Ireland's bishops - Who are these guys?
Pen pictures of Ireland's 26 bishops, who still wield very considerable power in Ireland. By Colin Murphy
In spite of Liz O'Donnell's high profile demand that the power of the Catholic Church be curtailed by an ending of its privileged access to government, the Church continues and will continue to exert enormous power here. The Catholic hierarchy itself exercises very considerable powers in Irish society, in spite of its diminished standing because of the series of scandals of the last 13 years. The bishops still control almost the entire national school system, through their "ownership" of the schools, even though the State has paid almost all, if not all, of the costs of the premises, maintenance and staffing. The bishops also control many of the major hospitals, notably the Mater Hospital and St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin and through that control enforce Catholic moral teaching in the hospitals.
In their control of schools they are protected by the terms of the Equality Act from being found to discriminate unlawfully against teachers who do not conform to the Catholic ethos. Thus they are free to deny jobs to non-Catholics or to Catholics who exhibit a lifestyle at variance with Catholic teaching or to dismiss such teachers.
The Church is also vastly wealthy, in possession of hugely valuable properties throughout the country, some of it in prime locations in Dublin. Through an ingenious deal done with the government in 2002 the religious orders, implicated in allegations of clerical child sex abuse, have been indemnified by the State against claims for damages on the payment of a sum representing a small fraction of the total costs of the redress scheme, introduced to recompense victims of such abuse.
And yet the leaders of the church here, the bishops, are almost anonymous. Apart from the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, and the Archbishop of Armagh, most of the bishops are relatively unknown. Aside from Diarmuid Martin there appears to be no one of the calibre of former bishops such as Cardinal Conway, Cardinal Daly, Archbishop McQuaid, Bishop Lucy, Bishop Browne, and Bishop Philbin. And the absence from the hierarchy of people of calibre may, in part, explain the reasons for its mishandling of the sex abuse issue. There is a sense of clearer direction since Diarmuid Martin took up office as the Dublin archbishop.
Here, for the first time in recent years, are pen pictures of the 26 bishops who lead each of the 26 dioceses in Ireland.
1. Thomas Flynn, bishop of Achonry
Aged 74, Thomas Flynn has been bishop of Achonry, taking in parts of Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo, for 29 years. He is the longest serving member of the Irish hierarchy. His tenure was marked by his announcement in the run-up to the 1995 divorce referendum that divorced and remarried Catholics could not receive any of the sacraments – including the last rites. He later issued a correction, but the damage was done, and his comments may have been pivotal in the defeat of the referendum by a small margin.
2. Colm O'Reilly, bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise
Colm O'Reilly, 70, has been bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise since 1983. He has spent his entire religious life based in the diocese where he was born. He is low-profile and pastoral, rather than political. Two of his brothers also entered religious life. He has been president of Accord, the Laity Commission and Cura for the Bishops Conference.
3. Sean Brady, archbishop of Armagh and primate of All Ireland
The head of the Irish Catholic church is Sean Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. Brady's was a surprise appointment, as he was known for his pastoral work rather than his statesman's ability. He has been overshadowed by Diarmuid Martin in Dublin, who is nominally second in the hierarchy as Primate of Ireland. Brady is 66, from Cavan. He has a doctorate in canon law and served as rector of the Irish College in Rome and then as a parish priest. He is the current chairman of the Bishops Conference.
4. Dermot Clifford, archbishop of Cashel
The archdiocese of Cashel is one of the influential seats in the Irish church. Dermot Clifford, aged 66, has been archbishop since 1988.
During the 1995 divorce referendum he claimed that second marriages had a higher breakdown rate than first marriages, a comment that provoked Proinsias De Rossa, then Minister for Health, to accuse the bishops of "spreading lies and deceit".
In 1991 he controversially withdrew access to the archival registers of Cashel and Emly and claimed ownership of the registers for the diocese. The National Library was forced to withdraw its microfilm of the archdiocese's historical registers from public access.
In 1994, the editor of pastoral magazine Intercom, Fr Kevin Hegarty, was fired after publishing an article by a social worker on clerical sex abuse. Dermot Clifford was reportedly the prime mover behind this.
5. Joe Duffy, bishop of Clogher
Aged 71, from Monaghan, Joe Duffy has been bishop of Clogher since 1979. He taught French and Irish at St Macartan's College, has translated books of the Old Testament into Irish and has a Master's degree for a thesis on the dialect of South Tipperary. He is an expert on St Patrick. He was chairman of the Bishops Conference European Affairs commission until that position was taken over by Diarmuid Martin.
Earlier this year he was embroiled in a dispute with a local family over the burial of their husband and father, Vin O'Connor. When O'Connor died last December, his family decided he should be buried in a recently prepared extension to the local graveyard in Mulleek. The church had changed its plans for the graveyard extension, deciding to instead develop a new graveyard elsewhere, and objected. The family went ahead with the burial. The requiem mass was cancelled, and Duffy got an injunction against the family entering the land, and then a court order that the body be exhumed.
