CONWAY, WILLIAM

Primate of Ireland; b. Jan. 22, 1913, Belfast; d. Apr. 17, 1977, Armagh. He studied in Belfast at St. Mary's Christian Brothers' School, St. Malachy's College, and Queen's University, receiving from the latter a B.A. in English literature in 1933. He then studied theology at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, and was ordained there in 1937. He received a Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Patrick's in 1938, and a doctorate in canon law from the Gregorian University, Rome, in 1941. Returning to Maynooth, he served there as professor of moral theology from 1942 to 1958, the last year also as vice president. During this period he served on Government Commissions on Higher Education and on Income Tax. In 1958 Conway was consecrated titular bishop of Neve and named auxiliary to the archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal John D'Alton. In 1963 Conway was chosen to succeed D'Alton as Archbishop and Primate of All Ireland (the Republic and Northern Ireland), and held the post until his death. He was created cardinal in 1965 by Pope Paul VI, who also appointed him to be one of three chairmen for the 1967 Synod of Bishops and papal legate to the 1972 National Eucharistic Congress in Madras. Conway also served on the Sacred Congregation for Bishops, for the Clergy, for Catholic Education, and for the Evangelization of Peoples. He died of cancer at his residence.

Conway's service as primate covered a period of widespread violence in Northern Ireland that erupted in 1969 and continued with varying degrees of intensity throughout the rest of his life. Since the groups inflicting the violence were identified according to their association with the Catholic or Protestant communities, the conflict was commonly interpreted as a religious war. But Conway joined with the leadership of the Protestant churches to issue united appeals for peace. Some Protestants accused him of denouncing Protestant violence more strongly than Catholic. Some Catholic critics suggested that he should have moved more boldly to implement the new spirit of Vatican II and endorse the rights of Protestants to follow their own consciences in such areas as divorce and birth control. Also controversial was his continued support of separate schools for Catholic children, which many analysts thought served to continue the alienation between Catholics and Protestants. Virtually everyone agreed, nonetheless, that Conway was personally a man of peace who took significant strides toward improving the ecumenical climate in Ireland. His cautious style of leadership was also credited with maintaining a strong sense of Catholic unity and loyalty during the post-Vatican II years when bitter controversy and abandonment of the church were common in some other places. At the end of his tenure, surveys found nine out of ten Irish Catholics still attending Mass at least once a week. He was succeeded as archbishop by Msgr. Tomas O'Fiaich, a native of County Armagh and president of St. Patrick's College.

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