Fr Harte was known not only for his commitment to Pastoral life, but also his delight in engaging with his wider community. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the Catholic Church and to the community in 2018.

Vigil Prayers and Rosary were recited at Holy Rosary, White Hills, on the evening of 6 January. The Funeral Mass for the repose of Fr Ted’s soul was concelebrated at Sacred Heart Cathedral on 7 January 2022; the Homily was delivered by friend and fellow priest, Fr Andrew Fewings PP.

In his Homily, Fr Andrew said, “Fr Ted had many foretastes of the promises of God: fine wine among friends ─ the happy hours in the parish on Fridays and many social occasions, and at the races’ finishing line ─ he was noted for very good collects from the tote and recently he received the medal of Order of Australia. Of course, more than the material blessings, Fr Ted received and gave many spiritual blessings.”

The sixth child of eight children to Harold and Elsie Harte, Fr Harte was awarded a scholarship to Warrnambool Technical School and therefore, unlike his siblings, did not receive a Catholic education, which at the time included learning Latin. Perhaps distance makes the heart grow fonder, because Fr Harte was the only one of his siblings drawn to a religious vocation.

After graduating from Technical School, Fr Harte worked with the National Bank and Department of Civil Aviation, all the while feeling the call of the priesthood and making plans to satisfy the prerequisites of the seminary. To master the required level of Latin, he secured a teaching job at Assumption College Kilmore and, at the age of 21, studied Latin in class with the school students. Ironically, soon after Fr Ted became a priest, there was not much need for Latin due to the reforms of Vatican II.

Fr Harte eventually joined the seminary in 1958 at an age that was then considered a ‘late vocation’ – he was 25 years old.
During his 37 years serving as Parish Priest in White Hills, Fr Harte twice took the opportunity (in 1999 and 2021), to serve for several months as an assistant priest at St John the Evangelist Parish in New York City. In his Homily, Fr Andrew quoted Fr Ted, saying he was “amazed to find that saying Mass in the basement of a skyscraper in New York was just the same as saying Mass in White Hills!”

  pdf Read Fr Andrew Fewings’ Homily (97 KB)

  pdf Download the Funeral Mass Book (860 KB)