Caption Bishop Donal Murray RIP (photography courtesy of Diocese of Limerick)
- Although I was aware that Bishop Donal Murray’s health had been poorly in recent times, I was sorry to learn about his death on Sunday, 13 October. My time as executive secretary to the Bishops’ Conference briefly overlapped with Bishop Murray’s tenure as Bishop, and I remember him as a prayerful pastor, who reflected deeply on the challenges and new opportunities facing the Church in contemporary Ireland. His contributions to discussions at the Conference table were grounded in a strong commitment to new evangelisation and to a theology of hope.
Bishop Murray’s Episcopal ministry coincided with a very challenging period in Church history in Ireland, and universally. An insightful communicator, Bishop Murray’s writings, homilies and addresses were guaranteed to inspire conversation and discussion on the reality of belief and practice, and on how the Church must read the signs of the times with faith and commitment to the values and teachings of the Gospel.
Bishop Murray made a significant contribution to the Bishops’ Conference in the following areas:
• Member of the Pontifical Council for Culture;
• Member of the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches (1999-2005);
• Member of the Standing Committee of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference;
• Chair of the Bishops’ Department of Catholic Education and Formation; and
• Chair of the Bishops’ Bioethics Committee, and member of the Bishops’ Joint Committee for Bioethical Issues.
Bishop Murray was fascinated reflecting on the interface and overlap between faith and culture; between the sacred and the secular. Speaking to the Céifin Conference in 2007, he remarked: “The secular is the world in which faith is lived. If believers do not reflect and pray and understand what the Gospel has to say to all the complex dimensions of that world, and act on that reflection, they cooperate in confining God and silencing the big questions.” Instead he was convinced that faith lives in all the realities of life. Bishop Donal believed strongly that God alone “can satisfy the deepest cravings of the human heart”.
On behalf of the Bishops’ Conference, I wish to offer my prayers for the happy repose of Bishop Murray’s soul, and offer condolences to his family, friends and to the bishops, priests, religious and faithful of the dioceses of Dublin and Limerick, and to all who loved him.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilís.
ENDS - Archbishop Eamon Martin is Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
