Categories
Uncategorized

THE VATICAN IS APPOINTING ONE BISHOP TO PRESIDE OVER TWO DIOCESE – GALWAY AND CLONFERT.

DUIGNAN
KELLY

PAT SAYS

Is this the beginning of the Vatican reducing Irish dioceses from 26 to 11?

It’s been talked about for a long time.

I’m not sure bigger dioceses with more remote bishops is not the way to go?

Bishops are already more remote.

Many of them are not even doing all the Confirmations any more.

165 replies on “THE VATICAN IS APPOINTING ONE BISHOP TO PRESIDE OVER TWO DIOCESE – GALWAY AND CLONFERT.”

It makes sense to unite smaller Dioceses as one. With the smaller populations in the western Dioceses and less priests available, it makes sense. It’s not possible for Bishops in larger Dioceses to attend all parish confirmations. A priest can officiate at such ceremonies as we did for 2020 and 2021. When we have the connections with schools, this approach also makes sense. Nowadays, sadly, young people and sacramental classes rarely attend church. This is our huge challenge: how to make our parishes welcoming to all age groups. The task of reconnecting with parishioners is a monumental task and none of us knows where to begin. We are concerned about so many issues but we seem not to be able to respond imaginatively. We live in a faster growing irreligious society and those who are still with us are of an older age profile. It is difficult to always be hopeful and hope-filled for renewal that is relevant and meaningful for all. Sometimes the task of efforts seems too overwhelming. Yet, I trust in God for each day’s ministry that I get it right!!

Like

I’m sure you will agree that the remoteness of the Bishop is not necessarily caused by the size of the diocese but by the bishop.
Some of those Irish dioceses are the size of bath mats yet the bishop manages to be distant…

Like

BBC NEWS Archdiocese of Liverpool Catholic Social Services run children's home banned from taking any more children after damning report into neglect and abuse of caresays:

Archdiocese of Liverpool — care home run by Catholic Social Services banned from taking more children after Ofsted report in October 2021.
It also said the home failed to record whether youngsters were injured during “physical intervention”.
Nugent Care the Archdiocese of Liverpool Catholic Social Services based at Edge Lane, Liverpool, which runs the home, said it still had a “good reputation” for providing “life-changing” care in response to the damning report which ordered stringent measures, a measure taken to protect vulnerable children from similar abuse and neglect in the future.
.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-59306073
.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-15585076
.
BBC NEWS 4 November 2021
Nugent Care receives freedom of Liverpool.
Nugent Care was recently awarded the City of Liverpool’s highest honour and was admitted to the Freedom Roll of Associations and Institutions.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool charity had only just received an honour from the city’s Lord mayor only easier this month.

Like

Archdiocese of Liverpool Catholic Social Services - Liverpool Echo - "How victims of evil paedophile ring had to fight to smash cover-up"says:

Even worse is this, the Archdiocese of Liverpool Catholic Social Services in the Liverpool Echo again, a little over a year ago.
Didn’t they receive a reward only this month from Liverpool City Council as well?
“How victims of evil paedophile ring had to fight to smash cover-up.”
Predatory paedophiles targeted vulnerable boys with impunity and helped each other cover up their vile crimes – safe in the belief their chances of being held to account were small.
Dozens of lives were destroyed by the hellish experience of living in St Aidan’s and St Vincent’s childrens’ homes run by the Archdiocese of Liverpool Social Services.
They were society’s most vulnerable – but they were all attacked in institutions designed to keep them safe
“Nugent Care Society took decades to acknowledge the pain and suffering of children in their care
The charity forced some victims to spend almost 15 years fighting gruelling court cases before their allegations were accepted
Archdiocese of Liverpool’s insurance company, Royal Sun Alliance (RSA), used “hard-nosed” and “attritional” legal strategies to deal with victims and civil claims
Aggressively exploited laws restricted the time limit that a case can be brought – meaning some claimants never received compensation.
.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/how-victims-evil-paedophile-ring-15803312

Like

Many are not doing any confirmations any more. That gig isn’t as popular as it used to be at all! No more post confirmation lunches with the great and good took the sheen off their graces doing confirmations, they offload that responsibility whenever they can!

Like

The last time two Irish diocese were amalgamated was Cork and Ross in 1958. It was initially not a success and met localresistance, more on the part of the smaller diocese.

The Vatican has a long memory and this form of union is less radical so after a few decades it will become a single united diocese.

Financially, it means one bishop fewer to provide for.

Like

Exactly! Slowly does it. There were ructions in Ross about the union with Cork. Do it gradually. Another recent change that went largely unnoticed was the union of Emly and Cashel. It was sold as a simple name change. O’Reilly is no longer apostolic administrator of Emly but archbishop of a new entity called the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. You’ll say sure that’s what the archbp was always called. True, colloquially it was so, but strictly he was archbp of Cashel and apostolic admin of Emly (since the 1700s). And look at Kildare & Leighlin with a single bishop over two dioceses since the 19th century, but it’s quietly become a single diocese and has been so for a long time.
The C of I is more honest in maintaining the legal entities with separate chapters, etc. under a single bishop. But then the Laity have real power in the C of I through the synods.

