The C of I diocese of Dublin and Glendalough paid the following tribute tp the late Revd Dr David Tuohy SJ.
The dioces stated that he “has proved to be a wonderful friend of the people of the United Dioceses of Dublin & Glendalough”.
The appreciation contines –
From his first association with us, David has helped us professionally and spiritually to grasp our Anglican identity by means of the Come&C Project. This enabled us to understand ourselves afresh through the Five Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion. The book, ‘Growing in the Image and Likeness of God’, written by David and Dr Maria Feeney, stands as a testimony to this energy and this relationship with us. The work he began among us, along with the Revd Prof Anne Lodge, continues on a daily basis within our diocesan life. For this we are extremely grateful. By this we are deeply enriched. David has also worked with Prof Lodge for the General Synod Board of Education on ‘Our Schools, Our Community’ in 2011 and on ‘Small Schools: Valuing for Learning’ in 2016. In this way too he has made a significant contribution to the wellbeing of our sector and community, helping us, as was his gift, to articulate who we are educationally.
It seemed entirely appropriate that David be one of our first Ecumenical Canons of Christ Church Cathedral. This invitation he accepted happily and readily. His sustained contribution to the understanding of Irish education over a lifetime of teaching and research in itself commended him for this. His commitment to our spiritual self–understanding and wellbeing further commended him. This was a role that David greatly enjoyed and we are very sad to lose him from the cathedral through his death. He delighted to be a Canon of Christ Church and a member of its Chapter. One of David’s most memorable contributions, for me, was not in formal writing but in conversational comment. “I have spent thirty years in universities talking about leadership,” he said. “If I had another thirty years, I’d talk about followership.” This conversational comment brought me to the heart of David’s emphasis on discipleship and service as the lifeblood of his capacity for educational teaching, analytical research and restructuring of institutions.
Soon after David received his diagnosis of cancer, as he told countless people, he had a dream in which he saw himself being lowered on a sheet into the presence of Jesus Christ. He was clear about two things. The first is that this personal encounter was about healing but not about conventional cure. The second is that the four corners of the sheet were held by four different groups of people: his family, his friends, those with whom he had worked and Jesuits. On hearing this, I was clear about a third thing and it is this: while death was going to be the enemy, it was not going to be the victor. And so it proved. David died in Cherryfield at peace with God, in whom he has great faith on earth, on the morning of January 31 2020.
Our sympathy goes to David’s family members, to the Society of Jesus, not only in Ireland but worldwide, and to his many friends and colleagues who have soldiered with him in countless situations over many years. These are the four groups of people who, in David’s dream, lowered him on a sheet into the presence of The Christ whose soldier he was and remains. Our prayer is that he now rejoices in the presence of the same Christ.
St Mark 10:45 The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.
David’s Funeral Service takes place in The Chapel of Gonzaga College on Monday February 3 at 11am.
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