When we talk about the images we have of Heaven, a place where we all hope to be with family and friends, human language often fails us. We use phrases that the Bible gives us or images that we have learned from our prayers. So later in the final commendation and farewell we will use phrases like “the bosom of Abraham”, or “where Lazarus is poor no longer”. But the phrase that will ring out loud and clear in Fr Willies final commendation will be “May choirs of angels lead you to your rest”
I never knew Fr Willie in his ministry or indeed in his health, but those of you who did could not speak about him without mentioning his great gift of music, which was the channel he used to bring the message of the Gospel to young and old. I’m sure like all good choir people he had a definite idea of what was good and bad and it might not be an exaggeration to say that there might have been a fluttering of wings and a secret rehearsal or two among the choirs of angels when they were told that they would be escorting Fr Willie home to his rest.
But it is clear from his life that if music was the medium, then Christ was the message. Whether it was preparing children in school for First Holy Communion or Confirmation or working with adults to develop a deeper and adult faith, his life’s work was to build the communion that Christ wants all of us as his disciples to have.
His faith story began here in Camolin with his parents, Brigid and James and his extended family who mourn him today. Like any good musician, his sharp ear for music also heard a quiet note in the background – the invitation to become a priest, a note that he built into the song of his life.
He studied in Maynooth and his life path was confirmed here in Camolin Church on the 8th of June 1974. No doubt his choosing for Christ was influenced by many people, parents and family, teachers here in Camolin and St Peters and by the many good priests who would have served here as he was growing up. Our vision for what God wants of us is partly from our interior life but also from the goodness we see in people around us that we want to imitate. As today’s Gospel reminds us we are joined to God by being joined to each other and the spiritual nourishment that comes from God travels along the vine of other people so that it reaches not just those who are close to God but those on the edge. Fr Willies life was the vine branch that brought the life of God to others. And music wasn’t his only talent, people spoke of his sense of humour and his great sociability, that he had a deep sense that life was for living and that people would be drawn to a message that was welcoming and warm.
Throughout his ministry, all these gifts were brought to the people of the Diocese in St Peter’s College, in the Cathedral Parish of St Aidan’s, in Kilmyshall, Ballygarrett and Gorey. But in 1999 the Diocese recognised the deeper vision and skills that Wille had and asked him to undertake the role of Director of Pastoral Development. This is a role that every Diocese now has but in 1999 it was innovative and imaginative. Fr Willie with seven others developed the first Diocesan Plan, called Shaping the Future. It was based on listening to priests and people and creating a synthesis of what people needed, and what their hopes and fears were. Fr Willie, with great foresight of all the development of Synodality proposed by the late Pope Francis, said in the final document – that it was not a once off program, but an invitation to an on-going way of being church – a listening church where all the baptised feel involved. Fr Willies words over a quarter of a century ago. If in our time in this Diocese we can see some small progress it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants.
But we cannot conclude our words about Fr Willie without mentioning the cruel illness that deprived him of his voice, deprived him of his engagement with people and of his ability to draw people together. I know that his family appreciate how Fr Willie never left the vine of God’s love, being carried by family and friends, by colleagues and by the wonderful staff of Knockeen Nursing Home. In his final years in ministry he had the support of Matt Boggan, Billy Flynn and Roger O’Neill who worked with him and cared for him as his illness grew more severe. We know that we live in a broken and hurting world. Most of us see this in the daily news and the stories we hear. Many people however, like Fr Willie experience that brokenness in personal health and some, have to carry it in the silence of their own hearts. Our hope is that the kindness of others broke through the silence and spoke in the depth of his heart. Our Faith now is that all silence is gone and that in addition to the choirs of angels he is hearing the words of the Father “ Well done, good and faithful servant”
The brochure for “Shaping the Future” carried some words from Edwina Gately, chosen by Fr Willie to capture the place of faith in a broken world. I think they would be a good place to finish and I think too this kind of vision of a God present in brokenness and mess may have stayed with him to the very end.
God’s Church
In all this Mess,
in all this pain,
in all this brokenness,
Will I just sit and murmur, I am here?
This way of being Church is new,
bewildering, confusing,
There are no rules, no guidelines, no guides.
No maps, no workshops,
Only the Spirit of Jesus sitting with us.
Only the Grace of God, hovering over us.
Only the Word of God, silent in the midst of our pain.
Leaba i measc na naomh duit, a Liam, sagart samhlaíoch, sóisialta, cumasach. Go dtabharfaidh ceol na n-aingeal luach saothair do do fhoighne fhada le do bhreoiteacht.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh d’anam dílis.