Like

It won’t take as long as Cashel and Emply which have had a common bishop since 1718.

Like

I would be interested to know what would happen to a priest who applied for ordination to Kildare but got posted to Leighlin. … strictly speaking he may find a loop hole. I know the Ross priests refused posts in Cork on the grounds of their obedience to a Bishop of Ross… some held out successfully too.

Like

I bet young Thomas of yesterday is breathing a sigh of relief that the news has moved on….. I bet that Rawhide breathes a sigh of relief when he looks at this blog in the morning and sees that he’s not mentioned that day ….. Dean Kennedy will have decided that things have definitely moved on now that he’s only very rarely mentioned….. Gorgeous too, Roreee also, and a whole list of names from the past. Remember, though, they are still around, and in varying degrees are still fooling most of the people most of the time, and feeling pretty good about themselves. And, they are quiet;y supported by the clerical cliche out of which they were spawned. I just hope + Pat doesn’t move on and forget them completely. The only way that they, and others, will be inclined to watch their step, is knowing that something like this blog and + Pat are keeping an eye on them It sticks in my craw when I see these priests with really dodgy and iffy past behaviours cavorting around the place as though butter would not melt in their mouth. We forget their egregious and scandalous behaviour too easily. Redemption requires time and hard work. Maybe Gorgeous has made some moves in that direction. As for the rest….. ?

Like

Don’t start on Dallat again today. He had a hard time yesterday featuring on this blog about breeding women.

Like

If he acted in a correct way and didn’t get numerous women pregnant each year, he wouldn’t feature on any blog.

Like

Let’s not forget King Puck, now there’s a lad who likes to use the right to be forgotten!

Like

Oh, he will have read it, I assure you. He will have been tipped off by his mates from the seminary and A&B, and he’s have checked out what was being said. + Moth also. He keeps any eye on this, or others do for him. He’s very keen to know what the talk is. What planet do you live on @0858 ?

Like

08:58 lives on the planet where people believe what the church says. It’s very sad and naive really, and as a rule what the church says is the opposite.
Nobody reads Pat Buckley’s blog.
No priests comment on Pat Buckley’s blog.
The pope does not have Parkinson’s disease.
The church is a safe place for children.

And so on…

Like

8.53: One thing is certain: you, poor auld gossip haven’t moved on anywhere and probably won’t…You are stuck in gossip and silliness territory.. All these people have had their day on this blog. Can your brain think a little more intelligently? Get a grip, vacuous fool. And do try to stay in the issue 9f the blog.

Like

Rawhide is a slippery fish and not to be trusted. I wonder does he care? He knows he will get away with what he has done. How long before this blog forgets about Rawhide and moves on to the next bonking abbot?

Like

Next up – Killala will hook up with Achonry when John Fleming retires. Also, Kevin Doran will possibly take on Ardagh & Clonmacnoise now that the latter is vacant. It’s really simple. The only resistance will be from bishops and priests – most lay people couldn’t care less who the bishop is or what the diocese is called.
The only difficulty I have withheld Clonfert-Galway decision is that it’s already a done deal with zero consultation with priests or people……typical of the Catholic Church. It’s exactly the same as the Synodal process……..any decisions taken will be vetoed by the bishops.

Like

In other words, when Kelly retires next year nobody (looking at you Ritchie Gibbons) need expect a call from the nuncio looking to replace him. This “consultation” process is rubbish, Duignan is young and new, obviously he’ll be handed the ropes.

More importantly Pat, when are we going to get more religious bishops?

Like

Fiachra Ó Ceallaigh OFM was a very saintly and spiritual Auxiliary in Dublin – never sought office and never sought promotion. Alan McGuckian SJ is a cut above most of the bishops f the Armagh province. The record is patchy – good and bad.

Like

Fair point Pat. In fact besides Fiachra Ó Ceallaigh I can’t think of another good example of a religious bishop on these shores in the last 100 years. I do however think that they’re looking in the wrong places these days for bishops.
There are two men in our community in Dublin who fancy themselves a purple hat. One wears a water silk fascia and €500 biretta with his Gammarelli cassock to deanery meetings, the other is a giant of a man (in every positive sense of the word) and I believe he is actually in the running for one of Dermot Farrell’s auxiliary vacancies, hence why I’m curious about your thoughts on this.
Michael Duignan was a Kiltegan student once upon a time. I remember him. We both left.

Like

10.12
Elphin students like M. Duignan did a spiritual year in Kiltegan when Dominic Conway was bishop in the hope, presumably, that they would develop a missionary spirit.

