Two near fatal car crashes have played pivotal roles in Fr Grace's life. Although the first crash occurred several years before his birth, it would influence his life and his faith. The second had even more far reaching consequences and was instrumental in his decision to become a priest and devote his life to God. Fr Grace's story, however, begins with his parents and the country town of Gundagai where his mother, Lorraine grew up, the daughter of a devout Irish Catholic family who owned the local Family Hotel.
"My mother's faith was profound and she was praying a Novena for direction about her Vocation when she met my father at my grandparents' hotel. Dad was in banking and had been sent from Sydney to help out at the Gundagai bank for five weeks and was playing darts in the hotel when they met," Fr Grace says. "Dad wasn't a Catholic and was surprised when Mum told him a couple of days after they had fallen in love that she would never marry a non-Catholic." "Good heavens, who said anything about marriage?" Fr Grace's father had burst out in surprise.
But his mother knew the two of them were meant for each other and to help him learn more about her faith, she gave him a Miraculous Medal and a book on Catholicism.
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