FATHER Des Wilson, who died on November 5 2019 at the age of 94, was one of the best known and best loved priests in Ireland. He was also one of the most controversial.
Indeed, few priests in these islands have so fearlessly and consistently spoken the truth to power - both civil and ecclesiastical - than Fr Des Wilson.
His was the prophetic voice often telling us what we would rather not know and challenging us to find new ways of dealing with old problems.
His great friend, Fr Joe McVeigh, has now put together a little booklet about Fr Des's life called simply Des Wilson: A Voice for the Poor and Oppressed.
Beautifully produced with photographs and contributions from those who knew and worked with him, the booklet is a brief overview and examination of the major events and issues in Fr Des's long life.
Fr McVeigh says that the great lesson from Fr Des's life is that at a particular moment in the life of the Irish Church, he took the side of the poor and powerless.
He was a man with a clear vision of how the Church should be - a Church shorn of authoritarianism and clericalism in which the leaders stood on the side of the poor and powerless.
In his work for peace, justice and human rights, his ecumenical work, his commitment to the poor and powerless, his outreach to prisoners and those on the margins of society, and his understanding of the Church as the People of God, Fr Des was a Vatican II priest long before many people had even heard of the Council.
Most of his priestly life was devoted to serving the people of Ballymurphy. Indeed, his coming there in 1966 was arguably a life-changing experience for him.
The poverty and social deprivation he experienced there radicalised him overnight.
For the remainder of his life he devoted his time and energy to developing a type of Irish Liberation Theology, empowering people to discover their dignity and worth.
In reality, it was more like a 'liberation of theology' at the centre of which was the Springhill Community House, a house reminiscent of the Catholic Worker houses set up by Dorothy Day in the US in the 1940s for feeding people, providing liturgies and, interestingly, Clarification of Thought sessions following talks by invited guests.
Fr Des was a man with a clear vision of how the Church should be - a Church shorn of authoritarianism and clericalism in which the leaders stood on the side of the poor and powerless
Throughout every decade since the 1970s, Springhill Community House was at the centre of many of the positive initiatives to emerge from west Belfast including education for justice, policing and human rights and many other projects.
Not surprisingly, the application of his theology, combined with his fearlessness in speaking out on political and social issues, brought Fr Des into conflict with the Church authorities, so much so that in 1968 he left the institutional Church and decided to go it alone in Ballymurphy.
There, with the help of local activists, he founded local co-ops, started a People's Theatre and developed outreach with working class unionist communities.
But Fr Des was never ambitious for power. He was a humble man whose only ambition in life was to show solidarity with the oppressed and downtrodden.
As Fr McVeigh points out, Fr Des has left a wonderful legacy: the Springhill Community House, the Conway Mill, Féile an Phobail and his many articles and books.
But his greatest legacy is the example he has given of a life lived in solidarity with the people of Ballymurphy.
His overall contribution to community politics, to education, and to peace in Ireland, was immense.
Fr Des always took the view that however bad things were, they didn't have to be like that forever; they could and should be better.
And he was always trying to make things better for the people he lived among.
Another of his great friends, the late Fr Daniel Berrigan SJ - priest, poet and anti-war activist - once said that the only way to make the future different was to live the present differently.
Fr Des certainly did that and encouraged us all by the wonderful example of his life to do likewise.
We owe Fr Joe McVeigh a debt of gratitude for bringing Fr Des's life before us so clearly like this and reminding us of how it should challenge us all.
Fr Gerry McFlynn is a priest of the Down and Connor diocese, project manager at the Irish Chaplaincy in London and involved in Pax Christi, the international Catholic Peace Movement.
Des Wilson: A Voice for the Poor and Oppressed by Fr Joe McVeigh costs £5 (plus £2 P&P) and is available by contacting Springhill Community House, Ballymurphy, Belfast, BT12 7SE, telephone 028 9032 6722.
