Fr Tim on Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor

Fr Tim on Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor

Fr Tim would like to put on record his appreciation of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor:

I had the pleasure of meeting him on a number of occasions, but one stands out in particular. At Redemptorist Publications Jane Williams, the wife of the then Archbishop of Canterbury, had just taken on the role of editor of our Anglican publications. I was duly invited to Lambeth Palace for a Christmas reception and when introducing me to her ten-year-old son, Pip, she was trying to explain the difference between Catholics and Anglicans. She decided to give him a clue by introducing Cormac's name into the conversation. The bemused child only made the connection when Jane continued to try and describe Cormac to him, whereupon he cried out: "Oh, you mean the one whose laugh can be heard all over the house." As luck would have it I bumped into Cormac at couple of days later and asked him if his ears had been burning. He was clearly delighted with the description.

He was a good man, who radiated the joy of the Gospel. He was entrusted with much responsibility throughout his long life and served the Lord and the Church with great dedication, coping with some of the serious challenges with genuine grace and humility. We owe him a great debt of gratitude for the influence he brought to bear among the College of Cardinals prior to the election of Pope Francis.

May he rest in peace.

Tim Buckley, CSsR