Interview with Fr. Derry Murphy, S.A.C.
Provincial Rector of the Mother of Divine Love Province and President of the General Coordination Council of the Union of Catholic Apostolate
Q: What is your name and what are the Church offices in which your serve?
My name is Fr. Derry Murphy, SAC, I am the Provincial Rector of the Mother of Divine Love of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottines), and I am the President of the General Coordination Council of the Union of Catholic Apostolate, an International Association of the Faithful.
Q: What was your initial reaction to the election of Pope Francis?
Joy. And three days on this deep-seated joy has taken root in my heart!
Q: You served in Buenos Aires, Argentina for many years. Did you know Cardinal Bergoglio during that time and, if so, how would you describe his pastoral care, administration, and liturgical style?
I worked in the Argentine from 1985 until 2002, all of this time in the Province of Buenos Aires. However during my final years there I was Provincial Delegate of our Community in the Argentine and as such I had contact with Archbishop (later Cardinal) Bergoglio because we were entrusted in 1929 with the pastoral care of the Parish of San Patricio, Belgrano R, in the city and he was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Five Pallottines, three priests, a professed student and a postulant, were murdered in the parish house in Belgrano on July 4th 1976, during the military dictatorship. The cause for recognition of their murders as martyrdom was initiated in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires. I had occasion to meet with Archbishop Bergoglio on matters related to the cause. He was very supportive and affirmative. On July 4th 2001, the 25th anniversary of the massacre, Cardinal Bergoglio came to St. Patrick’s Church and was the main celebrant at the Mass; he had also celebrated the anniversary Mass in 1997 and he again came to St. Patrick’s, Belgrano on April 12th 2006 for a prayer service to honour martyrs for the faith, on that occasion the Argentine President, the late Nestor Kirchner was also present.
He knew one of the 5 men, Fr. Alfie Kelly well. The relationship was one of spiritual direction and in his homily on July 4th 2001 he said of Fr. Alfie “he thought only of God” and he affirmed “I am a witness of what Alfie Kelly’s life was like … I am a witness to his heart…”
His pastoral care has always been characterized by attentiveness to persons and a personal care and concern for the priests of the Archdiocese – on one occasion he is said to have affirmed “the priests are my parish”, with the understanding that if the priests are cared for and supported pastorally by their Bishop they will, in turn, care for those entrusted to their pastoral care. His visits to the slums, to prisons, hospitals and hospices are all documented. Perhaps I could say he is ‘a priest of the people and for the people’.
He is a simple man, a great deal has been written in recent days about his personal austerity and simplicity and these are traits I saw in him. He dressed simply, was punctual for appointments, travelled by public transport and avoided any excesses which could draw attention away from the centrality of Christ and his Gospel message.
He is said to be a capable administrator, one who trusts his collaborators.
In celebrating Mass he is reverent and devout, his homilies are concise and to the point and always imbued with the teaching of Jesus Christ and our response to it in the concrete situation. In fact I have ‘collected’ some of his homilies over the years, they are published by AICA, the Catholic News Agency in the Argentine, they have often been the subject matter of my meditation.
Q: What was his relationship with the Pallottines in Argentina?
This has been responded to above. However there are two Pallottine entities working in the Argentine, the Delegature of the Irish Province and the Region of Our Lady of Lujan which is of German origin. The members of the Region have had a very good relationship with Cardinal Bergoglio. He was appointed auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992 and was Episcopal Vicar for the Vicariate of Flores where the Pallottines administer the Parish of Santa Isabel de Hungria.
Q: Both from your perspective as Provincial of the Mother of Divine Love Province of the Society and President of the Union of Catholic Apostolate, what do you believe are the needs of the Church at this time, and how do you see Pope Francis attending to these needs?
Initially I was about to launch into a long reply to this question. However, Pope Francis is one man, a man of God, but a man, and limited by all the common limitations of time, place, personal history and the changing nature of our modern world and the reality of our Church, so I am loath to wax lyrical. That said, my belief is that the Church is our faith home, where we are born, nourished, formed and from which we draw sustenance throughout our lives as we live our faith in the world. I believe that the need of the Church is to live this faith in God, the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, visibly and coherently.
Pope Francis is a man of deep personal faith, with a mind, heart and spirit anchored in God and single-heartedly committed to living the Gospel and this will guide him as he attends to the needs of the Church.
Q: What other thoughts would you like to share?
My thoughts are also with our Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, his writings, his encyclicals and his Wednesday audience reflections were wonderful. Reading them gave me an insight into his spirit and his spirituality and found a ready echo in me. Then back to Blessed Pope John Paul II and his joyful, energetic and charismatic style of living the Papacy. I have a sense of each Pope living the role of Bishop of Rome in a unique way and each one contributing a particular set of gifts and charisms which are spiritual gifts for the Church. With a spirit of expectation I now await the charisms which will emerge in Pope Francis and I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to surprise and inspire us.
