Fr.
Denis Faul was the classical old-style Irish Catholic
priest: very educated and erudite, doctrinally orthodox
and socially conservative He was tailor-made to
become a leading Bishop? Why, then, did that never
happen?
There
is only one possible answer: Because he took on
Her Majesty's Government, and rightly accused it
of injustice against Catholics in Northern Ireland.
He, therefore, violated the one taboo. He could
have criticized any other government in the world
and still have gotten the Miter (think of how Bishop
Casey could criticize United States policy in South
America, while never opening his mouth about British
injustice in the North).
In
the late seventies and early eighties when both
the London and Dublin governments (with the compliant
help of much of the Irish and British media) were
doing all they could to demonize the Irish National
Caucus, Fr. Faul fearlessly stood up for us, publicly
identifying with us, twice coming to the United
States on a Irish National Caucus speaking tour
and lobbying effort of the U.S. Congress.
Fr.
Faul was a human rights champion. He was a most
effective communicator.
Indeed,
maybe even death does not stop his communication.
On the very day he died, I found myself thinking
I should telephone him as I hadn't talked to him
in a while. The next thing I knew he was dead!
May
his noble Irish soul rest in God's eternal peace.
