Fr. Bill White died in Mary Mount Hospice, Cork on 18th September 2005 in the 77th year of his life and 52nd year of his priesthood. He was buried in his native Macroom, Co. Cork following a Requiem Mass at which Fr. Thomas O'Hare, V.G. represented Bishop Joseph Devine, Bishop of Motherwell.
At a month's mind Mass concelebrated in Our Lady & St Joseph's, Glenboig, Bishop Devine gave the following homily.
As it happened, I was in Warsaw for a meeting of the Media Section of the European Bishops' Conference when I heard of the death in Ireland of Fr. Bill White. Just prior to leaving, I had heard of the death of Fr .James Boyle, also a priest of the diocese, but who had served in the Archdiocese of Saint Andrew's and Edinburgh for the past 25 yews. Late in the day of my arrival in Warsaw, I also heard of the death of Fr. Robert Curley in Uddingston. As you might imagine, all I wanted to do was to come home.
()n returning home, given my need to attend the funerals of Fr. James Boyle and Fr. Robert Curley, it was impossible for me to get to West Cork for the funeral of Father Bill White. But I am very grateful to one of my Vicars General, Fr. Tom O'Hare, Fr. Con O'Leary and Fr. Willie 0' Sullivan, for managing to get to West Cork, at very short notice, to represent the Diocese of Motherwell at the funeral of Fr. Bill White.
The Western Province was well served by four priests from the White family from West Cork. Two uncles of the late Fr. Bill White served in Glasgow and Motherwell in the years preceding and succeeding the Second World War. In addition, a great uncle, Fr. Justin White, served in both the Archdiocese of Glasgow and the Diocese of Paisley, where he is now best remembered for the rebuilding of St. Mirin's church, which was opened by Archbishop Mackintosh in 1932. Sixteen years later it was to become the Cathedral Church of the new diocese of Paisley. Fr. Justin White died in 1937, the year I was born.
An uncle of Fr. Bill White, a priest whom I remember well, the late Canon Dan Barry White, who served here for many years, finally retiring from St. Teresa's in Newarthill 15 years ago. He had a very happy retirement in Ireland, before going to his eternal reward in 1990.
Yet another uncle was Fr. William White, after whom I suspect that Bill was named, the founding Parish Priest of Saint Luke's in Motherwell, served in the Archdiocese of Glasgow from 1936 to 1948, before he was then to find himself in the Diocese of Motherwell from 1948 to 1962, the year when he died, shortly after becoming the parish priest in St. Bridget's in Baillieston a few months before his death in Moffat. He died there on making his return to Scotland from being on holiday in England. On his return journey he felt very ill and pulled into a lay-by, close to the town of Moffat, and died at the wheel of his car.
Now I want to turn to the reason for us being here tonight. Fr. Bill White was born in Macroom in West Cork on 28th February, 1928. After attending local primary and secondary schools in West Cork, he entered the seminary of St. John's in Waterford in the autumn of 1947 and was ordained for the Diocese of Motherwell on the 14th of June, 1953.
His initial appointment was to the newly established parish of the Sacred Heart in Bellshill. That appointment was to last for the following 12 years. That length of service was unusual for young priests of that era, as most of his contemporaries would have served in several parishes over the first 12 years of their ministries. But he greatly enjoyed his years in Bellshill and would often speak to me of his happy memories of those years. It was ever a reminder to me that the first appointment of a priest remains a special memory to him.
In 1965 he then went a further 7 years to St. Augustine's in Coatbridge, so beginning a long association with a town to which he would ever refer to as the 'Brig'. Again he enjoyed his time there, in a very different setting from Bellshill, although the two towns are no more than 2 miles apart. But the Langloan area of Coatbridge, the area that makes up most of the parish of St. Augustine's, is a much more prosperous part of the diocese.
Early in 1972 he became the parish priest of St. Edward's in Airdrie, no more than a few miles east of Langloan. Again, like the Sacred Heart, Bellshill, this was a relatively new parish, having been established only 12 years earlier in 1960. in those days it was a rapidly expanding parish, with new housing estates being built.
The parish was of such a size that two primary schools were built in the area and the diocese secured a piece of ground for the establishment of a new parish at a future date. That never happened, in the light of developing circumstances, as one of the new housing estates was subject to substandard housing. However, to the present day, the two primary schools are still in existence.
In October of 1981, just a couple of years before I came to the Diocese, Fr. Bill White became the Parish Priest of St. James' in Coatbridge, a position that he was to retain for the following 9 years. It was over those years that I was to come to know him best. He was ever such a friendly priest, someone who had ever a smile on his face, as well as being graced with courtesy and humour.
I recall the many visits that I made to that parish over his time there, along with so much banter and fun between himself and his neighbouring parish priest, Canon Tom Gibbons in the parish of St. Monica's, to say nothing of the rivalry between the two head teachers of the two primary schools in the parish of St. James', St. James and St. Timothy. Each tried their best to outdo each other at Confirmation services for the children of their respective schools.
But those years also had their sadness for Fr. White, not least when one of his assistant priests, the late Fr. Paddy Kilcoyne, died unexpectedly. Shortly thereafter, Bill came to me to ask for a new assignment, as he felt that he was slowing down and needed a less demanding ministry. I offered him the relatively small parish, at least at that time, of Our Lady and St. Joseph's in Glenboig. He was more than ready to accept this final challenge to him for the final years of his active ministry.
He served here for the next 8 years, before ill-health was to plague him again. So he left the active ministry of the diocese and returned home to West Cork in 1998, where he continued to provide a support to local parishes when he was able to do so over the past 7 years. He was ever willing to do so, much to the appreciation of the local priests of the parishes in the Macroom deanery.
I will ever remember Fr. Bill White as one of the nicest priests that has been my good fortune to remember. But that pales into significance as to what he would want me to say today. All that he would want me to say is that he asks us to pray for him before the judgement seat of the lord. If I knew well the late Fr. Bill White, that would be his final and permanent request to us, both to the people of the parishes where he served, as well as to his friends among the clergy of the Diocese of Motherwell.
That we now do as we say together, 'Eternal rest grant unto him. 0 Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace'. Amen. |
