The Late Fr Nicholas Murray

Hundreds of mourners travelled from Galway to Dalgan Park, Co. Meath, at the weekend for the Removal and Requiem Mass of Fr Nicholas 'Nick' Murray, the former Superior General of the Columban Fathers worldwide.

Fr Murray (73), a native of Esker, Ballymacward, became the only member of the order to be elected Superior General for a second six year term in 1994 and served as a missionary in the Philippines for 22 years.

A talented hurler who was known as a 'gentle giant' on the playing fields, he also taught English in a Chinese University during a time when he was forced to celebrate Mass in secret due to hostility from the authorities.

Fr Murray was posted to the Philippines in 1963 and built up a huge affection for the country and its people. His leadership skills were soon noted after he was posted as Chaplain and Director of Student Catholic Action in the Archdiocese of Manila, before being appointed Director of the Philippine Region in 1981.

He was head of the Columban Fathers in the Philippines during the notorious case of the 'Negros Nine' which received worldwide publicity in 1983.

Three Columban priests and six lay workers were arrested on trumped up charges of multiple murder and spent 14 months in jail on Negros Island.

The charges were meant to stop the work of the Basic Christian Communities (BCC), which aimed for the non-violent transformation of life on the island through human development.

The 'Negros Nine' became a symbol for the voiceless poor in the country during the dark days of the Marcos dictatorship and Fr Murray was at the forefront of the campaign to secure their release as well as liaising with the men's families back home.

His handing of the case during a traumatic time for the Columban Fathers in the troubled country marked him out as a future leader of the order.

After his time in the Philippines, he returned to Ireland to work on vocations and was elected Director of the Columban Fathers in Ireland. In 1988, he had the honour of being elected Superior General of the entire order worldwide and was given the honour of a second term six years later.

At the Requiem Mass on Monday Chef Celebrant Fr Niall Cullen said that Fr Murray brought stability, purpose, good humour and boundless energy to every task, during an era of great change.

A man of great integrity and a hard worker, Fr Murray was happiest when visiting Columban Fathers out 'on the field' in the missions and sought an assignment in China in 2000, where he taught English as a second language.

Bishop John Kirby of Clonfert, with Fr Cullen and Fr Sean Slattery PP of Ballymacward, led a large number of priests in the concelebration of Mass.

Bishop Kirby spoke of his service to the Diocese of Clonfert in Kilconnell for a two year period and whenever required in his native Ballymacward, whenever he returned home. He also recalled his integrity, his counselling and his sporting achievements in hurling, football and rugby.

In a graveside ovation, former TD Noel Treacy spoke of the love and affection the people of Ballymacward, Gurteen, and the surrounding areas had for Fr Nicholas.

He recalled his achievements in hurling with Fohenagh, Padraig Pearses, Galway and Connacht, in addition to his spell as a county minor footballer. He recalled that Fr Murray won county hurling medals with Fohenagh in 1959 and 1960, before Pearses had an adult senior team. Fr Murray also treasured the South East Board and Junior titles he won with his native Pearses before he was transferred to the missions.

Mr Treacy spoke of the leadership role he provided for all who knew him. He said that his passing had saddened all of Galway and expressed profound sympathy to the Murrray family on the death of a special and unique person.

Members of both the Pearses and Fohenagh clubs formed a guard of honour at Dalgan Park College, near Navan, and a lone piper played 'Galway Bay' while a maroon and white flag was placed on his coffin prior to the burial.

Fr Murray had been transferred back to help out in his native Clonfert in 2005 and was diagnosed with a form of leukemia, which he fought bravely while serving as bursar in Dalgan during the past three years.

Many hundreds of people had travelled from Galway in cars and buses to pay their last respects on both Easter Sunday and Monday, with parishioners in Ballymacward organising a special fleet of buses.

He is survived by his brothers, Gerry (Tullamore) and Pat Joe (Ballymacward), sisters Kathleen Raftery (Woodlawn) Margaret Oliver (Ballinasloe), Mary O'Mahony (Salthill), sisters-in-law Eileen and Teresa, brothers-in-law Paddy, Cathal and Shane, nephews, nieces, grandnephews, grandnieces, relatives and friends in Ireland, China and the Philippines; as well as his colleagues in the Columban Fathers.

Courtesy of the Connacht Tribune
29th April 2011

On Easter Sunday Gerry French ssc spoke to the family, friends and colleagues of Nicholas who had gathered in Dalgan Park :

"I would like to welcome all of Nicholas' family and friends again to our Columban home in Dalgan Park.

My name is Gerry French, a classmate of Nicholas, it is my privilege to share some reflections and memories with you
During Nicholas's struggle this past week to go over to the other side, I thought of Gerald Manley Hopkins, the English Jesuit and poet who often visited Felix Randall in his blacksmith's forge:

We who have watched this mould of man
Big boned and hardy handsome
Pining pining till time when reason rambled in it
And some fatal four disorders fleshed there all contented.

I met the big boned and hardy handsome Nick Murray nearly fifty five years ago here in this building. I remember the very welcoming Columban priest then who said, "You must be very generous men to come here to prepare for the far east."

Nick was truly generous from day one. He and his friend Tony O'Dwyer were champion athletes and unusually for athletes were great hurlers and footballers too.
In Dalgan, we were also encouraged to develop household skills. Nick turned out to be a champion at carpentery, tailoring and hairdressing. For some of us who were all thumbs he was constantly repairing our clothes and replacing our buttons, all laced with terrific humour. Of me, he'd say, "Gerry has given me a button but expects me to make a jacket!"

