7. Very Reverend Brian Fleming SJ

Very Reverend Brian Fleming SJ

David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017, pp.106-7

University lecturer and administrator; born Muswellbrook, NSW, 3 September 1925; died Melbourne, 7 August 1995, aged 69.

Brian Fleming had two brothers and a sister – one of his brothers was killed in the Second World War.  His secondary education was with the Marist Brothers, Darlinghurst, Sydney, and he was a gifted student, especially of languages.  He entered the Jesuit noviciate at Loyola College, Watsonia, 2 February 1942.  After his philosophy and university studies, Fleming stayed at Watsonia for a further two years to teach the younger Jesuits.  It was during this time that he studied for his MA at the University of Melbourne.  During his first degree he damaged his spine and was confined to bed for four months.  He had further complications which lasted for another seven years. 

Theology studies were at Canisius College, Pymble, with ordination in 1957.  Soon afterwards, he was sent overseas for post-graduate studies in medieval history at the Catholic University of Louvain.

After being dean of students at Newman College, 1964-66, Fleming was appointed rector of St Leo’s College, University of Queensland.  He was an intellectually gifted priest with much energy.  In 1968 he have 19 retreats or public lectures.  In Queensland, he was a lecturer in the history of Christian thought, a member of the combined advisory committee of senate, the board of studies in divinity, the advisory committee to the Australian Broadcasting Control Board, the Ecumenical Affairs Commission, and the National Library Council for six years. 

Fleming returned to Newman College, Melbourne, as rector, following the sudden death of Gerald Daily, and he remained at that post for ten years, 1977 – 86.  He felt much at home during this time.  He made possible new opportunities for students through the Donovan Bursary, the Newman College Mannix Travelling scholarship and the College scholarship fund.  In an imaginative way he enabled the six flats of Murphy Court to be built.  With courage he established the Restoration Appeal which raised almost $1 million, and helped rebuild the spires above the dome. 

During his time he served as president of the National Heads of Colleges, was a member of the advisory council of St Vincent’s Hospital, and a member of the University Council and the Chairman of the Heads of Colleges. 

Though a quiet man, Fleming was renowned as a very generous priest and a dedicated administrator.  However, in the last years of his life he suffered from a heart condition, emphysema and cancer. 

His departure from Newman was not a happy time for him, but he was pleased to become personal assistant to Archbishop Little, who, at his funeral, described Fleming as utterly loyal, a trusted friend, faithful, generous, a man of wisdom with sensitive understanding, and who had enormous capacities, a profound sense of justice, an unswerving insistence on what was right, and who was strongly passionate towards the Church. 

Fleming’s homilies were always simple, direct, honest and hard hitting.  The documents he crafted were invariably masterpieces.  His was a mind which could analyse and synthesise.  He was a master of the English language.  He never spoke without meaning what he said, and without saying what he meant.  His influence in academic and ecclesiastical circles was significant.