Virgil Patrick Copas

Archbishop Sir Virgil Patrick Copas, KBE MSC (19 March 1915 – 3 October 1993) was archbishop of Kerema and Port Moresby, both in Papua New Guinea.

Biography

Copas was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, and was educated at St. Mary's College and Downlands College. On 23 July 1944, aged 29, he was ordained as Priest of the Order of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Archbishop Daniel Mannix. Copas studied anthropology and tropical medicine at Sydney University in preparation for missionary work in Papua New Guinea, where he was based at Vunapope, from 1946 to 1951, and also served as a military chaplain from 1945 to 1948. From 1952 to 1954 he was based at Samarai, and then was superior of the Sacred Heart missionaries in the Northern Territory from 1953 to 1960, also serving as a Naval Reserve chaplain, and as chaplain to the leprosarium.^[1]

On 19 December 1959 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and on 15 November 1966 he was appointed Archbishop of Port Moresby. On 19 December 1975, aged 60, he resigned as Archbishop of Port Moresby, but was appointed Archbishop (Personal Title) of Kerema, Papua New Guinea six months later. He resigned this position on 6 December 1988, and died in 1993, aged 78. He was a priest for 49 years and a bishop for 33 years.

Alastair McIntosh, who was a Scottish VSO volunteer (1977–80) in St Peter's Extension School which he established at Kerema, records this (presently unpublished) memory of him:

At an old age, Archbishop Copas continued to help the PNG people by bringing them to Queensland, Australia for important surgeries they wouldn't have been able to get otherwise. He was noted for his gentle nature and general popularity among those who knew him.

He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1982.^[2]