Dominican priest Malachy O'Dwyer dies in Dublin

Malachy O'Dwyer, a former member of the Irish province of the Dominican Order, died in Beaumont Hospital on Friday afternoon.

Malachy was one of the shining lights of the Irish Dominican Province.

He was born in Dublin in May 1932. He joined the Irish Dominicans in 1954 and ordained a priest in 1960 after which he studied canon law in Rome.

Malachy taught canon law in Tallaght in the early 1970s. His classes were never about the dos and don'ts of law but rather an attempt at linking church rules with the spirit of the Gospel. He was a kind teacher without a shred of any airs or graces.

An interesting and intelligent preacher of the Gospel too, whose words were greatly appreciated by those who came to Mass in Tallaght in the early 1970s.

Malachy was prior in Newbridge but it probably didn't suit him. Before that he had worked in Argentina. Before moving to Parana he attended a language school in Lima with Peter Collins.

He served as socius to Flannan Hynes when Flannan was provincial and was also responsible for ongoing formation in the province.

The Irish Dominicans ran a seminary in India and in 1979 Malachy moved to Asia where he was to spend the greater part of the rest of his life. There was an interval of six years when he was the Order's procurator general in Rome. In that job he liaised between the Vatican and the Order.

Many Dominicans, who left the Order, speak highly of how Malachy dealt so deftly with their laicisation process. Indeed, only earlier this year he was advising a former Irish Dominican how best to apply for laicisation.

Late last year, at which time he was a sick man, he was more than willing to help a young Irish student who was cycling from Dublin to India.

After some years in India Malachy transferred to the Indian province.

I visited Malachy in Beaumont Hospital on Monday. It was clear he was in the last days of his life. It seemed most odd, at least to me, that Malachy was sitting out on a chair, though he was asleep with his head hanging forward.

Malachy O'Dwyer was an especially kind man, a gentle man, who was genuinely interested in people.

His funeral Mass is in the Dominican Priory, Tallaght at 14.00 on Tuesday.

Fr Prakash Lohale of the Province of India and socius to the Master of the Order for the apostolic life will preach at the funeral Mass.