William Philbin

{{Short description|Irish Roman Catholic bishop (1907–1991)}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | honorific-prefix = [[The Most Reverend]]<br>Dr | name = William Philbin | title = [[Bishop]] of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor|Down and Connor]] | alt = | caption = | church = [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] | archdiocese = | diocese = | see = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor|Diocese of Down and Connor]] | term = 1962–1982 | predecessor = [[Daniel Mageean]] | successor = [[Cahal Daly]] <!-- Orders --> | ordination = 21 June 1931 | ordinated_by = | consecration = 14 March 1954 | consecrated_by = [[Joseph Walsh (archbishop of Tuam)]] | motto = Scio cui crédidi <!-- Personal details --> | birth_date = 26 January 1907 | birth_place = [[Kiltimagh]], [[County Mayo]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1991|8|22|1907|1|26|df=yes}} | death_place = | previous_post = {{unbulleted list|[[Diocese of Clonfert (Roman Catholic)|Diocese of Clonfert]] (1954–1962)}} }}

'''William Joseph Philbin''' (26 January 1907 – 22 August 1991)<ref>Ambrose Macaulay, [https://www.dib.ie/biography/philbin-william-joseph-a7312 'Philbin, William Joseph']. ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'', October 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2025</ref> was an [[Ireland|Irish]] [[Roman Catholic]] [[prelate]]. From July 1962 until his retirement in 1982, he held the title [[Down and Connor|Bishop of Down and Connor]].

==Early life and priestly ministry== William Philbin was born in [[Kiltimagh]] in [[County Mayo]] in the west of [[Ireland]] on 26 January 1907.<ref>{{cite book | last=Canning | first= Bernard| author-link= | title= Bishops of Ireland 1870-1987| location= [[Ballyshannon]] | publisher= [[Donegal Democrat]]| pages=123/4| year=1988 | isbn= 1870963008}}</ref>

At the age of 17 he went to [[St Patrick's College, Maynooth]], and was [[ordained]] to the priesthood for service in the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Achonry|Diocese of Achonry]] on 21 June 1931. He spent most of his [[Religious ministry (Christian)|ministry]] as a [[professor]] at St Patrick's College, [[Maynooth]], and was appointed to the Chair of [[Dogmatic Theology]] in June 1936.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://maynoothcollege.ie/files/images/Chapter-13.pdf |title=Image |publisher=maynoothcollege.ie |date= |accessdate=2021-06-24}}</ref>

As a student, Philbin was the editor of ''Leabhar Nuidheacht'', published at Maynooth, and later, as professor, he was the joint editor of the ''[[Irish Theological Quarterly]]''.

==Bishop of Clonfert== On 22 December 1953, [[Pope Pius XII]] appointed him 50th [[Bishop]] of [[Clonfert]]. He was consecrated Bishop in [[St Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea]], in March 1954. At the time he was seen as a daring, young, theologically engaged bishop and was invited to address many organisations and published several important lectures.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ecatholic2000.com/cts/untitled-340.shtml |title=Patriotism By Most Rev. William J. Philbin, D.D. Bishop Of Clonfert |publisher=Ecatholic2000.com |date=1957-08-07 |accessdate=2021-06-24}}</ref> In 1962 he wrote how economic growth, so vital to his poor Western diocese, would be stimulated by Ireland joining the EEC.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rO-SDAAAQBAJ&q=%22bishop+william+philbin%22&pg=PA102 |title = Irish Adventures in Nation-Building|isbn = 9781526109279|last1 = Fanning|first1 = Bryan|date = 16 June 2016}}</ref>

He attended all four sessions of the [[Second Vatican Council]], both as Bishop of Clonfert and later still as Bishop of Down and Connor.

==Bishop of Down and Connor==

On the death of [[Bishop Daniel Mageean]] in January 1962, [[Pope John XXIII]] appointed Dr Philbin the 29th [[Bishop]] of [[Down and Connor]]. His stewardship of the diocese was marked in very large part by the outbreak of the [[Troubles]] in the late 1960s.

