Padre Plod - the book

During his many years as Western Australia’s first full-time Police Chaplain, Father Barry May often attended scenes of great trauma and witnessed heart-breaking tragedy, he encountered things that would test anyone’s faith. Yet it was his own unflinching faith in God the Creator that sustained him in his grim responsibilities.

Father Barry traces that steadfast faith from his South Australian childhood, through the experience of the “tap on the shoulder” that led him from a rising career as a police officer to become an ordained Anglican priest.

He takes his reader through the various dioceses in which he served, and outlines the development of his Ministry.
Starting as an Anglo-Catholic traditionalist, he plunged into Charismatic waters and discovered new, healing aspects of his faith.

Never afraid to profess his beliefs, Father Barry gives his reader the fullest account yet of his controversial confrontations with the occult and Satanic forces. Spiritual healings, the casting out of demons and the exorcism of ghosts ― the chapters dealing with these matters will challenge the sceptics and some of the faithful alike.

Crackling with wit and self-deprecating humour, Padre Plod offers unique and honest insights into the usually hidden world of Church governance and clerical duties. Barry May’s sermon reads like no other.

Born in Adelaide, Barry May became a police officer in South Australia in 1958 and later a Sub-Inspector of Police in Papua New Guinea in 1962. He was ordained into the Anglican Priesthood in 1969, serving the Church in PNG, South Australia and Western Australia.

Father Barry became an Army Reserve padre in 1978 and was appointed the first full-time Chaplain to the Western Australia Police Force in 1992. He retired from full-time Ministry in August 2007, and now serves as a Justice of the Peace and Honorary Chaplain to three organizations.

Barry is married to Kath and together they have four adult children and nine grand-children.

The book is available online from the Hesperian Press by clicking HERE

The book launch at the West Australian Police Academy on the 21st of November 2007