Dally Messenger III

Last updated

Dally Messenger III

CMC
Dally messenger iii.jpg
Born (1938-02-04) 4 February 1938 (age 86)
Kensington, New South Wales, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Education STB (philosophy and theology),
LCP (Licentiate of the College of Teachers: London)
Alma mater University of Melbourne
Notable awards
SpouseRemi Messenger
Children3 including Natasha Messenger, Julia Messenger
Relatives Dally Messenger (grandfather)
Website
Personal website

Dally Messenger III (born 4 February 1938), is an Australian developer and media spokesperson of the fledgling civil celebrant program founded by Australian Attorney-General, Lionel Murphy. He has also been credited with contributions as an author. After leaving the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1968, Messenger became a public critic of the Catholic Church. Messenger has written for The Australian and Nation Review. Messenger was founder and editor of the magazine Dance Australia. His books cover topics including rugby league, children of separated parents, early Melbourne radio, how to design celebrant ceremonies, and the history of celebrancy.

Contents

Family background

Dally Raymond Messenger is the grandson of Dally Messenger, a rugby player. [1] Charles Amos Messenger, his great-grandfather, was a sculling champion in Victoria who established the first boatshed on Sydney Harbour at Balmain. [2]

Early life and education

Born in Sydney in February 1938, Dally Messenger III is the son of Dally Messenger Junior and Dorothy (née Davidson). His upbringing took place in Sydney, with most of his school years spent in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains at St Bernard's College. He completed his final year of secondary schooling at Marist Brothers, Parramatta. Subsequently, he worked in banking and wholesale for several years before entering a seminary at the age of twenty-one, beginning his studies for the Catholic priesthood at St Columba's College, Springwood, NSW, and later completing them at St Patrick's College, Manly. [3] [4]

Messenger earned his degree (Sacrae Theologiae Baccalaureus (STB)) in 1964, along with teaching qualifications in 1965, before being ordained a priest in 1966. [5] During the post-Vatican II era of upheaval in the Catholic Church, Messenger was an activist. Regarding celibacy of the clergy, Messenger's argument was that, as the right to marry was inalienable ("nullo modo emancipari possit"), the law that forbade clergy in the Latin rite to marry was invalid. [6] [7]

Messenger was involved in the establishment of the New Earth Credit Union aimed at supporting former clergy through low-interest loans. [8] :229–230 Following his departure from the priesthood, Messenger relocated to Melbourne, where he dedicated six years (1969-1975) to teaching at the Presbyterian Haileybury College. During this period, he married and became the father of three daughters. In 1976, Messenger achieved a post-graduate diploma in Librarianship (teacher-librarian) from the Melbourne State College. [3]

Career

Messenger served as the founding editor and publisher of Dance Australia Magazine, established in 1980. [9] [10] Messenger's contributions to the magazine earned two national arts awards. The first, awarded for "Services to Dance," was presented during the inaugural National Dance Awards at the Sydney Opera House in May 1997. [11] The second was an Australian Dance Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Dance Education" in 2008, presented at the Arts Centre in Melbourne on June 15. [11] :2008 Awards

Civil celebrant

Messenger has been involved in the civil celebrant program, initially within Australia and subsequently in other English-speaking countries. On 26 January 1970, Messenger was the first individual to apply for the position of a Civil Marriage Celebrant under the provisions outlined in the Commonwealth Marriage Act of Australia of 1961. [12] In the 1970s, he was an advocate for civil marriage reform, supporting the Whitlam Government's Attorney-General Lionel Murphy who, on 26 July 1973, by appointing Lois D'Arcy, had introduced civil marriage celebrants into the Australian cultural scene. Messenger was appointed as a Civil Marriage Celebrant by Murphy in February 1974. Murphy appointed him first secretary of the Association of Civil Marriage Celebrants of Australia (ACMCA). [4]

Messenger was a founder and inaugural president of Funeral Celebrants Association of Australia. [13] In January 1994 he was elected the foundation president of the Australian Federation of Civil Celebrants Inc who, on 26 May 1996, honoured him with Life Membership. [4]

