Bishop Murray died at 00:50 today at Milford Care Centre where he had spent the past 18 months. He was in the company of Frs Noel Kirwan and Liam Enright on his passing.
Reflecting on his life, Bishop Leahy said that Bishop Murray made an enormous contribution to spiritual nourishment of the people Limerick since his appointment here in 1996 when he became the first priest form outside the diocese to assume the role in 200 years. In particular, he sought to play his part in building a Church of tomorrow and a church for all.
“Bishop Murray will be remembered for so much and, indeed, his work in Limerick overseeing the completion of the conservation works on St John’s Cathedral is a lasting physical memory of his time here. But more than anything, he was attuned to the fast changing ecclesial and social context and the challenge of rebuilding the community of faith. His great mind was always working on building a Church of tomorrow, not on holding onto a Church of the past.
“A hugely deep, wise and brilliant thinker, he addressed these questions in two significant pastorals, ‘We are God’s Temple’ and ‘How can we Know the Way?’ At the same time, he acknowledged the implications of the steep fall in vocations to the priesthood and religious life for the future of the church in Limerick.
“However, he was not fatalistic but always looking to find ways to work with rather than against the realities we were faced with and find much hope in those too. In a measure of the diocese’s commitment to the young church during Bishop Murray’s tenure, two people were employed in full-time youth ministry. And following a lengthy period of reflection and dialogue, parish clustering was introduced under his tenure to maximise the use of more limited personnel and to facilitate the sharing of resources.”
Bishop Leahy also cited the creation of a diocesan pastoral council in 2004 by Bishop Murray, which saw Limerick among the first diocese to take such a move. This was done, he said, to give expression to a renewed understanding of church which recognised the potential for lay people to take on a greater role in the church.
“Among its 21 members were representatives of the pastoral areas, lay people, priests and religious of the diocese; and ten of its members were women. Again, this reflected someone seeking to find a new and better path for the Church.”
Bishop Murray also appointed a full-time chaplain to Limerick Prison, and in 2007 was involved in a joint initiative with Limerick, Killaloe and Kerry diocese to create St Senan’s Education Office to support to the boards of management of the primary schools in each diocese.
The provision of this and many other ancillary services in Limerick diocese was made possible by the decision of Bishop Murray in 2007 to dispose of Kilmoyle, the large suburban residence acquired by the diocese in the 1940s and move home to the Castletroy area.
Further evidence of his commitment to learning was his role as chairman of the trustees and board of management of Mary Immaculate College. Bishop Murray took a direct interest in its development of arts programmes, postgraduate courses and a greater emphasis on research as well as approving the appointment of its first lay president.
Bishop Leahy said, however, that the later years of Bishop Murray’s tenure were clouded, as in all dioceses in Ireland, by the revelations of child abuse involving both religious congregations and secular clergy. Criticisms relating to his handling of abuse allegations during the 1980s in his period as auxiliary bishop in Dublin led to the resignation as Bishop of Limerick in 2009.
“Bishop Murray, in his resignation announcement, said that to remain on would ‘create difficulties for some of the survivors who must have first place in our thoughts and prayers’. While acknowledging, as Bishop Donal said himself, that his resignation could not ‘undo the pain that survivors of abuse have suffered’, we separately remember that in his time in Limerick he transformed child safeguarding standards with a robust system that the diocese continues to build on today. Three years after his retirement, these measures were positively recognised in a review by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland.”
In retirement Bishop Murray continued to minister in the diocese of Limerick and chaired the Architectural and Heritage Advisory Committee of the diocese.
“Endowed with a brilliant mind, Bishop Donal treasured and communicated wisdom, was gentle in spirit and generous of heart. His contribution to faith was enormous and he will be sadly missed,” said Bishop Leahy.
Additional information on Bishop Donal Murray
Committees and Commissions:
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 Standing Committee, Irish Bishops’ Conference;
Member of the Bishops’ Joint Committee for Bioethical Issues;
Chairperson, Bishops’ Bioethics Committee;
Chairperson of Trustees and Cathaoirleach, Bord Rialaithe, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick;
Chairperson of Board of Governors and Management Committee, St John’s Hospital
Some of Bishop Murray’s more recent publications include:
Let Love Speak (Dublin, 2011);
Keeping Open the Door of Faith (Dublin, 2012);
Where the Heart is (Dublin, 2014);
In a Landscape Redrawn (Dublin, 2017);
Picking Up the Shards (Dublin, 2019)
What Are We Waiting For? (Dublin 2021)