The late John Bruton was “seriously religious” and any account of his life without reference to his Catholicism “is seriously incomplete”, Fr Bruce Bradley SJ told mourners who attended the state funeral for the former Taoiseach on Saturday.
The 76-year-old former leader of Fine Gael, who served as Taoiseach from 1994 to 1997 and EU Ambassador to the US from 2004 to 2009, died last Tuesday after a period of illness.
Mourners from all sides of the political landscape, north and south of the border who gathered in in the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Dunboyne, Co Meath, heard Fr Bradley describe the much-respected politician as “a seriously religious man” and as “a very gifted and genuinely likeable man who enjoyed a varied and successful career, more than enough to fill many columns”.
The Jesuit, who was a personal friend of Mr Bruton’s, said faith was an “all-important aspect of his life and self-identity” and he noted that this had been “largely missing from the public commentary” following Mr Bruton’s death.
“There is a temptation in our culture just now to ignore this aspect of people’s lives, as if it were too marginal or too private and embarrassing to bring up in public or as having too little to do with the real world,” Fr Bradley told family, politicians, civic representatives, as well as the papal nuncio, Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin and Bishop Tom Deenihan of Meath.
“The truth is that he was an instinctive, reflective Catholic. He was rooted in his faith. His life cannot be understood properly apart from that,” the Jesuit said.
John Bruton’s faith was not one of slogans but a thoughtful faith lived out in his actions and choices, a faith that does justice, expressed in his life of public service.
He noted the father of four’s steadfast support of the Pro-Life Movement and his lifelong resistance to violence as a means to achieving political change. “He saw both as pro-life choices. He was a Catholic in a deep and not at all sectarian sense,” he said of the Clongowes educated politician.
“He understood better than most how to work for compromise in the midst of political tensions. He was in no sense a bigot. He understood the obligations of office in a pluralist democracy, as he showed in supporting the divorce referendum.”
John Bruton is survived by his wife Finola and their children, Matthew, Julianna, Emily and Mary-Elizabeth.
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