6. John Kirby, bishop of Clonfert
Sixty-six year old John Kirby, bishop of Clonfert, is best known as chairman of Trócaire, the Catholic church's international development agency. He is an outspoken commentator on international social justice issues, and spoke at the February 2003 anti-war protest in Dublin. Outside of that area, he has a low profile, and is not known for commentating on other aspects of church life, such as evangelisation.
He is one of the few bishops to have appeared in court in support of a cleric accused of sexual abuse. At the time, he successfully obtained an order barring the media from reporting his appearance as that could identify the cleric and so the victim. RTÉ reported that a "bishop wearing a grey suit" had been in court; Kirby subsequently complained to RTÉ; Kirby was known as the only bishop who wore a grey suit.
7. John Magee, bishop of Cloyne
John Magee of Cloyne was to the fore in the Irish media following the death of Pope John Paul II. Ordained a Kiltegan Father, he served as private secretary in the Vatican to Popes Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II, and became a confidant of the latter and was appointed Master of Pontifical Ceremonies. His appointment to Cloyne in 1987 was seen as a low-key appointment for someone with an eminent Vatican career behind him. He is currently embroiled in controversy over his refurbishment plans for St Colman's cathedral in Cobh, against which 24,000 people have signed a petition and the Department of the Environment has joined in an appeal to An Bord Pleanála.
8. John Buckley, bishop of Cork and Ross
John Buckley, 66, spent many years in the shadow of his predecessor as bishop of Cork and Ross, Michael Murphy. Auxiliary bishop from 1984, he was seen as anxious to take over, which he finally did so a year after his predecessor as bishop Michael Murphy's death, in 1997.
9. Seamus Hegarty, bishop of Derry
In November 2004, Seamus Hegarty secretly placed a three per cent levy on all parish income (including donations from parishioners) in Derry to go towards the Stewardship Fund, set up in 1996 to cover legal, compensation and counselling costs in clerical child sex abuse cases across Ireland. Priests objected, and after the news broke this year, the levy was abolished. Hegarty, 65, was previously tipped to take over from Cardinal Connell, and has been a relatively high profile advocate on behalf of Irish emigrants. He has been bishop since 1982. Prior to that, he was a teacher and principal.
10. Patrick Walsh, bishop of Down and Connor
Patrick Walsh, aged 74, is one of the more conservative bishops. His diocese of Down and Connor, which contains Belfast, is one of the biggest in the country. He studied and was ordained in Rome, and returned to Belfast to work in schools and at Queen's University. He was appointed bishop in 1991.
11. John McAreavey, bishop of Dromoe
Dromoe is a small, cross-border diocese and John McAreavey is a low profile though popular bishop there. He was appointed in 1999, aged 50. In 1992, along with Willie Walsh, he took part in an internal tribunal which investigated allegations of sexual abuse against Fr Tony Walsh. The tribunal recommended Tony Walsh's expulsion from the priesthood, but did not report the allegations to the civil authorities. As a bishop, he oversaw the publication of the 2003 report, Time to Listen, Confronting Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy in Ireland.
12. Diarmuid Martin, archbishop of Dublin
Diarmuid Martin runs the show. A Vatican insider and career diplomat for the Holy See, 60 year old Diarmuid Martin's appointment to Dublin was seen as a significant investment by Rome in the reinvigoration of the Irish church. Softly spoken, multi-lingual and intellectual, he is a a natural media performer and rhetorician. He has been outspoken on both social and religious issues since his appointment, and has prominently called for a new evangelisation of the Irish church.
13. Christopher Jones, bishop of Elphin
Sixty eight years old and eleven years a bishop, Christopher Jones has had a low profile outside of Elphin until very recently. He has just asked a priest of his diocese, currently serving in Los Angeles, to step aside – having been informed by the Los Angeles diocese three years ago that allegations of sexual abuse had been made against the priest (according to a report in the Irish Independent on 15 November).
14. Eamonn Walsh, apostolic administrator of Ferns
Eamonn Walsh, a lawyer, is apostolic administrator of Ferns, not bishop. He was appointed from Dublin, where he was an auxiliary bishop, in 2002, to tackle the crisis in the diocese following the prolonged child abuse scandal and Brendan Comiskey's resignation. The Ferns Inquiry discovered towards the end of its work that all files on abuse allegations had not been handed over to the inquiry by Walsh. The Ferns Report said this was "a genuine error". Walsh has successfully applied to Rome to have two priests laicised, and persuaded seven others to stand down. Walsh was chairman of the editorial board of the priests' magazine Intercom which fired editor Kevin Hegarty in 1994 after he published an article on clerical sex abuse.
