Homily preached at Fr Michael Creech CSsR's funeral...

Preacher, Fr Tim Buckly C.Ss.R

“The life and death of each of us has its influence on others,” St Paul tells us, and he is particularly concerned that we reflect on how profoundly significant this is for us as Christians. There is no doubt that Michael Creech’s life and death have had a profound influence for good on an enormous number of people. And this gives me the opportunity on behalf of the Redemptorist family to thank Mother Kathleen and the community at the Oval for your loving care of Michael during those last weeks of his life and for being by his side as he died. These last couple of years have been difficult for him as his health suddenly deteriorated. True to form he struggled to keep going, even managing to add an extra section to the Eucharistic Prayer the last time I was with him in the chapel at St Peter’s a few weeks ago!

In the 1950s I was often in this church, watching in awe as Michael and his two brothers, Terry and Philip, served Masses, Novenas and Mission Services. The shy little boy that I was could not imagine how anyone would have the courage to stand up in public and perform their duties, which in those days included all the Latin responses, with such seeming efficiency. However, in due course, I did follow in their footsteps, though my main commitment was to a church on the other side of the Thames: Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane. So, in the event it was not until I joined the Redemptorists that I really got to know the Creech brothers. In fact, the youngest, Philip, accompanied me to the novitiate in 1964. Sadly, Philip’s life was marred by ill health, but I admired the loving concern that both Michael and Terry had for him throughout his relatively short life. Michael and Terry I would get to know well, working with them on and off throughout my life, as is often the way with Redemptorists. I am now privileged to have been present at all their funerals. I guess that as a result of our common background here in south London there was a natural affinity among us, and Michael, in particular, proved a good and reliable friend. As many of you know, he had a great sense of loyalty and I always appreciated the fact that he would go out of his way to visit my parents when they were alive and more recently my sister. And speaking of sisters: Michael was, of course, devoted to his now deceased sister, Pat, and her family.

I owe a lot to Michael, not least because I gave my first mission with him at Saint Patrick’s, Redfield, Bristol during the Lent of 1972. Summoned as a late replacement, I found myself having to open the Mission at the weekend Masses, precisely because Michael was tending to his sick brother, Philip, at the time. I had strict instructions as to what to do and say and had been advised to prepare the way for Michael’s arrival by organising a school Mass at the beginning of the school week. Michael arrived like a whirlwind. Again, I watched in awe at the rapport he immediately built with the children and people of the parish. Freddie Freckles, who was the sidekick in Michael’s stories, subsequently became my standby with the children and, as many of you know, has remained so to this day.

There is an intriguing moment early in St John’s Gospel when Jesus sets eyes on Nathanael, otherwise known as Bartholomew, who would become one of the Twelve and says: “There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit.” I think it is a phrase that we can readily apply to Michael. He was without guile. There was an admirable simplicity about him. He spent himself in the service of the Lord. Indeed, he may have set up an all-comers’ record for the giving of missions and retreats in his time: I forgot to ask him what the final count was. He had some fruitful years here in his beloved Clapham as the parish priest and also served the Arundel and Brighton Diocese for many years in the latter part of his life. I think he knew most of the priests and religious of the country and he was certainly a household name in the Catholic community in the south of England.

As we leave him lovingly with the Lord today, we can be consoled by the Scriptures we have just heard. The prophet Isaiah had this captivating vision of God ultimately putting everything right and taking us up the mountain where we will be waited on with a banquet of rich food. The Church reminds us that the Eucharist is the foretaste of this heavenly banquet. The Eucharist was at the heart of Michael’s life as he faithfully celebrated Mass every day. Like the disciples on the Road to Emmaus he recognised the Lord in the breaking of the bread and he helped many people’s hearts to burn within them as he preached the Gospel going from town to town across this country.

As we ask our Lord to console the members of Michael’s family and his many friends who are with us today either in person or on line, we can reflect that what we are about to do is precisely the way he would want us to remember him. As Monica reminded her son, Augustine, before she died: only this do I ask: that you remember me before the altar of God. In the Eucharist we are united through the Lord with our Father in Heaven: united not just with one another but with all those who have gone before us. May Michael now take his place among the elect at the heavenly banquet as we pray:

Eternal rest….