Cardinal Edward Clancy
Edward Bede Clancy was the seventh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney from 1983-2001 shown through the crest above. Cardinal Clancy was made a Member of the Order of Australia (OAM) on 1 January 1984 and Officer of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1992. He also continued his education career throughout this time, becoming the Chancellor of the Australian Catholic University in 1992.
The "Edward Clancy Building" situated on the Strathfield Campus was named in the former Archbishop's honour for his genuine nature, "clear and unassuming leadership". The university would not be in existence at Strathfield had it not been for the generosity of Cardinal Clancy in making the Mt St Mary site available. Edward Clancy was part of the process as the ACU National bought the building, the "former Our Lady of Loreto Nursing Home from the St Vincent de Paul Society in 2002" (Catholic Weekly 2005). The Edward Clancy Building is now used for multiple purposes specifically to house the school of exercise science, school of education, social work and a variety of arts subjects. Clancy's passion and enthusiasm for the Mount Saint Mary Campus was remarkable.
Peter O'Brien, protocol chief of the Australian Catholic University in 2001, states how daunted and overwhelmed Edward Clancy was to take on the "very formal job of ACU Founding Chancellor" so Clancy asked if there was a handbook for chancellors. O'Brien replied with a response stating "unfortunately there wasn't...one had to fly by the seat of one's pants" (Catholic Weekly July 2001). Cardinal Clancy certainly had success in this difficult task and did so being both "dignified and warm" (Catholic Weekly July 2001) at the same time.