Messenger was prosecuted for violating Victorian consumer law, accused of attempting to manipulate the fees charged by civil celebrants for funeral services. Messenger contended that his intention was not to fix fees but to pressure funeral directors into raising the fixed fees established through long-standing collaboration among themselves. [14] In 2007, he pleaded guilty to attempting to induce individuals to contravene section 45(2)(a)(ii) of the Competition Code of Victoria and was fined $46,000, in addition to covering his own legal costs amounting to $20,000. [15] Messenger and his supporters persist in asserting that the Australian public is poorly served by a system that grants funeral directors significant control over the conditions and compensation of celebrants. [16] [17] [18] [19]

Messenger was an early advocate for the legalisation of same-sex marriages. As early as 1979, he introduced commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples. [4] :pp.143ff

In the 1990s Dally Messenger was active in spreading the civil celebrancy movement to New Zealand and the UK, countries where it was less well established. He was invited to New Zealand as guest keynote speaker at three annual conventions in the 1990s and in 2000. These were in Christchurch, organised by celebrant Frank Crean on 27 June 1998; in Hamilton, organised by celebrant Yvonne Foreman on 23 July 1999 and in Auckland, organised by celebrant Sherryl Wilson on 27 July 2001. [20]

In 2000-2002, Messenger was the key training instructor in establishing civil celebrancy in the US. He gave the launching address to the newly formed Celebrant USA Foundation in New Jersey on 5 June 2002 at the Montclair Library. [21] [22]

In 1995 he established the International College of Celebrancy. [23] Messenger has often been a critic of bureaucrats in the Australian Attorney-General's department who tried to reduce the training requirements for persons appointed as celebrants. [24]

Messenger lives in Melbourne with his wife since 2005, Remi Barclay Messenger(née Barclay, a.k.a. Bosseau). [25]

Honours

On 8 May 2014, Messenger was made a Life Member of the Celebrants and Celebrations Network (CCN) in recognition of his services to celebrants. The citation with this life membership calls Messenger "The Don of Celebrancy" and refers to "his unique contribution to the development of civil celebrancy in the Western World." [26]

Books

1980 ISBN   0 9596 13625 ISBN   978-0-992-5343-1-8.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceremony</span> Event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion

A ceremony is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church of Australia</span> Church of the Anglican Communion

The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the Catholic Church. According to the 2016 census, 3.1 million Australians identify as Anglicans. As of 2016, the Anglican Church of Australia had more than 3 million nominal members and 437,880 active baptised members. For much of Australian history since the arrival of the First Fleet in January 1788, the church was the largest religious denomination. It remains today one of the largest providers of social welfare services in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manilla, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Manilla is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, located on Fossickers Way 45 kilometres northwest of the regional city of Tamworth and 27 kilometres northeast of the historic village Somerton. Manilla is famous for its setting as a fishing, paragliding, and mountain biking area. The name Manilla comes from the Gamilaraay word 'Maneela', which is said to mean 'meeting of the rivers'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Newton</span> Australian media personality (1938–2021)

Albert Watson Newton was an Australian media personality. He was a Logie Hall of Fame inductee, quadruple Gold Logie award-winning entertainer, and radio, theatre, and television personality and compere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionel Murphy</span> Australian politician

Lionel Keith Murphy QC was an Australian politician, barrister, and judge. He was a Senator for New South Wales from 1962 to 1975, serving as Attorney-General in the Whitlam government, and then sat on the High Court from 1975 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Double Bay</span> Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Double Bay is a harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra.

Darryl William McInnes is an Australian film and television actor and writer. He is best known for his roles as Senior Constable Nick Schultz in Blue Heelers, as Max Connors in SeaChange, and more recently as TV boss Lindsay Cunningham in The Newsreader and Dr. Roy Penrose in NCIS: Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dally Messenger</span> Australian rugby league footballer

Herbert Henry Messenger, nicknamed "Dally" and sometimes "The Master" was one of Australasia's first professional rugby footballers, recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. He played for New South Wales in the first match run by the newly created New South Wales Rugby Football League, which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Costigan</span> Australian lawyer (1931 - 2009)

Francis Xavier Costigan,, was an Australian lawyer, Royal Commissioner and social justice activist. Costigan is renowned for presiding over the Costigan Commission into organised crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wally Messenger</span> Australia international rugby league footballer