I told him that I was from Mayo and he said he was from Ballymacward where his NS teacher was from Mayo. He had a great influence on Nick. He said that Ballymac was the place that football ended and hurling had not yet really begun. He also said that Ballymac was the last parish in Clonfert before Tuam or Elphin. [Nick and Bishop Kirby would way that Ballymac was the first parish!] That Mayo teacher gave Nick a long life love for Irish music and for sport.

Like the road to Emmaus, journey was woven into Nick's life. His first journey was to Garbally Park and then to Dalgan, carrying with him the deep roots of Ballymac where tidy farming and tasty workers abounded. Nick's room, desk, car and clothes were always immaculate. The years of writing many letters and memos only improved his writing, unlike the rest of us.

He was the oldest of his family and he seemed to have a great relationship and understanding with his father. He brought that understanding of authority forward to very phase of his life. He was the natural captain of every team, the natural chairperson of every meeting. He also had a great understanding of people, especially some of who had difficulties with authority figures, whether referees, mentors, parish priests, teachers or deans.

In 1956, Mick was to be captain of the Galway minor team. The team mentors heard rumour that he had played another sport/code under an assumed name, so he wasn't picked for the team. What a blow to any 18-year-old, but Nick never held it against the poor GAA official, Jack by name - he readily understand the prejudice of an older generation.

Another memory I have of him as a young man was his sustained interest in people. He brought that with him to the Philippines and back: remembering people, relationships, remembering those he had met whether in NY or NZ

He was proud of his sporting achievements, gaining the equivalent of a "colours cap' for all Dalgan representative teams. He was hugely disappointed that his rapid improvement at Gaelic didn't continue. Sean Purcell's mother was from Ballymac and Sean encouraged Nick to keep at it, for Galway needed a big centre-field man. [Nick found his rugby prowess was an obstacle to his improvement on the Gaelic pitch.

His disciplined reliability was part of his character - a man who never forgot to reply to a letter of to answer a phone call - even the oppressive heat of the Philippines didn't take that away from him. He treated the sprawling city of Manila as if it were a little village.
In his middle years, Nick tool on mission leadership and church administration in the Philippines and Ireland with extraordinary aplomb, culminating in election as our Superior General for not one but two terms. His generosity, reliability and ease with authority served him and his confreres very well. I remember one of my colleagues saying of his election, "Nick never thought of himself as superior or inferior to anyone else" - what a beautiful tribute.

The older Nick was even better. He enjoyed mission in China. He loved networking there, before physical discomfort brought him home to a wonderful two years in Kilconnell in Clonfert. And more recently, his delving into the mystery of his debilitating ailments when he was just enjoying hands on experiences of pastoral ministry.

In this more complex segment of his Emmaus journey he was seeing to the full the mystery of suffering. I'm sure his heart is burning within him in the manner that Pat O'Brien/US actor said at the end of the Columban mission film Path to Glory: He sees it all so clearly the future hidden from his eyes till now.

I still see him mending a hurley. Of all the young men who came here in 1956 he was the one that changed least and developed most. As the writer Bryan MacMahon has written:
Beyond this place of time and tide
Beyond this house of woe
There is a bourn in paradise
Where all the hurlers go.

And there in pride their goaling
As they race across the sod
To thrill our dead forefathers
On the level lawns of God.

Gerry French
Obituary

Nicholas ('Nick') Murray was born on 11 April 1938, in Ballymacward,  County Galway, Ireland. He studied at Esker National School, and St Joseph's, Garbally Park, Ballinasloe, before going to St Columban's, Dalgan Park, Navan, on September 1956. He was ordained priest on 21 December 1962. A natural athlete, he excelled at hurling, football and rugby during his days in Garbally and later in Dalgan.

Assigned to the Philippines in 1963, he spent the next twenty-two years working in some Luzon parishes, and later as Chaplain and  Director of Student Catholic Action in the Archdiocese of Manila. His leadership skills and his capacity for administration were soon noted and he served  in succession as a member of the Director's Council in the Philippines, as District Superior of Luzon, as Vice-Director, and as Director of the Philippine Region 1981-1985. He was in office during the 'Negros Nine' case.

Assigned back to Ireland in 1985, he spent two years fostering vocations and was then appointed Director of the Irish Region. At the Society's General Chapter in 1988, he was elected Superior General. He served for six years, and was then re-elected for a further term in 1994, something that had not happened since the early years of the Society. A man of great integrity, a hard worker, one who related easily with fellow-Columbans and others, Father Nick was never happier than when visiting the members in mission regions. In an era of great change, he brought stability, purpose, good humour and boundless energy to every task.

In 2000, after a brief sabbatical, he asked to be assigned to China. He completed a course in teaching English as a second language, and under the auspices of AITECE,  was assigned for two years to Sichuan International Studies University in Chongqing. He made a big impression on his students and later described this work as 'an eminently worthwhile ministry.' In 2005 he spent some time helping out in his native Diocese of Clonfert. In 2008 he was diagnosed with a form of leukaemia. Over he past three years, as he endured all sorts of therapy and treatment, he used whatever energy he could muster to serve as bursar in Dalgan. He fought the good fight and did not complain. He died in St Francis Hospice, Raheny, Dublin, on 21 April, Holy Thursday. May he rest in peace.

Courtesy of the Columbans Ireland Tweet

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