THE FORMER Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray, was remembered on Shannonside as a “gracious” and “inspiring” priest at his funeral Mass.
Bishop Murray’s successor, Bishop Brendan Leahy, told his funeral mass at St John’s Cathedral that Bishop Murray continued to “run the race of faith in good times and bad right to the end to the day of his death”.
He said that Bishop Murray, who died aged 84 on October 13, “always reassuring, encouraging, and a fatherly figure of wisdom, offering insights and perspectives from the deep well of his soul, he was always present, never interfering, always inspiring, never dispiriting.”
Bishop Leahy also noted in an earlier statement following Bishop Murray’s death that, despite the difficulties raised in the Murphy Report, Bishop Murray had, in his time in Limerick, “transformed child safeguarding standards with a robust system that the diocese continues to build on today”.
Despite resigning as the head of the Catholic Church in Limerick in 2009, after he and other bishops were sharply criticised in the State-led Murphy Report Commission of Investigation over their treatment of allegations of child sexual abuse by clerics in Dublin between 1975 and 2004, Bishop Murray – who served as auxiliary bishop in the nation’s capital – continued to be held in high esteem for his tireless work in education, social justice, arts, and culture.
The Murphy Report was particularly critical of Bishop Murray’s failure to deal with allegations about paedophile priest Fr Thomas Naughton, who was later convicted of horrific child sexual abuse, when Bishop Murray was an auxiliary Bishop in the Dublin diocese.
In a statement of resignation in December 2009, following publication of the investigation report, Bishop Murray said: “I humbly apologise to all who were abused as little children…I believe that my presence will create difficulties for some of the survivors who must have first place in our thoughts and prayers.”
Ordained a priest in 1966, Donal Murray was appointed auxiliary bishop of Dublin in 1982, and, aged 41, he became the youngest member of the Irish hierarchy to be installed as Bishop of Limerick in March 1996 – the first priest from outside the diocese to assume the role in 200 years.
Bishop Murray’s friend, Nessa Breen, said he would be remembered for his “brilliant intellect”, his published “fine works in the areas of theology, ethics, and social issues”, and his steering of the renovation of St John’s Cathedral.
Bishop Murray took up roles as chair of Mary Immaculate College and St John’s Hospital, and invited into the Limerick diocese a group of US Franciscan friars who since settled in ministry in Moyross.
An accomplished lyricist and author, Bishop Murray had a “wry sense of humour” and had held the role of chaplain at Limerick Prison offering guidance, reflection and solace to prisoners, mourners heard.
“We celebrate his life on Earth, seek God’s mercy for any sins and failings on his part, and pray that he now enjoys the peace of the next life for which he longed,” Ms Breen told the congregation.
More than 20 clergy co-officiated at Bishop Murray’s funeral mass, attended by Archbishop Dermot Farrell, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland and Cardinal Sean Brady.
Predeceased by his parents Tom and Maureen, sister Aileen and brother Paddy, Bishop Murray is survived by his sister Una, and brothers Diarmuid and John. He was laid to rest in Mount St Lawrence Cemetery.
