Deacon Peter de Haas, 8 May 2025
The Gulf Savannah Parish, in Far North Queensland, was in the grip of a severe drought. Deacon Peter de Haas, together with his wife Angela and adult daughter Alicia, delivered care packages to people on the cattle stations. These care packages were made possible through the concern and generosity of other Catholic parishes in the Cairns Diocese, and the community of Ravenshoe where Deacon Peter lived with his family at that time.
The drought raged for at least 5 years, so much of their focus was in reaching out to the station families, whether Catholic or other. Alicia, who has Downs Syndrome, connected really well with the families. Peter reflects, “It seemed that my wife and I were the support crew, Alicia had the ministry.”
While the care packages “didn’t make a whole lot of difference in the long drought that affected both the cattle stations and the communities that supported them, it greatly lifted spirits because they knew that people were thinking of them.” And at one of those stations, there was a Catholic mother. She opened up to Peter and really appreciated the presence of Peter and his family. Some time later, he was called upon to baptise her daughter.
Family and friends from all over gathered at the river near the station, several hours drive from the nearest church. Everyone was very excited because they thought “it was just like John the Baptist!” Deacon Peter, in his board shorts, white t-shirt and pectoral cross, blessed the water in which the girl was to be baptised. One of the children asked, “Can you really bless as much water as a river?” After the baptism, the parents went to get changed into formal gear. Being so remote, they hadn’t been able to get a priest or deacon for their wedding, so now was their chance! Peter went on to bless the marriage of the couple on the banks of the river as well. He reflects, “I felt very privileged and honoured to do that, and it had a significant impact on all those who witnessed it.”
Peter describes his ministry as going beyond the boundaries of the towns, beyond the boundaries of the church. He is a boundary rider! And that is where he finds life. He was born in Holland, but moved with his family to Brisbane when he was seven years old. The seed of Peter’s vocation was planted more than 35 years ago. At that time, Peter, Angela and Alicia were lay missionaries working with PALMS in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory. He could see that, due to lack of priests, the people were “poorly supported in terms of their liturgical and sacramental life.” A sense of call began to grow in him.
After that, they moved to several other dioceses, but there were no structures for a lay couple to do permanent ministry. Even when Peter discovered the diaconate in one diocese, it didn’t seem to fit with the “seed” that was waiting in the soil. Finally, they arrived in the Cairns Diocese in 2004. By 2006, Peter was exploring the diaconal program, and was ordained in 2010. The model was a “better fit” for what he was looking for – “fluid and flexible, including remote area ministry.”
In fact, for Peter, the possibilities of the diaconate seem to be endless. Mostly unique, they “grow out of the experience, knowledge, skills of each deacon and the circumstances in which the deacon finds himself.” This opens up creative opportunities, discerned through prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, though it makes the diaconate more difficult to understand or explain.
For the last 15 years, Peter has been missioned to the Gulf Savannah Parish. It is about 1000 kilometres long and between 200-400 kilometers wide, including many cattle stations and small towns. At first he was helping Fr Hilary Flynn, but subsequently, and for a number of years, the parish has not had a regular priest. During this time, there has been a roster of priests from elsewhere in the Diocese of Cairns to provide access to the Mass and sacraments between 4 and 6 times per year during the dry season.
Earlier this year, a priest kindly volunteered to provide pastoral and spiritual support to the parish. He plans to travel out once per month, visiting the towns in the parish to supply Mass. Deacon Peter hopes that this will free him up to once again undertake pastoral visits, visiting people in their homes or on the many cattle stations where pastoral relationships have been established. Peter has now been appointed as Administrator of the Parish.
In this ministry, Peter likes to find ways to empower others and delegate responsibilities. While he leads liturgies with Holy Communion, he also instructs and encourages others. He has been a chaplain to a state school and is currently a part time chaplain to the Queensland Police Service, and enjoys every minute. The value of the ordained ministry, for him, is the authority it gives him to act. “It reassures the people that you have been through some sort of process and you have been vetted. People trust in that process and therefore trust in me as a deacon.” This is in a sacramental sense, but also in the other leadership and formation tasks to which he is called.
Irrespective of his particular ministries, however, Peter reflects on the diaconate as a lifelong journey and relationship, in which “I (hopefully!) don’t ministry in my strength alone.” Thank you for riding the boundaries, Peter, for listening and leading with love.
I highly recommend Peter’s book, A Practical Field Guide for Bush Catholics … and Bushed Catholics – Echo Books. It grew out of the experience of Peter’s remote area ministry and finding that so few people in his vast Parish had opportunities for adult faith formation. His book brought me to the simplicity and depth of my own faith and made my heart sing!
Liturgy on the Margins 