Walter Messenger was the youngest son of Charles A. Messenger and Annie. He was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s and into the 1920s. He was a state and national representative winger whose club career was played with Eastern Suburbs in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celebrant (Australia)</span> People who conduct formal ceremonies

In Australia, celebrants or civil celebrants are people who conduct formal ceremonies in the community, particularly weddings – which represent the main ceremony of legal import conducted by celebrants –, and for this reason are often referred to as marriage celebrants. They may also conduct extra-legal ceremonies such as naming of babies, renewal of wedding vows, funerals, divorces, becoming a teenager, changing name, significant birthdays, retirements, and other life milestones. Officiating at a marriage requires that the celebrant be an authorised marriage celebrant under Australian law, or the law where the marriage takes place, but officiating at non-legal ceremonies does not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marriage officiant</span> Someone who can conduct a wedding

A marriage officiant or marriage celebrant is a person who officiates at a wedding ceremony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celebrancy</span> Officiation of secular ceremonies

Celebrancy is a profession founded in Australia in 1973 by the then Australian attorney-general Lionel Murphy. The aim of the celebrancy program was to authorise persons to officiate at secular ceremonies of substance, meaning and dignity mainly for non-church people. Up until this point legal marriages were reserved only to clergy or officers of the Births, Deaths & Marriages registry office. These appointed persons, referred to in the Marriage Act of Australia as "authorised celebrants", create & conduct weddings, funerals, namings, house dedications, coming of age and other life ceremonies for those who do not wish to be married or have other ceremonies in a church or registry office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark O'Connor (poet)</span> Australian poet and writer

Mark O'Connor is an Australian poet, writer, and environmental activist. He is the author of twelve books of poetry on regions of Australia such as the Great Barrier Reef and the Blue Mountains, often collaborating with renowned nature photographers. He has also written two books on the issue of overpopulation, This Tired Brown Land (1998) and, more recently, Overloading Australia. He has been a staunch advocate of incorporating quality poetry into civil celebrant ceremonies as evidenced for them in his professional development sessions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles A. Messenger</span> Australian rower (1853–1905)

Charles Amos Messenger was an Australian sculler and rower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natasha Johns-Messenger</span> Australian sculptor, artist

Natasha Johns-Messenger is an Australian conceptual artist and filmmaker, who has lived and worked in New York and Melbourne. Johns-Messenger is best known for her large-scale site-determined installations that examine spatial perception and light. Her work is a process of imitation, illusion and trickery, often activated by architectural interventions and optical physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil funeral celebrant</span> Non-religious officiant at a funeral

A civil funeral celebrant is a person who officiates at funerals which are not closely connected with religious beliefs and practises. They are analogous to civil celebrants for marriage ceremonies. Civil celebrant funerals began in Australia in 1975. As secular (civil) wedding ceremonies became accepted, first in Australia and then in other Western countries, a similar process for funerals has since been established in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. Civil funeral celebrants are often also civil marriage ceremony celebrants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Elliott (bishop)</span> Australian Roman Catholic bishop (born 1943)

Peter John Elliott is a retired Australian bishop of the Catholic Church who served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Melbourne from 2007 to 2018. He is also an author, writing a number of published works that predominantly concern the celebration of Catholic liturgy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Pryke</span> Australian Catholic priest, psychologist and social activist

Roger Irving Pryke was a scholar, Catholic priest, psychologist, and social activist who left an indelible impression on the Australian Catholic community and on the broader Australian community. As a priest he was a knowledgeable precursor, and later exponent, of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. As a preacher, lecturer and personal counsellor he was acknowledged as "(changing) thousands of people's lives" and influencing those thousands into "(becoming) a new kind of Catholic". As a personal guide to many, he applied the principles of psychology to the enrichment of the Christian life to great effect. His compelling social conscience led to his public involvement in issues such as apartheid in South Africa, the Vietnam War, and within the Church community, a leadership role and deep involvement, inter alia, in the reform of the Catholic Liturgy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remi Barclay Messenger</span> American actress

Remi Barclay Messenger, aka Remi Barclay & Remi Barclay Bosseau (b.1946) was a founding member of three prominent professional theatre companies in the New York City area – The Performance Group (l967–70), with Richard Schechner, Whole Theatre (1971–1990) and Voices of Earth (1988–2000), the latter two with Olympia Dukakis as a co-director. Her theatre work included years of acting, directing and teaching as well as creating workshops for a wide spectrum of institutions, schools and universities.

