stop.
At the start of the following year, Noel Mansfield and I headed down to Croydon Monastery where we settled into the requisite 4 years of Theology studies from 1957 to 1960 inclusive.
But there is more still to our connection. Down through the years, Providence in the form of appointments by the Provincial, cast our fortunes together.
At the start of 1961, Noel and I were both appointed to Monivae College, Hamilton in Western Victoria. It had only been functioning for 5 years in its newly constructed buildings on its current Ballarat Road site. I still have a vivid recollection of the two of us being driven down from Melbourne to Hamilton by the then College Rector, Father J.J. McMahon. The journey on that fearfully hot Summer’s Day in late January seemed endless. Our arrival marked the start of his eight years there as Teacher and Sports Master. It was during that first stint at Monivae that Noel, who had been held back from Ordination because of an epilepsy diagnosis, was ordained a priest in June 1967. He moved on to spend the five years 1969 to 1973 as Year 11 Co-ordinator at Daramalan College in Canberra and he completed his BA studies at the ANU. Then he went back to Monivae at the start of 1974, at a time when the College was transitioning from an all-male College to a co-educational one. He spent the six years ’76 to ’81 as Director of the Junior Campus.
It was only at the end 1977 that our paths diverged.
In 1982 Noel had a year at Fordham University acquiring an MA in Religious Studies, then two years giving College Retreats before heading up to Papua New Guinea for a year at Hagita High School, followed by 6 years as Rector of Chanel College. In 1994, he successfully completed the Spiritual Director course at our Heart of Life Institute. He found this course very helpful both personally and for his subsequent ministry. After a short stint on the Retreat Team he spent several years back at Monivae as Religious Superior and College Chaplain.
In 1999, he moved to Hindmarsh in South Australia as Assistant priest. He clearly relished this penultimate period of his life, working in the parish, mixing with people of all kinds, visiting the aged and infirm, composing reflections each week for the parish bulletin. It was while he was at Hindmarsh that he authored several books, perhaps the most noteworthy of which consisted of his personal Reflections on the Aging process. He found great enjoyment and enthusiasm in this late-in-life re-invention of himself as a writer. Finally, it was a little over 3 years ago, in April 2022, that Noel came to live at St Joseph’s Aged Care facility. Slowly, slowly, during that time he deteriorated physically, but almost right up until his final days, his mind was clear and he enjoyed a good conversation.
I feel sure Father Noel would want me to thank Sister Pauline and her team for the great love and care that he experienced at St Joseph’s.
Father Kevin had an even longer life than Noel. He would have turned 96 in 3 months’ time. As most here would know, Kevin had an elder brother who was also a Missionary of the Sacred Heart and who died six years ago at the age of 102.
Kevin made his first profession as an MSC back in 1948 and went on to serve as a Religious Brother in a variety of apostolates. Earlier this year, on 26th of February, Kevin marked 77 years of religious profession.
In his early years as an MSC Brother, Kevin worked at Chevalier College Bowral, as well as at the Sacred Heart Monastery, Croydon, Victoria. In the 1960s and 1970s, he spent many years in the Annals Office at Kensington and helped in promoting the development of the Chevalier Press.
The only time I worked in the same religious community as Kevin was during the year 1975 when he was the Purchasing Officer at Monivae College. Even during that year, I was absent from the College for several months - on sabbatical, after having already worked at the College for 14 years.
Following that one year at Monivae College, Kevin commenced studies for the priesthood at St Paul’s Late-Vocation Seminary and was ordained priest on August 18th, 1979. Following ordination, he ministered in the parishes of Randwick (NSW), Kings Meadow (TAS), Henley Beach (SA), Camp Hill (QLD), and later provided parish supply ministry in the Lismore Diocese.
Coming to Kensington as I did, 18 months ago, I had the opportunity and privilege of getting to know Kevin better. Of course, his more active years were behind him and he had become accustomed to the restrictions that declining health imposes. But I always found it refreshing to sit at his table of choice in our dining room and chat with him. He seemed to be managing the ageing process pretty well but his time with us came to a close rather swiftly, inasmuch as after about 10 days in the Prince of Wales hospital, he passed away last Saturday, May 24. Two of his nieces, Pauline and Mary, both nurses, together with many MSC confreres, were able to visit him and comfort him during that final period of his earthly life.
I’m sure Father Kevin would be happy for me to acknowledge the personalised support and care that Catherine, Jane, Belinda and other members of staff provide to all of us MSCs who live here at the Monastery.
With the passing of Fathers Noel and Kevin, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have lost two significant members of the Australian Province, gifted, straightforward men of God, each one having had his unique share of life’s challenges; priests respected and appreciated for their dedication and commitment, much loved by parishioners who came to know them in the several places where they ministered.
As we continue to celebrate the Eucharist this morning, thanking God for their life and achievements, we can remind ourselves of those words of Jesus that we heard this morning from St John's Gospel: “I am the bread of life – he who comes to me shall not perish. He who believes in me, even if he dies, he shall live forever. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day”.
We can be confident that both Father Noel and Father Kevin, who were so faithful to the teaching of Christ and his Mission, so devoted to the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and to his Mother Mary, under the title of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, are already enjoying everlasting life, peace and light in the Kingdom of God.
