Of all the northern prison chaplains throughout our most recent conflict the cleric closest to the women prisoners in Armagh was the human rights campaigner Fr Raymond Murray, who died at the age of eighty-six last month. He was a chaplain to the prison from 1967 until 1986 but rose to prominence when internment was introduced in 1971 and was one of those who exposed the torture of those who became known as the ‘hooded men’. He wrote and co-wrote many books, including: Hard Time: Armagh Gaol 1971-1986; The SAS in Ireland; The Castlereagh File, and, State Violence: Northern Ireland 1969-1997. Fr Murray and Fr Denis Faul (who were made monsignors in 1995) raised the issue of state collusion almost fifty years ago with their publication, Triangle of Death.
He, along with Fr Denis Faul, also campaigned for the release of the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six. He was also a founding member of the Association for Legal Justice, and, Relatives for Justice.
For highlighting British illegalities and wrong-doing, they were both subjected to loyalist death threats and hostile criticism from British politicians and the British mainstream media.
Below, former political prisoner and Officer Commanding of the prisoners in Armagh, Síle Darragh, pays a personal tribute:
On his 80th birthday
THE death of Monsignor Raymond Murray took place on Tuesday, 25 February, coincidentally on the same day as Dolores O’Neill, ex-Armagh Jail protesting prisoner and fiancée of Thomas McElwee at the time of his death on hunger strike in 1981.
Father Raymond, as he was affectionately known to all the women who passed through the gates of the prison, was a renowned civil rights activist and author, who was lauded during his life and after his death.
To the women ex-prisoners, he was a friend, a confidante and an advocate.
He had a special grá for the women who went through the no-work and no-wash protests for political status, and of a particularly great concern to him was the hunger strike by three women in 1980, Mairéad Farrell, Mary Doyle and Mairéad Nugent.
The period of the protests, and particularly the deaths of the ten hunger strikers, had a tremendous impact on him, both personally and spiritually. The strain of that time could be seen physically on his face and in his demeanour. But never once did he try to influence the decisions of any of the prisoners during those dark days. He was acutely aware of the barbarity of the prison authorities, the screws and the administration, and of the British Government’s endless attempts to break the prisoners and to criminalise them and the communities they came from. He was true in his commitments. He was always a friend to the prisoners.
As the years went by he stayed in touch with the prisoners and their families and, on joyous occasions, officiated at some of their weddings, or at christenings.
Fr Raymond was loved and revered. The women from Armagh Jail, and many of the men from the H-Blocks and the Cages of Long Kesh, as well as those he fought for through his human rights work, were indebted to him for raising his voice on behalf of the oppressed.
There weren’t many is his position who took the risks he did. He practiced his Christianity as it was meant to be, for the love of his fellow human beings.
The world would be a better place if more had been like him.
Síle Darragh, Belfast