References

  1. Cunneen, Chris. "Herbert Henry (Dally) Messenger (1883–1959)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  2. Fagan, Sean; Messenger III, Dally (2007). The Master: the life and times of Dally Messenger, Australia's first sporting superstar. Sydney: Hachette, Australia. ISBN   978 0 7336 2200 7.
  3. 1 2 "Chronology Of Dally Messenger III". Dally Messenger III. 2 July 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Messenger, Dally (2012). Murphys's Law and the Pursuit of Happiness: a History of the Civil Celebrant Movement. Melbourne: Spectrum Publications. ISBN   978 0 86786 169 3.
  5. Geraghty, Christopher (2001). Cassocks in the Wilderness: remembering the seminary at Springwood. Melbourne, Victoria: Spectrum Publications. pp. 142–144. ISBN   978 0 8678 6316 1.
  6. Parer, Michael S; Peterson, Tony (1970). Prophets and Losses in the Priesthood. Sydney: Allella Books. pp. 33, 83, 124. ISBN   978-0-9599879-2-8.
  7. Pope John XXIII. "Pacem in Terris (April, 11 1963)". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  8. Campion, Edmund (1988). Australian Catholics. Sydney: Penguin Books. pp. 229–230. ISBN   0014 0108 44.
  9. "Dance Australia - Dance Australia". www.danceaustralia.com.au. Yaffa Publishing. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  10. Listen and Learn Productions (1986). "verso". Dance Australia Magazine. 24 (June–July): 1.
  11. 1 2 "1997 Awards - 2021 Australian Dance Awards". www.australiandanceawards.net.au. Ausdance. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  12. Kohn, Rachael (21 January 2018). "The story of Civil Celebrants". ABC listen. Australian Broadcasting Commission Radio National. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  13. Williams, Daniel (6 September 2004). "Funerals are Us". TIME Magazine (Asia): 56ff.
  14. Rayner, Moira (29 August 2007). "Dally Messenger III and the ACCC: Lawyer and author Moira Rayner explains the true position". www.collegeofcelebrancy.com.au. NewMatilda.com. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  15. Foley MP, Martin. "Dally Messenger III" (PDF). Dally Messenger. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  16. Troeth, Senator Judith (24 June 2008). "Mr Dally Messenger" (PDF). Hansard (Adjournment Debate in the Senate -Australian Federal Parliament): 3278.
  17. Rocchiccioli, Roland (24 September 2008). "Hear and There". The Melbourne Weekly.
  18. Money, Lawrence; Carbone, Susan (18 May 2007). "This time, it's Dally's funeral". The Age, Melbourne.
  19. Durie, John (30 March 2007). "Chanticleer". The Australian Financial Review p92.
  20. Wilson, Sherryl (2018). CANZ From the Beginning – a history of the Celebrants' Association of New Zealand. Wellington NZ: Celebrants' Association of New Zealand. ISBN   978-0-473-44837-0.
  21. See http://iccdiplomas.com/ and see http://collegeofcelebrancy.com
  22. The Montclair Times, "Celebrant USA Foundation Launched in Montclair", Montclair, NJ, US, June 7, 2002.
  23. International College of Celebrancy
  24. Messenger, Dally. "International College of Celebrancy (Est.1995)". International College of Celebrancy (Est.1995). ICC. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  25. Remi Messenger's website
  26. "The Celebrants Network - Member Login". www.celebrants.org.au. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  27. Messenger, Dally; Ceremonies for Today, Zouch, Melbourne, 1979. ISBN   0 908036 01 9 & ISBN   978 0 7336 2317 2.
  28. Messenger, Dally; Ceremonies & Celebrations, Hachette-Livre, Sydney, 2003. ISBN   978 0 7336 2317 2. Also published as an eBook, ISBN   978 0 7336 2884 9.