‘Fr Des – bring on the debate’ by Joe McVeigh

(I have of course paid Joe to say the bit about this blogsite…- Jude)

I have known Des Wilson now for nearly 50 years. He celebrated 70 years as a priest last year –years of great upheaval and sorrow for him personally and for the community in which he lived and worked as a priest. They were also years of creativity and joy in the company of wonderful friends like Noelle Ryan (Suamhneas Sioraiearthy), who held the place and the community together.

Des is one of the great thinkers of our time in Ireland. Most people have read and heard his thought-out views on democracy, citizenship, peace and justice, the Church and the Monarchy. He has made a tremendous contribution to the debate about our country instilling pride in our native Irish language and traditions, challenging racism and bigotry and narrow sectarianism. searching to understand republicanism in a modern Ireland. He is admired by people across the political spectrum in the north and indeed throughout Ireland and by the oppressed everywhere. He is indeed one of the leading intellectuals in Ireland and in the Catholic Church. He has written a number of books (eg Democracy Denied) and plays including, most recently, a play about the great debate that went on in 1910 about socialism and the Catholic Church. The play is simply titled ‘Connolly v Kane.’

Des was a regular contributor to the Andersonstown News for many years. He also wrote regular columns for The Irish People in the USA and for the Northern Standard in Monaghan. His thought provoking articles have been influential in bringing about much that has changed in Ireland.

One of Des’s constant complaints is the low level of intellectual debate about all things spiritual and political within the Church. After all, as he often says, we have had more than 2000 years of intellectual activity and experience and we should be well able to discuss our problems rationally and resolve disputes sensibly and respectfully -respecting difference without resorting to name-calling and excommunication or personal abuse. He denounces the practice of censoring and condemning of progressive or liberal ideas from with the Church.

Nowadays he decries the fact that there is no real debate going on about the future of this country and it pains him greatly. (I think he might accept that the only worthwhile debate in Ireland at present is that which takes place on the Jude Collins blog.) Over the years whenever I got despondent he would encourage me to keep going -to keep writing and making the case for decency and justice in church and state- no matter how difficult it got.

Because of his encouragement I have become a regular contributor to this blog and other outlets which do not always publish. Des has been extremely disappointed with the level of debate in the media on Radio and TV (especially RTE) and in the local press. It makes him angry sometimes. For that reason he has ceased watching TV or reading the Irish News. That paper annoyed him so much that he actually wrote a satire about it!  His use of satire has been he believes one of his most effective weapons.

He is a strong believer that the pen is mightier than the sword.

Des has no time for humbug or superficial nonsense that passes for rational debate. He often cites the long intellectual tradition in the church as proof that it was not always thus. He frequently quotes from Tom Aquinas, Chesterton, Belloc and is much impressed with the high quality of discussion by the liberation theologians from South and Central America as well as the profound writing of Daniel Berrigan SJ and Fr Richard Rohr. He is also impressed by the women intellectuals in the church who have courageously pursued the issues of equality and ministry within the church.

During the years of the conflict Des campaigned fearlessly for an end to censorship and he worked tirelessly to open lines of communication between all the people involved and in a position to bring about an end to the war. He has campaigned for the truth on many issues and especially with regard to the Ballymurphy massacre in 1971 when his friend and colleague Fr Hugh Mullan (38) was shot dead while administering the Last Rites, along with six innocent civilians by British soldiers belonging to the Parachute regiment.

Des’s house in Springhill, Ballymurphy has been the centre for adult education and alternative medicine for many years. Those who work and learn there make up the Springhill Community. He meets and greets all with patience and good humour. Through all the years he has remained approachable, obliging and courteous. Now in his ninety second year, I pray that he will continue to present challenging ideas for many years to come. The debate he so desires about the future Irish republic and the future church in Ireland must soon begin in earnest.