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Monash acknowledges much-loved chaplain

2 April 2008

Fr Peter Knowles OP, who served the Monash community for its first 25 years, died in Adelaide on 11 March after a long illness.

A memorial Mass will be held at 12.10pm on Wednesday 9 April in the Main Chapel at Monash University to celebrate the life of one of our longest serving and best loved chaplains.

Fr Peter Knowles OP, who served the Monash community for its first 25 years, died in Adelaide on 11 March after a long illness.

A Dominican Friar, an Archpriest of the Byzantine rite of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and a former Master of Mannix College, Fr Knowles' chaplaincy covered the period of the Vietnam war and its aftermath.

Though he never took out a degree, Fr Knowles was widely read and deeply learned. He mastered several ancient and modern eastern languages, wrote articles for scholarly journals and was reviewing manuscripts and submitting articles until late in his life.

It was in its culture and political awareness, not just its learning, that Monash made its mark early in its history and Fr Knowles was great friends with academics from various faculties.

A gifted preacher, he was highly literate, articulate and in his sermons centred on matters of the Faith.

It was at Mass that the gathered student body learned to examine life with the light and the learning that he brought; here they learned that their education was good for its own sake and not just for their chosen vocation or career.

His other great quality was his ability to listen, which in the days of vigorous protest and assertive self-expression, was a great gift to the students. To one student who was contemplating whether to undertake further studies at Harvard, Cornell or Monash, the chaplain confidently asserted "You can achieve anything you want to right here at Monash."

He loved good music and the theatre.

In this 50th anniversary year of Monash University we can acknowledge a chaplain whose love for people both young and old lay at the very heart of his ministry.