*Fr Harry Bohan with a copy of The Furrow where he penned a tribute to Bishop Willie Walsh.
BISHOP WILLIE Walsh’s loss has been deeply felt in Co Clare with his legacy living on as a man of the people and an extraordinary individual amongst other things.
In February, Bishop Emeritus of the Killaloe Diocese, Willie Walsh died suddenly but peacefully at his Ennis home.
Thousands of mourners paid their respects to the beloved 90 year old originally from Tipperary. He spent sixteen years as Bishop of Killaloe, retiring in August 2010.
His loss has been deeply felt by his wide circle of friends and family over the last six months.
Among those to greatly miss conversations and chats with Bishop Willie is Fr Harry Bohan. In 1994 for Willie’s ordination, Fr Bohan in a homily said of his friend, “he is a humble man, a man with a deep and profound compassion”. He added, “his leadership will be sustained by two great Christian qualities, kindness and compassion” and remarked, “he will teach by what he says”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo at his home in Shannon, Fr Harry pointed to the chair where Willie would sit, he was emotional and admitted feeling a sense of loneliness since his death. He said it was a privilege and honour to know and work with him. The great outpouring of love in tributes and huge crowds at his funeral was “testimony to the profound impact he had on people. What came across in all that was said and written was the heart-felt sense of loss that people felt. We knew that we have lost someone special”.
A seven-page tribute by Fr Harry to Bishop Willie has been published in The Furrow, a monthly journal founded in 1950 at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth by the late J. G. McGarry, a Professor in the college.
Describing Willie as “a rare man by any standard,” Fr Harry noted, “his loss has been deeply felt not only in our Diocese of Killaloe but by many in different parts of the country”.
He continued, “I would describe Willie above all as a man of the people and by that I mean all people, rich and poor, believers and non-believers alike. He was able to relate to everyone, no matter who they were or what their situation in life. That said, he had a special care for those less fortunate or those going through particular problems or difficulties in their lives. He had the great gift of connecting with their reality and their situation, no matter what that reality was. He was a great listener and would spend hours listening to people who were troubled or pained by some situation”.
Regarding the legacy of Bishop Willie, Fr Harry said his first thoughts went to how he made people feel. “He was always present to you and when you were with him, and he never seemed to be in a hurry. He had good friends, many of them life-long friends, not only in the Killaloe Diocese but throughout the country”.
Duty of care was evident throughout Willie’s ministry. “There is an old saying ‘you give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give’, Willie gave both. His generosity with material things was well known. For a few years the lawn in front of his house was dotted with travellers caravans and the travelling community themselves were regular visitors to his house right up until his death. Not everyone in Ennis agreed with his approach and indeed he was sometimes criticised for his support of the travelling community.
“He did all that and more because he felt he had a genuine duty of care for the weak. He believed that everyone should have the opportunity to blossom where they were in life. Looking back over the years, I can truthfully say that I rarely heard him identify with negative chat about others. He simply believed that people have dignity and that everyone should be given a fair chance in life”.
Not alone did Willie “just talk about God, he lived God. In many ways he was extraordinary because of the depth of his humanity. There is something Christlike here, it was the depth of humanity and the compassion that people saw in him that drew people to him and for which he was loved so much”.
From his time working with Willie, Fr Harry considered him to be “a leader and a man of vision. I saw this particularly in his willingness to move forward in the work he initiated on pastoral planning. Willie gave renewal and reform priority in his ministry. He knew that the Church needed to change to meet the needs of the contemporary world”.
Such examples include calling an assembly of priests in January 2002 with the idea of creating a pastoral plan for the Diocese which marked the beginning of a new era where the need to move towards a new model was identified. Fr Harry credited Willie for showing vision during this time and for setting out “the kind of Church he wanted to be part of shaping in Killaloe”. He added, “He is rightly remembered for qualities such as kindness and compassion and as someone who treated everyone the same but he was also a man of courage”.
“Long before Pope Francis spoke of synodality,” it was implemented by Willie in the Killaloe Diocese. “During his time as Bishop, Willie encouraged a culture of openness and freedom among the priests of the diocese. He was open to those who held different opinions or held contrary views”.
His time as Bishop “coincided with dramatic changes in the Irish economy and Irish society,” Fr Harry reflected. During the Celtic Tiger, the need to discuss and debate the values which could restore balance in lives was needed which led to the creation of the CÉIFIN Conferences to ask searching questions about the society people wanted to live in.
Along with sharing a deep faith in God, both Bishop Willie and Fr Harry shared a strong passion for the game of hurling and how it underpins a sense of place and belonging. He coached hurling teams with St Flannan’s College and Clare. “In the outpouring of loss and memories, the testimonies of those he had taught in the classroom and mentored on the hurling field were particularly moving. Some described him as the greatest influence on their lives”.
“So much more could be said and no doubt will be said and written about Bishop Willie Walsh. Stories of his goodness, his kindness and compassion, his courage and his vision will continue to be told. He will be remembered with much love as a bishop who was of the people. Our remembering is done in a very heartfelt way and with much affection but perhaps the greatest tribute we can pay to Willie is to reflect on and try put into practice the values and the kind of Church for what he stood,” Fr Harry concluded.
