It is not just Israeli drones hovering around Camp Shamrock, observing what Irish troops are up to, 126 Battalion chaplain Fr Paul Murphy has an eagle eye peeled too.
Outside his priestly duties and pastoral responsibilities, he sees a major part of his mission as watching, listening and speaking to soldiers of all ranks, using his unique military position outside the formal command structure to address morale on a more personal scale.
“One of the things I say about chaplaincy, is that you ‘loiter with intent’. And I mean, that can be difficult: you go into a canteen in the morning, and everyone has their own little group, but the padre doesn’t have a group, so you can actually sit with any crew,” he says. However Murphy often strikes with tactical intel, as sometimes comrades, or even family messages from home, identify servicemen or women having a tough time, who might benefit from a friendly chat.
The Waterford priest is a nationally known figure since April, after he delivered a powerful Christian message of forgiveness in his witness impact statement during the sentencing of a radicalised boy who attacked him with a knife at the gates of Renmore Barracks.
He has, however, always been popular among soldiers of Galway’s 1 Cead Cath. The warmth with which he is greeted by all, from generals to grunts, is telling.
The young Co Galway sentry, who fired warning shots when Fr Murphy was attacked in Renmore, in August 2024, recorded by Europol as Ireland’s first Islamist terrorist incident, is on his first deployment at the same camp. Fr Murphy is on his sixth overseas mission.
Camouflage fatigues rolled up above well tanned elbows after six months under the Levantine sun, the scars on his arms are a physical reminder of the attack, but Murphy says it has not affected his worldview, or his faith. He says he was perhaps the right person for a troubled teen to come across that summer night.
“I suppose, in a sense, you know, that young fellow had come to kill, to literally kill a soldier. And I took it, and I suppose I took it with good grace,” he ponders.
As a chaplain, Fr Murphy has the ability to perform general absolution, which he says may give soldiers some comfort when they go out on patrol. “So that, God forbid, if anything happened, the lads are covered,” he says.
Murphy explains that the Catholic church is made up of 24 churches, with the Roman church being the largest. He sometimes attends local Maronite and Greek Melkite services in the Irish district, and local Muslim imams often seat him with them when the army attends community meetings.
“And to me, you know, from a faith perspective, this is missionary work,” he says, reminding Godless journalists that October is traditionally the month of missions, and presenting the Advertiser with army-issue rosary beads.
“There’s an old saying, that there are no atheists in the trenches, and to a certain extent that’s true,” he smiles.
Murphy aims to be back in Galway, saying Mass at the Garrison Church in Renmore, from January.
