On 7 July 2024 Fr David Orange celebrated the 8:30am Mass at St Martin de Porres Church to commemorate the 60th jubilee of his ordination.
Parishioner, Tony McKone, gave the following presentation in honour of Fr David’s jubilee.
Today we have come together here at St Martin de Porres Church in the Parish of Te Awakairangi to celebrate the 60th jubilee of the ordination of Fr David Orange.
David was ordained in the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on 2nd July 1964. David had a love of music and was an organist at the seminary in his younger years and loved listening to the pipe organ at the cathedral.
David entered the minor seminary in Christchurch, which had been described as being basically a secondary boarding school – with attitude! There, David along with the other seminarians were taught by Jesuits and there was a heavy emphasis on academic achievement.
The subjects David had to study included Latin, Greek, English, history and mathematics. In the 1950s the seminarians had to pass School Certificate in all subjects. David found that he was hopeless at maths, which created a bit of dilemma as no-one from the seminary had failed their School Certificate. Thankfully, the rector, Fr Ollie Maher, agreed that you could take art as a subject. Fr Maher arranged for you to have extra tuition on Wednesday evenings in the few weeks before the exams. This plan paid off as while David, you failed in maths, you went on to pass in art!
I read that you were actually more concerned about the academic reputation of the seminary. A lot of us here may not be aware, but your father worked for the Education Department and saw all the School Cert results weeks before they were published – so we can just imagine you being mortified had your father seen you had failed your School Certificate before the official results came out.
We here in Avalon are well aware of David’s love for art. David, you were 18 when you were introduced to Sr Lawrence who was well known in the painting world as Julia Lynch. Many regard Sr Lawrence as the foremost portrait painter of her day. She had won a scholarship when she was about 18 to study at the famed Slade School of Art in London.
Sr Lawrence introduced you to oil paints and you did a couple of still life paintings with her thinking that Sr Lawrence was going to give you regular classes, only to be told by Sr Lawrence, ‘Oh no. You paint and I’ll criticise!’
Those of us who are familiar with David’s art will be aware of your great friendship with another of New Zealand’s finest landscape artists, John Crump. David and John would drive south to the West Coast, Central Otago, the Lewis Pass, Milford Sound staying in backpackers, old shearers’ quarters and barns and the artwork that came out of these trips has made you a recognised artist in your own right.
Here at St Martin’s we have been witness to your selfless use of your paintings as a means for raising funds for Sr Goretti and her community’s work with the poor in Africa as well as most recently raising funds for the restoration of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.
You came to St Martin de Porres in 1997 and have remained as Parish Priest until our amalgamation in 2015 into the Parish of Te Awakairangi. You have continued to serve both the Avalon Church community post the amalgamation as well as the wider Te Awakairangi Parish which now includes the Taita, Naenae, and Lower Hutt Communities.
We cannot forget to mention that for over half of your priestly life you were the hospital chaplain. There will be many of us here today, including myself, who have had the misfortune of finding ourselves in hospital, who were pleased to see your smiling face as you came to visit us and not only lift our physical but spiritual well-being. I personally recall in 2018 when I was recovering from my heart surgery in Wellington how you managed to catch-up with the hospital chaplain and getting them to “stand down” (of course in the nicest of ways) by telling them that I was one of your flock and you were bringing me communion. That still brings a smile to my face today some six years later.
Of course, over the past few years David, your own health has been catching up with you. We have nothing but total admiration for your commitment to your continuing to minister to us despite your eyes failing you. Your stroke last year may have physically taken you away from us, however David, I can confidently say on behalf of everyone here this morning, that this has not removed you from our hearts, our thoughts, and our prayers.
We have and continue to be truly blessed to have you as our priest and it is with heartfelt honour and privilege that on behalf of this, your community of St Martin de Porres Avalon, and the parish of Te Awakairangi that we congratulate you and give thanks to our Lord for your 60 years of priesthood.