Lifetime achievement award for Bishop Willie

The outstanding contribution made by Bishop Willie Walsh to the Catholic Church throughout his long ministry has been acknowledged by a special award.

The Bishop of Killaloe received a Reality Lifetime Achievement award under a scheme that is organised by Reality magazine, a Redemptorist Communications’ publication.
At the award ceremony in Dublin, Bishop Walsh described the days ahead of the release of the Dublin Report and in the wake of the Ryan report as “part of a process that was badly needed by the Church in Ireland”.
“These are the best of times and the worst of times,” he told the large attendance. “I think there are lots of wonderful things like Sharon Commins and the concern that has been shown for Columban Fr Michael Sinnott. And they simply represent a fraction of the wonderful work being done all over the world by missionaries, priests, religious and lay and the wonderful work that people are doing every day of their lives – parents raising their children in love.”
He added, “I think sometimes we divide and talk about the secular and spiritual – whatever is good is spiritual – that’s the reality of life and it is unwise to make these sorts of distinctions.”
Bishop Walsh spoke how the Ryan Report has been devastating and that the Dublin Report would be equally so.
Drawing on his own personal experience of talking to victims of abuse, he said, “Having been a bishop for over the past 15 years, in some sense I have talked to a lot of victims and indeed I’ve talked to some abusers as well. There is no doubt, it is a devastating story. Yet I’ve always felt privileged that when someone who is broken and has been abused tells their story – it is a privilege to listen to them – even when it is heart-breaking.”
Speaking of the possible impact of the Dublin Report on the Church in Ireland, Bishop Walsh said, “I think that this is a whole process which the Church needed – and needed badly. We had gone through a period where we were overconfident. We thought that we were the best Catholics in the world – the island of saints and scholars. I thought when I was growing up that we were reliving that and I think that sadly it has taken something like this to bring a bit of reality to the Church. It makes us humble and reminds us of our fragility. I think that our position will be much closer to what Christ was about – weak, humble, and a servant and if the Church is about anything it is about serving people. It is not about dominating people’s lives.”