15. Martin Drennan, bishop of Galway
Sixty one year old Martin Drennan was appointed to Galway by Benedict XVI in May this year. Previously a professor of scripture at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, he is known for the scriptural and pastoral side of his work, but has not been prominent as a commentator or social advocate. He was an auxiliary bishop of Dublin since 1997. Last month, he said former bishop Eamonn Casey would be welcome to return to the diocese to settle.
16. Bill Murphy, bishop of Kerry
A decade in office, the bishop of Kerry, Bill Murphy keeps a low-profile but is reputed to have a shrewd pastoral touch and to be a good local organiser. He is 69. In April last year, he provoked media reports with his criticisms of à la carte" Catholics who did not attend Sunday mass but sought to avail of the other sacraments, such as baptism, communion and confirmation for their children.
17. James Moriarty, bishop of Kildare and Leighlin
James Moriarty, or "Bishop Jim", was appointed bishop of Kildare and Leighlin in 2002. He was born and brought up in Dublin, and was previously chaplain in University College Dublin and a parish priest.
18. John Fleming, bishop of Killala
John Fleming was appointed to Ireland's smallest diocese in 2002 after 17 years at the Irish College in Rome, nine of them as rector. His appointment came against the express wishes of the Killala clergy, who had nominated a local priest. He is chairman of the finance commission of the Bishops Conference and also president of Cura. By nature conciliatory, he was forced to take a stand earlier this year when it was reported that Cura was distributing the 'Positive Options' leaflet which contained the numbers of family planning agencies which which make available contact details for abortion clinics.
19. Willie Walsh, bishop of Killaloe
The most prominently liberal of the bishops, Willie Walsh has been both controversial within the church and popular beyond it. He voted "yes" in the 1986 divorce referendum (prior to being a bishop) and has more recently spoken out in support of "civil union" legislation for same-sex couples and said that sexual diversity was not a sin or a virtue, but "a fact". Walsh took part in the internal tribunal in 1992 which investigated allegations of sexual abuse against Fr Tony Walsh and recommended his expulsion from the priesthood, but did not report the allegations to the civil authorities. Willie Walsh said later he assumed the diocesan authorities in Dublin would have done so.
20. Leo O'Reilly, bishop of Kilmore
Kilmore is one of the smallest and quietest dioceses, straddling the border, and Leo O'Reilly keeps a low profile. Aged 61, he is one of the younger bishops. He was appointed in 1998. He spent a number of years working in Nigeria, and worked in Ireland as a school chaplain and as a parish priest. He has a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University.
21. Donal Murray bishop of Limerick
Sixty five year old Donal Murray in Limerick is known as a brilliant theologian, and is highly thought of in Rome, where he is a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture. He was previously an auxiliary bishop in Dublin. In 2002, RTÉ's Prime Time revealed that Murray had been alerted by parishioners in Wicklow to alleged abuse of altar boys by Fr Thomas Naughton in 1983. Murray said he conducted an investigation at the time which failed to find any evidence. Naughton was jailed for abuse in 1998.
22. Michael Smith, bishop of Meath
Also sixty five, Michael Smith is one of the more unapologetically conservative of the hierarchy, though he has a reputation for being independent minded within the Bishops Conference. He was ordained a bishop aged 44 in 1984, and was appointed to Meath in 1990.
23. Laurence Forristal, bishop of Ossory
Aged 74, Laurence Forristal is due to retire in 2006, after 25 years as a bishop. Prior to being appointed to Ossory in 1981 he served as an auxiliary bishop in Dublin.
24. Philip Boyce, bishop of Raphoe
Fr Eugene Green abused children in Raphoe diocese for 35 years, until being dismissed in 1998 (he was jailed in 2000). Appointed bishop in 1995, Philip Boyce has said he was then "made aware of rumors about Fr Greene" but that his "personal inquiries" led to nothing. He said he was first made aware of a child sexual abuse allegation against Greene by gardaí in 1998. Boyce, 65, was ordained a Carmelite and spent 20 years in Rome, where he taught spirituality and dogmatic theology. He known to cleave closely to the line from Rome on most issues. In 1999 he was appointed by the Pope to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
25. Michael Neary, archbishop of Tuam
Low profile and shy, Michael Neary of Tuam was best known until recently for his annual homily atop Croagh Patrick on Reek Sunday. A source who has followed his career says he was known to have established good child protection policies in the diocese in recent years, and had commissioned an external audit of procedures. According to a recent report in the Irish Independent, a teacher accused of sexual abusing children was subsequently promoted to principal in a school under Neary's patronage. Neary responded that the situation had been assessed by the Department of Education and Science and the board of management, and said that child protection considerations had been paramount.
26. William Lee, bishop of Waterford and Lismore
William Lee, aged 64, studied at Maynooth, where he received a doctorate in canon law, and at the Gregorian University in Rome. He has worked in a parish in Finglas, Dublin, and at St Patrick's College, Thurles, where he was president until being appointed bishop of Waterford and Lismore in 1993. He is secretary to the Bishops Conference.