I first met
Norbie in 1956. Mr Olsen, as Jesuit scholastics were known, was my Year 8
English teacher and football coach at Kostka Hall - knowledgeable and skilled
in the former role, bamboozling in the latter. We boys loved him, because we
felt he was always on our side.
There was
nothing threatening about Norbie. In later years when we lived together at both
Xavier and Toowong, I often reminded him of the time when the fastest runner in
our year made some off-hand remark and dared Norbert to catch him. Never one to
refuse a challenge, Norbie took off after this mischief maker in full clerical
attire, his long Jesuit gown and wings flowing in the breeze, and the rest of
the Year 8 cohort chasing both of them. Norbert never did catch him, but it did
not matter. There was often something zany and quirky about him and we loved
him for it. Thankfully he never lost that quirkiness; it seemed to attract
people to him and set them at ease in his company.
Most of
Norbert's priestly life was spent as a teacher of English, History, and
Religious Education in Jesuit schools across Australia. With only one eye on
the curriculum, his real interest was in teaching young people to think, to
read, to reverence the word, and to express themselves articulately. He was a
true educator in this sense, the more academically capable students thriving
under his tutelage.
In his later
years at Toowong Parish, he returned to study the Scriptures in greater depth
and he brought this richness to his Homilies and his parish adult education
classes. Some three years ago, The
Catholic Leader recognized this gift and asked him to write a weekly
reflection on the Sunday readings - a task he enjoyed and to which he gave
great energy.
An angular
thinker, an engaging homilist, and a serious scholar of things that matter,
Norbert also had an impish sense of fun. He had a pellucid memory for jokes and
stories, varying hugely in the quality of their humour and taste, and was not
tardy in sharing them.
As an
administrator, he was a big picture man with little eye for detail, often to
our frustration and amusement. After once giving the Toowong Jesuit Community a
sober admonition about the need for vigilance in maintaining household
security, he subsequently lost all his keys. They were found an hour later
visibly inserted in the boot of his car parked in our busy street.
While at
Xavier in Melbourne he developed a great interest in cooking, particularly
Asian meals, and many Jesuits and their guests have been the beneficiaries of
this talent in recent times. The warm glow in our stomachs would always remain
long enough for us to overlook the challenges of clearing the debris awaiting
us in the kitchen.
Just as we
young Year 8 boys felt always that Norbert was on our side, so he carried this
gift of compassion and understanding into his priestly years. For students on
the margins, for overseas students far from home in Australia, Norbert had
sharp pastoral antennae and a generous heart. While his sudden death has been a
shock to the Toowong Jesuits and the wider Brisbane community we have cherished
his friendship. We know we mattered to him.
Vale,
Norbie, for now.
By Fr Chris Gleeson SJ
FATHER EDWARD NORBERT OLSEN, S.J.
(1930-2009)
Father E.
Norbert Olsen, who died on 10 May 2009, aged 78 years, was a generous Jesuit
noted for his inquiring mind, wide reading and keen wit. He was born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1930
and completed his schooling at the Jesuit-run St Patrick's College, East
Melbourne. He joined the Jesuits at
Loyola College, Watsonia, in Melbourne in 1949, completed a Bachelor of Arts
degree at the University of Melbourne, was ordained a priest on 2 Jan. 1963,
did Tertianship at S. Andrä im Lavanttal in Austria in 1964/5 and took final
vows in 1967.
For the
next thirty years he proved to be a very dedicated schoolmaster. He taught at St Patrick's College, East
Melbourne, St Louis School, Perth, St Ignatius' College, Adelaide (including
being Headmaster), Xavier College in Melbourne and Loyola Senior High School,
Mt Druitt, in western Sydney. His
subjects were Religion, English and Latin.
Fr Olsen
then worked at St Leo's University College in Queensland for several years,
assisting the chaplaincy team in the University of Queensland. He spent his last years (since 2001) engaged
in parish ministry at St Ignatius' Church, Toowong, in Queensland, where he
continued to make an impact on many people, particularly through his homilies,
which were published on his website and in The
Catholic Leader.
We have
reprinted one of his homilies in this edition of Province Express.