PRIESTLY life has turned a full circle for Fr Peter Kooloos as he finds himself as parish priest in two parishes where he began priestly life 50 years ago. Fr Kooloos was ordained by Bishop Arthur Fox at Iona on June 15, 1968, and his first placement was at Koo Wee Rup. Now 50 years later he is serving as parish priest for both Koo Wee Rup and IonaMaryknoll parishes. He is believed to be the only Sale Diocese priest ordained at Iona, and one of three priestly ordinations in the impressive brick church. The others are recently retired Brisbane auxiliary bishop Bishop Joe Oudeman who is a Franciscan and Fr Frank Dineen who is a Missionary of the Sacred Heart. Fr Kooloos said his family’s local church was Nar Nar Goon but in 1968 the church was a run-down weatherboard building with limited seating.
The Iona Church had previously been used for his sister’s wedding and so became the church of choice for his ordination. Fr Kooloos was born in Barneveld, Gelderland, in the Netherlands and went to school with Fr Herman Hengel Fr Hengel’s sister, former CatholicCare Gippsland manager Arda Tymensen, and her husband Peter were in the class below. Fr Kooloos came to Australia at age 10 in 1954 with his parents Harry and Corry Kooloos and eight brothers and sisters. Another sibling died in the Netherlands. The Kooloos family initially settled in Narre Warren North for nine months, then moved to a share farm in Cardinia before moving again to a farm in Nar Nar Goon. Most of Fr Kooloos’s education was at St John the Baptist School, Koo Wee Rup, and after completing his intermediate certificate (Year 10) he attended the Marist Brothers’ St Patrick’s College in Sale as a boarder for his final two years of secondary education. He then studied for the priesthood at Corpus Christi Seminary, Werribee. His desire to be a priest was something he had contemplated even before emigrating. He was encouraged to learn Greek and taught this by Fr Jim Opie, the then parish priest of Koo Wee Rup.
As a priest he has served in a dozen parishes in Sale Diocese but strangely never in the far east or far west. He studied Canon Law in Leuven, Belgium, from 199496 and on return to Australia with his Licentiate in Canon Law, began working with the Marriage Tribunal. He joined the Council of Priests in 1996, became a Consultor to the Bishop in 2000, and has been on the Diocesan Finance Council since 2001.
He was Episcopal Vicar of Administration for the diocese from 2010-13. During time at the Cathedral parish in Sale, he also served as an air force chaplain and prison chaplain. To commence his Golden Jubilee celebrations Fr Kooloos celebrated Mass with the school community of St John’s, Koo Wee Rup, the same school which he attended during his primary and early secondary school days and in the same church in which he celebrated his first Mass on the day following his ordination.
During this Mass, he proudly used a chalice that had been given to him as a gift following his ordination. Parishioners gathered at Iona Hall to share a celebratory lunch, hosted by the Catholic Women’s League of IonaMaryknoll, with Fr Kooloos and celebrations continued the following weekend when Koo Wee Rup parishioners held a morning tea to acknowledge his dedication to his vocation over the past 50 years. St James School, Nar Nar Goon, and Columba School in Bunyip also held special celebrations for Fr Kooloos with Mass and morning teas.
This story first appeared in Catholic Life.