Bishop Philbin was often on the media and spoke forcefully to the [[BBC]] when one his priests, Fr. Hugh Mullan, was shot dead as part of the [[Ballymurphy massacre]] in August 1971.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00jpwz6 |title=BBC One - Scene Around Six, 10/08/1971, The killing of Fr Hugh Mullan |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date= |access-date=2021-06-24}}</ref>

During his tenure he had a long-running dispute with Mullan's friend Fr. [[Des Wilson (Irish Catholic priest)|Des Wilson]]. Wilson reported that when he resigned his parish duties in protest against church policies he deemed inadequate or indifferent to needs of his working-class and [[Irish republicanism|republican]] community, Philbin accused Wilson of threatening to destroy the Church, denied him the pension to which he believed he was entitled, and never spoke to him again.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Des |title=The Way I see it: an Autobiography by Fr Des Wilson |publisher=Beyond the Pale Publications |year=2005 |isbn=1900960281 |location=Belfast |pages=120–121}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=7 December 2019 |title=Fr Des Wilson obituary: Priest who fought oppression and injustice in North |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/fr-des-wilson-obituary-priest-who-fought-oppression-and-injustice-in-north-1.4107064 |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref> When the dispute became public, [[Sinn Féin]], characterised Philbin as being "completely in line" with the anti-republican [[Irish War of Independence|War-of-Independence]] hierarchy, while praising Wilson for speaking out on "armed struggle, divorce, the papacy and education".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Berman |first=David |last2=Lalor |first2=Stephen |last3=Torode |first3=Brian |date=1983 |title=The Theology of the IRA |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30090509 |journal=Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review |volume=72 |issue=286 |pages=(137–144), 138 |issn=0039-3495}}</ref>

As a priest Wilson was not alone in his criticism. Fr [[Denis Faul]] concluded that in failing to "understand the suffering of his own people", Philbin conceded leadership by default to the Provisionals (described by the bishop as being "of the devil").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gallagher |first=Eric |title=Christian in Ulster 1968-1980 |last2=Worrall |first2=Stanley |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1982 |isbn=0192132377 |pages=95}}</ref> Fr [[Pat Buckley (priest)|Pat Buckley]] suggested that if the bishop had "led two hundred thousand people up the Falls Road demanding civil rights, the Provos might not have been necessary".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dillon |first=Martin |title=God and the Gun: The Church and Irish Terrorism |publisher=Orion |year=1997 |isbn=9780752810379 |location=London |pages=93–94, 115}}</ref>

Despite the civil conflict, often presented as a war between Christians, Philbin was rigidly opposed to Catholic support for any form of integrated education and there was a long-running row with parents in his diocese over provision of the sacrament of [[Confirmation]] to children who did not attend Catholic schools.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/how-parents-taught-the-bishops-a-lesson-28514318.html |title=How parents taught the bishops a lesson - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |access-date=16 April 2018 |archive-date=16 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180416200832/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/how-parents-taught-the-bishops-a-lesson-28514318.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Jonathan Bardon |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/armagh-three-dealt-blow-to-education-reform-1.994935 |title='Armagh Three' dealt blow to education reform |publisher=Irishtimes.com |date=2007-12-29 |accessdate=2021-06-24}}</ref>

It was believed that Philbin acted without broader Vatican support for his position, or even the support of his brother bishops in the rest of Ireland.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=11zkAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Bishop+william+philbin%22&pg=RA3-PA45 |title = The Living Church|year = 1978}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/05/archives/school-revision-plan-stirs-furor-in-ulster.html |title=School Revision Plan Stirs Furor in Ulster - The New York Times |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1976-08-05 |accessdate=2021-06-24}}</ref>

He retired at the mandatory age of 75 in 1982 and was succeeded as Bishop of Down and Connor by [[The Most Reverend|The Most Rev.]] [[Doctor (title)|Dr]] [[Cahal Daly]], the then [[Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise]], who had been Philbin's ''[[Peritus]]'' at the [[Second Vatican Council]].

Bishop Philbin lived quietly in Dublin in retirement and died there on 22 August 1991. He is buried in [[St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast]].

==References== <references />

==External links== * [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bphilbin.html] {{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | title = [[Bishop of Clonfert|Roman Catholic Bishop of Clonfert]] | before = [[John Dignan]] | after = [[Thomas Ryan (bishop)|Thomas Ryan]] | years = 1953–1962}} {{succession box | title = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor|Bishop of Down and Connor]] | before = [[Bishop Daniel Mageean|Daniel Mageean]] | after = [[Cahal Daly]] | years = 1962–1982}} {{s-end}}

{{Roman Catholic Bishops of Clonfert}} {{Roman Catholic Bishops of Down and Connor}} {{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Ireland|portal4= History}} {{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Philbin, Bishop William}} [[Category:1907 births]] [[Category:1991 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland]] [[Category:Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth]] [[Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council]] [[Category:Christian clergy from County Mayo]] [[Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Clonfert]] [[Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Down and Connor]] [[Category:People from Kiltimagh]]