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NEW ARCHBISHOP APPOINTED FOR DUBLIN
Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Dermot Farrell of Ossory as Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s successor in the archdiocese of Dublin, the largest catholic diocese in the country.
The announcement was made this morning (29th. Dec. 2020) at Our Lady of Lourdes parish on Dublin’s Sean McDermott Street, which was visited briefly by Pope Francis in 2018 and is the resting place of Venerable Matt Talbot, patron of those grappling with addiction. The parish also lies in the shadow of the country’s last Magdalene laundry which shut in 1996.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s retirement becomes effective from today, however the date for Archbishop-elect Farrell’s taking over of the governance of Dublin will be announced at a later date.
In the meantime, until the installation of the new archbishop, Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Martin as Apostolic Administrator of Dublin.
Bishop Farrell (66) is a native of Castletown-Geoghegan, Co Westmeath. The eldest of seven children, he has served in the Diocese of Ossory since 2018 when he replaced Bishop Seamus Freeman who retired in 2016 due to ill health.
A former president of the national seminary and college in Maynooth and vicar general of the diocese of Meath, Dr Farrell has a range of experience in the areas of administration, pastoral ministry and seminary formation. He was elected Finance Secretary of the Irish Bishops’ Conference in March 2019.
Dr Martin turned 75 in April and was required by church law to offer his resignation to Pope Francis.
In a radio interview with RTE’s Miriam O’Callaghan on Sunday 1 November, Archbishop Martin indicated that the Pope would announce his successor soon.
Amongst the incoming archbishop’s most pressing challenges will be the financial fall out of the Covid pandemic, the need for renewal to rejuvenate and engage the laity, the lack of young people in the diocese’s pews and the declining numbers of priests.
A 2016 report by Towers Watson found that 57pc of Dublin’s priests were then over 60. It also found that levels of weekly mass attendance in Dublin stood at 20-22pc of the population but were as low as 2-3pc in some inner city parishes.
Ordained in 1980, Bishop Farrell has a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome and served for a time as director of formation in the Irish College in Rome before he returned to Maynooth to lecture in moral theology. He served as a curate in Tullamore parish while lecturing in Maynooth, where he was appointed Vice President of St Patrick’s College in 1993, and then President in 1996. He retired from this position in 2007. (Irish Independent)
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