Fr Liam Gerard Walsh was born in New York on February 24, 1933.
On completing secondary school in Cork in 1950 he joined the Dominican Order, making his first profession the following year, and was ordained a priest on July 14, 1957.
Liam’s parents moved to the United States after the Civil War and returned to Cork shortly after the birth of Liam. Because Liam was born in the US he had dual citizenship.
Liam did his early studies in philosophy and theology in Tallaght and at the French Dominican house of studies, Le Saulchoir in Paris, where he was a fellow student with the late Tom McInerney.
He returned to the Dominican house of studies in Tallaght in 1958 to teach theology.
"He opened our eyes to the liturgy, lecturing us on the theology behind it instead of talking about rubrics and the number of candles that should be on the altar," a former student of his recalls. During his time teaching in Tallaght he taught and gave courses all over Ireland.
With the late Wilfred Harrington, Austin Flannery and others he was involved in translating and promoting the teachings of Vatican II.
He gave many talks and contributed to publications, explaining the documents of the Vatican Council. Indeed, on the announcement of his death a Dominican brother commented that he was teaching the theology of the Vatican Council ever before the Council began.
It was a time of hope and enthusiasm in the church and Liam conveyed that in his lecturing.
In the mid 1970s Liam was appointed socius for the intellectual life across the entire Dominican Order. He was appointed to the post by the then Master of the Order, Vincent de Couesnongle. It meant his moving from Tallaght to the Dominican HQ at Santa Sabina in Rome.
While in the job he presided over a radical revision of the Order’s legislation on studies, particularly the role of the regent of studies.
On completion of his term of office Liam taught for a short period at the University of St Thomas in Rome, before the then Master of the Order, fellow Irish man, Damian Byrne asked him if he would move to Fribourg to teach theology, where he later became vice-rector of the University of Fribourg.
He retired from his teaching post and vice-rectorship on reaching the age of 70 and returned to Ireland and taught at the Dominican house of Studies at St Saviour’s in Dublin’s north inner city until he reached the noble age of 90.
Age and declining health necessitated his moving to Sybil Hill Nursing Home in Raheny. He suffered from a debilitating muscular problem but never complained.
He was granted an STM, which is the highest academic award bestowed by the Dominican Order on one of its members.
He wrote a number of books and many articles, notably a book on the Sacraments of Initiation.
His translation of a volume of the Blackfriars Summa Theologiae, on the Grace of Christ, is a masterpiece, a whole course of Christology is embedded in the notes to that volume, clear and precise, which is what people came to expect from him.
In the late 1960s Liam was famously fired from a diocesan liturgical commission by the Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid.
Liam disagreed with the way the archbishop saw the work of the commission.
He was he fired or did he resign? One or the other, but it was a cause célèbre at the time.
He was in many ways a reserved man, a polite person, who would be slow to offend.
A Dominican nun says of Liam: "He wore his erudition lightly and was warm and gracious and treated others as equals. Even as novices, who knew very little, he gave us great encouragement and was always eager to hear our thoughts and questions. He really loved to see us thinking. That struck me very much. He wanted to teach us how to think. Not to be academics or scholars but just how to think. I looked forward to his annual visits.
"Like Damian, Malachy, Tom Ryan, Flannan and Tom Jordan, he always called when home. They made the Order bigger than the Irish Province in Ireland for us and also made us feel very much part of the Province.
"One of my fondest memories of Liam is of his coming down our refectory to me, a few months after I had been ill. He shook my hand and asked me how I was and told me that he prayed for me every day. It was an unexpected and touching gesture, full of genuine care and concern. There always seemed to be a great sincerity about him probably because of his love for truth."
A fellow Dominican brother, some few years younger than he, on hearing of his death said: He was a great asset to any community where he lived. He was always there to help, give advice and do all those jobs that helped build up a spirit of camaraderie."
He was an eloquent preacher and meticulous in preaching the Word of God in a language understood by his listeners.
While teaching in Tallaght he had the nickname ‘Verbum’. It’s difficult to know how he acquired it but it may have something to do with his clear and articulate enunciation. He was also cantor in Tallaght and maybe the origins of the nickname are linked to that. Most likely it is linked to his teaching of Christology.
Liam Walsh was a gracious person. He wore his academic achievements easily; he always had a listening ear. He was a man of great honesty.
May he rest in pease
Liam's body will be lying in state in St Catherine’s chapel (entrance is on Dorset Street ) on Thursday from 2pm until 5.30pm, prior to removal to the adjoining church on Dominick Street for evening prayer.
Funeral Mass on Friday at 11am followed by burial afterwards at the Dominican plot in Glasnevin cemetery.
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