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Bishop Willie Walsh, Bishop Emeritus of Killaloe
- The funeral liturgy will be live streamed on www.ennisparish.com
- Please see below material for the Funeral Mass of Bishop William Walsh, Bishop Emeritus of Killaloe. This information is embargoed until 1.00pm today.
- Details on the Funeral Liturgy of Bishop William Walsh RIP
- Homily of Chief Celebrant Bishop Fintan Monahan, Bishop of Killaloe
- Message of sympathy from Cardinal Pietro Parolin on behalf of His Holiness Pope Francis
Details
At 1.00pm today the Funeral Mass of Bishop Willie Walsh will take place in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Ennis. Bishop Fintan Monahan, Bishop of Killaloe, will be chief celebrant of the Mass which will be attended by Bishop Willie’s family, friends and many people who shared in the blessings of Bishop Willie’s pastoral care.
Concelebrants will include Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly SMA of Cashel and Emly, Bishop Ger Nash of Ferns, Father Laurence Walsh OCSO of Our Lady of Silence Abbey, Roscrea, along with other bishops and priests in attendance.
Out of respect for the solemnity of the Mass, and to provide privacy and space to the family, media are asked not to use camera equipment within the church.
Liturgy
Music for the Liturgy will be led by the Cathedral Choir (including members of the Forever Young Choir, of which Bishop Willie was a founding member) directed by Fiona Walsh. Organist Eoin Shanahan
Processional Hymn: Be Thou my Vision
First reading: Read by: Louise Burke
A reading from the book of Ecclesiastes
For everything there is a season,
and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down and a time to build up;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
What does a man gain for the effort that he makes? I contemplate the task that God gives mankind to labour at. All that he does is apt for its time; but though he has permitted man to consider time in its wholeness, man cannot comprehend the work of God from beginning to end.
The word of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm: (sung) The Lord is compassion and love
Soloist Vincent di Placido
Second reading Read by: Emma Kirby
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans
The life and death of each of us has its influence on others; if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord, so that alive or dead we belong to the Lord.
This explains why Christ both died and came to life, it was so that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. We shall all have to stand before the judgement seat of God; as scripture says: By my life – it is the Lord who speaks, every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall praise God. It is to God, therefore, that each of us must give an account of himself.
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel Read by: Father Laurence Walsh OCSO
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke
‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.’
The Gospel of the Lord
Homily of Bishop Fintan Monahan, Bishop of Killaloe
‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate.’
The quality of Jesus and God the Father that was echoed and reflected in the life and ministry of Bishop Emeritus Willie Walsh. His Episcopal motto was ‘Cineáltas Chríost, the Gentleness of Christ’.
During the week we were busy praying for the health and recovery of Pope Francis. While we were doing that a pastor cut out of the same cloth as the Holy Father stole away with no warning and less fuss. Willie Walsh died as he lived, getting on with the business of things, not hanging around, just moving on with intent and clear direction.
No Crusader
The title of his acclaimed autobiography is No Crusader. Yet in his typical, understated, yet very effective, way he was a profound and effective crusader, winning people over to genuine Christian values through kindness, understanding, listening, generosity, care for the poor, the marginalised, people struggling and suffering in life.
He did this through his unstinting work with the Traveling Community, his pastoral outreach to survivors of abuse, the sick, the vulnerable, so many who availed of his spiritual outreach as a true pastor of Jesus Christ.
I just got to know Bishop Willie personally eight and a half years ago on coming here to Ennis. His warmth, kindness and ever available wisdom was such an asset to help settle in. Even though he immersed himself in enjoying a richly deserved retirement with so many hobbies, interests and such a wide circle of friends and his most beloved family – he was always available to help out and offer a word of advice if requested.
Listen, anyone who has ears to hear…
The fact that Willie and I were both struggling with the challenges of hearing loss – he often joked of the advantages of not being able to hear certain things being an actual advantage and a plus in the life of being a bishop…
On a recent trip in the car – we had an interesting experience, with me driving, obviously on the right and Willie being on my left. He was deaf in the right ear and me in the left. Nonetheless, we had a delightful journey, with much talk and neither of us having much of a clue what the other was saying….
Pastoral and Human Outreach
Whether as a teacher in Saint Flannan’s College, Parish Priest in Ennis, or Bishop of Killaloe, Willie immersed himself wholeheartedly in getting to know people, their interests, their needs, sharing their ups and downs and bringing the Gospel values to them in a warm and attractive manner.
Polyglot
Being a natural communicator, and a keen linguist he liked to exercise his mind with his interest in languages, mainly Italian agus An Ghaeilge. On the day before he died he was polishing up one of his party pieces for an occasion he was invited to on Friday, his Latin version of the song Molly Malone!