My name is Fr. Derry Murphy, SAC, I am the Provincial Rector of the Mother of Divine Love of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottines), and I am the President of the General Coordination Council of the Union of Catholic Apostolate, an International Association of the Faithful.
Q: What was your initial reaction to the election of Pope Francis?
Joy. And three days on this deep-seated joy has taken root in my heart!
Q: You served in Buenos Aires, Argentina for many years. Did you know Cardinal Bergoglio during that time and, if so, how would you describe his pastoral care, administration, and liturgical style?
I worked in the Argentine from 1985 until 2002, all of this time in the Province of Buenos Aires. However during my final years there I was Provincial Delegate of our Community in the Argentine and as such I had contact with Archbishop (later Cardinal) Bergoglio because we were entrusted in 1929 with the pastoral care of the Parish of San Patricio, Belgrano R, in the city and he was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Five Pallottines, three priests, a professed student and a postulant, were murdered in the parish house in Belgrano on July 4th 1976, during the military dictatorship. The cause for recognition of their murders as martyrdom was initiated in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires. I had occasion to meet with Archbishop Bergoglio on matters related to the cause. He was very supportive and affirmative. On July 4th 2001, the 25th anniversary of the massacre, Cardinal Bergoglio came to St. Patrick’s Church and was the main celebrant at the Mass; he had also celebrated the anniversary Mass in 1997 and he again came to St. Patrick’s, Belgrano on April 12th 2006 for a prayer service to honour martyrs for the faith, on that occasion the Argentine President, the late Nestor Kirchner was also present.
He knew one of the 5 men, Fr. Alfie Kelly well. The relationship was one of spiritual direction and in his homily on July 4th 2001 he said of Fr. Alfie “he thought only of God” and he affirmed “I am a witness of what Alfie Kelly’s life was like … I am a witness to his heart…”
His pastoral care has always been characterized by attentiveness to persons and a personal care and concern for the priests of the Archdiocese – on one occasion he is said to have affirmed “the priests are my parish”, with the understanding that if the priests are cared for and supported pastorally by their Bishop they will, in turn, care for those entrusted to their pastoral care. His visits to the slums, to prisons, hospitals and hospices are all documented. Perhaps I could say he is ‘a priest of the people and for the people’.
He is a simple man, a great deal has been written in recent days about his personal austerity and simplicity and these are traits I saw in him. He dressed simply, was punctual for appointments, travelled by public transport and avoided any excesses which could draw attention away from the centrality of Christ and his Gospel message.
He is said to be a capable administrator, one who trusts his collaborators.
In celebrating Mass he is reverent and devout, his homilies are concise and to the point and always imbued with the teaching of Jesus Christ and our response to it in the concrete situation. In fact I have ‘collected’ some of his homilies over the years, they are published by AICA, the Catholic News Agency in the Argentine, they have often been the subject matter of my meditation.
Q: What was his relationship with the Pallottines in Argentina?
This has been responded to above. However there are two Pallottine entities working in the Argentine, the Delegature of the Irish Province and the Region of Our Lady of Lujan which is of German origin. The members of the Region have had a very good relationship with Cardinal Bergoglio. He was appointed auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992 and was Episcopal Vicar for the Vicariate of Flores where the Pallottines administer the Parish of Santa Isabel de Hungria.
Q: Both from your perspective as Provincial of the Mother of Divine Love Province of the Society and President of the Union of Catholic Apostolate, what do you believe are the needs of the Church at this time, and how do you see Pope Francis attending to these needs?
Initially I was about to launch into a long reply to this question. However, Pope Francis is one man, a man of God, but a man, and limited by all the common limitations of time, place, personal history and the changing nature of our modern world and the reality of our Church, so I am loath to wax lyrical. That said, my belief is that the Church is our faith home, where we are born, nourished, formed and from which we draw sustenance throughout our lives as we live our faith in the world. I believe that the need of the Church is to live this faith in God, the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, visibly and coherently.
Pope Francis is a man of deep personal faith, with a mind, heart and spirit anchored in God and single-heartedly committed to living the Gospel and this will guide him as he attends to the needs of the Church.
Q: What other thoughts would you like to share?
My thoughts are also with our Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, his writings, his encyclicals and his Wednesday audience reflections were wonderful. Reading them gave me an insight into his spirit and his spirituality and found a ready echo in me. Then back to Blessed Pope John Paul II and his joyful, energetic and charismatic style of living the Papacy. I have a sense of each Pope living the role of Bishop of Rome in a unique way and each one contributing a particular set of gifts and charisms which are spiritual gifts for the Church. With a spirit of expectation I now await the charisms which will emerge in Pope Francis and I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to surprise and inspire us.