Reflections on forgiveness after 50 years of priesthood

Just over 50 years ago, Father Anthony Boniface was a shy 28-year-old priest ordained with 25 other men in Waterford, Ireland.

Now, recently retired after decades of service in British Columbia, Father Boniface offered a reflection on forgiveness and asked for pardon from anyone he may have wronged in 50 years of priestly ministry.

“I thank Archbishop Carney ... for taking a chance on me and welcoming me into the archdiocese and I thank his successors for bearing with me over the rest of the time until I retired,” he said during a celebration for his anniversary at St. Mary’s Parish in Chilliwack.

“I thank all the people of the Archdiocese of Vancouver and those whose lives I have touched for putting up with my foibles, but above all, I thank God for letting the light of his love, at times, shine through me,” he said.

“I ask you to forgive me for all the occasions, and I am sure there are many, when the light of God’s love did not shine through me.”

If you take forgiveness out of the Christian Gospel, he continued, there is nothing left.

“We can’t take forgiveness out of the Church. ‘This is the cup of my blood which will be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.’ Forgiveness. Period. No clauses in there. No ifs ands or buts. So it is, says Jesus, if you don’t forgive one another from the bottom of our hearts.”

Father Boniface arrived in the Archdiocese of Vancouver in 1968 and served as pastor at St. Pius X in North Vancouver, St. Bernadette’s in Surrey, St. Francis de Sales in Burnaby, and St. James in Abbotsford. He also served at Holy Rosary Cathedral, at Richmond General Hospital, and on the Regional Matrimonial Tribunal and the Presbyteral Council.

When he retired in 2017, he likened his priestly vocation to the life of St. Matthew, a disciple who simply dropped everything and followed when Jesus asked him to.

That simple obedience, he said, was the underlying factor in many of his decisions, from moving from Ireland to Canada to taking on challenging assignments from his bishops, including helping St. Bernadette’s, St. Pius X, and St. James take steps toward building new churches.

This May he was seriously ill and admitted into intensive care in Chilliwack Hospital, but recovered to celebrate his 50th anniversary with friends and former parishioners in June.