Reverend Craig Moody faced "anger and ridicule" for supporting people seeking Australian citizenship.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Courage and compassion defined the priest in charge of the Anglican Parish of Dubbo from 2009 to 2014.
Parishioners have remembered the "irreverent reverend" at a memorial service at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Dubbo.
Reverend Moody died on July 4 at the age of 65 after battling melanoma.
In a eulogy written by his wife Jenny Moody, and read by Tony Wheatland at the memorial service in Dubbo, the extent of Reverend Moody's advocacy was revealed.
Mrs Moody told of her husband writing letters to the likes of football teams which did not listen to umpires or coaches, and the Australian Defence Force when its spending was "questionable".
"He left nothing undone when it came to supporting people seeking citizenship in Australia and I have held my breath and prayed as he has faced anger and ridicule simply for standing in the defence of someone who needed him," she said.
"Yet he never shied from saying the words that needed to be said, giving the advice that needed to be heard and putting others' well-being before his own."
READ ALSO:
Reverend Moody's path to the priesthood began when he was a boy.
"Craig told me that his earliest memories were of his mother spending days sitting beside people who were dying while he drew pictures," Mrs Moody said.
"His mother told me that instead of playing doctors or nurses after these visits, he would get little bits of torn- up paper and his little baptism silver cup and give his dolls communion."
Craig and Jenny Moody were 21 and 17 years of age, respectively, when her father, a rector at All Saints' Wickham Terrace in Brisbane, gave his permission for them to marry.
"From that day to this our love has grown stronger every day," Mrs Moody said at her husband's funeral on July 9.
"There was never a moment when I wasn't in awe of this amazing, clever, kind and wonderful man."
Born and bred in Queensland, the father of five moved his family to Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast after their five-year stint in Dubbo.
On arrival he told media that he would "go wherever God called me, even if that was Antarctica".
Caloundra parishioners got to know a man described by his wife as "an irreverent reverend, a steadfast friend always loyal and true, a loving and generous father, a wonderful teacher and preacher".
"He visited the sick, the lonely and the confined," she said.
"He set us free to be ourselves by using humour and sharing of himself. He honoured all, he loved all."