One of the beautiful tributes as Gaeilge on line the day he died runs:
Múinteoir, sagart, scoláire diagachta, easpag, cóitseálaí iomána agus comhairleoir a lean briathar Dé i rith a shaoil le cineáltas Chríost agus tuiscint á léiriú aige i gcónaí do dhaoine ar an imeall. Beidh an saol seo níos boichte dá uireasa. Guím beatha shíoraí dá anam uasal séimh.
Pastoral Leadership
As a bishop he led with vision and clarity encouraging pastoral planning to address urgent needs establishing the cluster system, empowering lay people, adult faith development, scripture exploration, support for marriage through his work with Accord, improving the role of women in the Church, youth ministry, pilgrimages, outreach to the poor in the developing world in Africa, South Africa and of course at home.
Generosity and Giving
“Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap.”
The words of yesterday and today’s Gospel, very much taken to heart by Willie. On a number of occasions I went to see Ennis native Diarmuid de Faoite’s one man show on Sean-Phádraic Ó Conaire; Pádraig, an Fear. Sean-Phádraig died with two items or possessions to his name, his clay pipe and an apple. Such was the generous life of charitable giving that Bishop Willie was not far behind. He literally gave away everything he had, “because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.”
Challenging the System
Willie was a radical in the true sense of the word. He challenged unquestioned beliefs, the accepted mores of society and in doing so stripped them back to their origin, measuring them up against what he believed was the core of the Gospel, Cineáltas Chríost, the Gentleness of Christ. Being frequently out-spoken, he stirred things up. This sometimes ruffled feathers, was occasionally misunderstood, upset a few and others saw it as an effort to overturn hard earned orthodoxy. However Willie, often in thinking out loud – did this with raw honesty, integrity, conviction and belief that his exploration, questioning was a legitimate response to arriving at the divinely revealed truth using the gifts that God generously bestowed upon us.
Christian Hope
The day before he returned to God I had made arrangements with him to meet on Saturday morning at 9.30am and record a video message of Hope, part of the series of Lenten videos for the Jubilee Year of Hope. He was very enthusiastic and looking forward to doing that. I had suspected, considering his passion for hurling that his hopes would be around retaining the All-Ireland crown and prolonging the joy and delight of being victors. However, on Wednesday evening last beside his armchair a copy of his own book was opened with a marker in the chapter on Christian Hope. In that short chapter we read: “I feel in a different place at this stage of life – more happy to leave things in the Lord’s hands. Ultimately everything is in His hands and surely He is as much present with us today, as He ever was… And even if I have no way of knowing what it will be like in life after death, I am still happy to leave it in his hands… I can’t say that I am always waiting in joyful hope, but I do believe that the joy of new life in God’s love will be beyond any joy we have experienced in life.”
Thank God for the life and times of this outstanding human being, this man with such a gift for friendship, who for so many made this world a better place. Sympathies and condolences to family and friends who mourn his passing and the great loss.
May he experience the joy of heaven in which he believed and see in the face of God a mirror of the Gentleness of Christ, ‘Cineáltas Chríost’.
Suaimhneas síoraí don duine uasal, an tEaspag Willie agus go lonraí solas na bhflaitheas air.
Amen!
Prayer of the Faithful
Willie Walsh
Aoife O’Reilly
Kira Burke
Dónal Ó hAiniféin
Sam Walsh
Karina Kirby
Presentation of the Gifts
Sister Marie McNamara
Mary Brohan
Jim Walsh
John Walsh
Post Communion Reflection
Michael Kirby
A Mhuire Mháthair
Sung by Lucy and Sophie Kirby (Grand-nieces of Bishop Willie)
Words of Thanks and Appreciation
Miriam Burke
Prayers of Commendation and Farewell
Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly SMA, Archbishop of Cashel and Emly
Rite of Committal
Bishop Ger Nash, Bishop of Ferns
Message of sympathy from Cardinal Pietro Parolin on behalf of Pope Francis
His Holiness Pope Francis was saddened to learn of the death of Bishop Emeritus William Walsh, and he sends condolences to you, the clergy, religious and lay faithful of the Diocese of Killaloe. Recalling with gratitude the kind and gentle way with which he carried out his many years of Episcopal Ministry, His Holiness commends the late Bishop’s soul to the mercy of Christ the Good Shepherd. To those gathered for the Mass of Christian Burial, and to all who mourn his passing, in the sure hope of the Resurrection, the Holy Father imparts his blessing as a pledge of consolation and peace in the risen Lord.