Beaconsfield
Big Questions
The Rev. Chris
Thiele is Special Project Priest (Priest-in-Charge) of
the Parish of West
Tamar which includes Beaconsfield. He talked with
Sheelagh Wegman
about the Beaconsfield Mine incident.
Sheelagh Wegman: Chris tell me about what the
church had to offer at Beaconsfield?
Chris Thiele: The big thing about this whole
episode is that the Christian Church (Anglican, Catholic and
Uniting together) ministered to the workers. Usually the
church has a lot to do with middle class people, but here we
had real down-to-earth (excuse the pun) workers with a
no-nonsense attitude to life and a strong sense of family
and community. People who don’t fit comfortably into
the usual church scene. The Uniting Church minister was
willing to deal more with the media, and that enabled me to
work more behind the scenes with the families.
Besides yourself, were there any other high-profile
Anglicans helping?
Yes, Barry Easther the Mayor is also a member of
Diocesan Council
and did a great job liaising across all groups of people.
Did people seek out the church?
They sure did! We had to work out what we needed to do
but people kept coming into the church or contacting me on
the street just to talk. Fifteen parishioners kept watch in
the church for 16 hours a day. The church was open as a
quiet place where they could sit or pray or talk. Forty
members of one family held a prayer vigil in the church at
midnight, when they knew it would be a bit quieter.
Who came to the church? How did people know that you
were ‘open for business’?
Everyone came along. We had the families, of course. But
various media folk, too, would sit and spend a while just
reflecting on it all. The media did cause a lot of grief and
some of them were incredibly insensitive to the families of
the two miners underground, but others were more caring. We
also printed fliers to let people know that the Church was
concerned and available to help in any way. But really,
people just expected that Christians will be there and that
the church will be open. Even in this more secular age we
live in, people still have a spiritual feeling. That was
really obvious.
So what has come out of all this as far as the
Beaconsfield Christian community is concerned?
Well, I have been booked up for the next few weeks just
to talk with people. Several people have declared that they
will return to church because of this ‘miracle.’
There is a lot of spiritual stocktaking happening. Some
couples have asked me to conduct a service for the renewal
of their wedding vows.
And how has it affected you and your ministry?
It has been amazing. I have been tremendously honoured
and now have a nickname ‘The Rev.’ I have also
been tremendously humbled at the open and generous spirit of
these families, particularly Larry’s family who
postponed their grieving for the sake of Larry’s mates.
It is going to take a long time for everything to
‘shake down’ and get back to normal, but not a
single person in this town has been untouched by this and
hopefully the experience will strengthen our whole
community.
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