Like

In most cases these religious order priests know nothing of what it’s like to be a priest in a parish so they cannot give effective and inspiring leadership to priests in their dioceses. His Humbleness was by all accounts a nightmare when he was a Jesuit Provincial and carried on in like fashion when made a bishop.

Like

Why should we have religious appointed as bishops? We wouldn’t parachute a diocesan priest in as a superior of a religious community. They are different vocations.

Like

This is the second or third time you’ve said this and every time you pedal it you only succeed in coming across as a bit slow.

One of these is canonically permissible and the other isn’t. “Religious” is not a vocation. Franciscan religious life is, Oblate religious life is, Jesuit religious life is. A Cistercian isn’t called to shepherd a diocese. Nothing prevents a Jesuit etc from shepherding a diocese if he is called.

Like

Between O.Cist and OCSO, they have less than 20 bishops (13 to be exact) in the entire world, and most of them are abbots from WITHIN the community. Show me where in the Rule of Saint Benedict it is written that members should strive to accept ecclesial positions outside of the immediate community, and I’ll hold my hands up for being wrong. I won’t hold my breath though, because, I know that ****Cistercians are not CALLED to shepherd dioceses****

Like

Lenny boy there have also been Carthusian bishops.
Please please tell me you are a formator in a seminary, because you have literally NO idea how this works. 😂

Like

Seamus Freeman SAC – Ireland’s answer to the “Bishop of Bling” with his €7m cathedral refurb. The original figure he stated was €2.5m. He then resigned because he said his priests disowned him as he kept pumping money into the cathedral and let the parish churches rot. Yet he was oblivious as to why they disliked him. He’s not exactly the poster child for a religious order priest.

Like

Why are the Reds so furious and looking revenge? We are meant to be Christians. Bloody hell act like we are. So sick of religion, it’s nearly the root cause of all evil now.

Like

This is a portent of what is coming down the road for the Church in Ireland. There was a time when I would have thought it was a bad move – now it cannot come soon enough. The Dioceses in the West of Ireland are little more than personal fiefdoms that are riven with all sorts of problems so the sooner there is amalgamation of these little fiefdoms the better.
In the future we could have the Dioceses of Munster, Connacht, Ulster, and Leinster, with a separate Diocese of Dublin. Remember, last year there were more bishops ordained than priests. That is the reality of the Church in Ireland, and the sooner we see and accept that the writing is on the wall the better.

Like

Catholicism is all about hypocrisy. Nobody – is a true catholic in the real meaning of the word. Seek forgiveness and all is wiped clean. Moronic

Like

Father Donal McKeown has not a good word to say about Bishop Noel Treanor. Yet to his face he is like putty in his hands. I can’t stand that two faceness nor the acting and bum licking he does. If he crosses me once more I will expose him for what he truly is.

Like

Timothy misses out again. But to be fair he wanted promotion to much to get it. Plus the mishandling of certain minor complaints he dealt with didn’t do him any favours either.

Like

He was never in the running for it. He’s too straight acting to become a bishop, Altho he is furious at being over looked

Like

@ 10:19 am No matter your opinion of Fr Barclay, to state that he should be ‘promoted’ is vulgar and very poor taste. Priests are elevated to the episcopate. Please be more respectful.

Like

Will one of the palaces be sold? I imagine they’ll keep the Galway palace and sell the Clonfert one, or put the retired Bishop of Galway into one of them. The Clonfert palace is probably a bungalow in Ballinasloe.

Like

10.23: Have you ever seen the Clonfert Bishop’s House? Wouldn’t want it if it was given free…out in the sticks.

Like

Pat when do you think the RCC will start ordaining women as priests? And how long do you think it will be before we have a female or black Pope?

Like

Wtf has that bigoted Paisley oaf got to do with anything you dimwit @10.28am. Away on and wise up.

Like

I don’t see the point in this arrangement of keeping separate cathedrals, chapters, curias, offices, MCs, palaces, VGs and councils of priests. Let’s maximise the efficiencies, free up desk priests and allow priests to be appointed across the two dioceses. A change is as good as a rest and it would freshen up Clonfert and Galway priests if they went to unfamiliar parishes.

Like

Clonfert has a VG who is also the Chancellor and he has served in Loughrea since ordination in 1992!!!!! Bishop Duignan’s legacy will be whether he is willing to face down Cathal Geraghty and transfer him to a new parish, as well as stripping him of some of the many offices he holds. It’s time to let some other guys in Clonfert have a chance. A diocese should be about more than one priest.

Like

Clonfert has so few parishes that curates ended up going back to the same parish two or three times.

Like

Roberta the church has started women on the road to ordination already by having girls as altar servers. Although people tend to think of that as a lay role, historically serving was done by men in what were called minor orders.

Like

A good move by the Nuncio and by Rome to have one bishop for the two dioceses even if I see on a local radio station from the west of the country that the two dioceses will remain different. The more mergers we have the better. For the a country the size of Ireland to have 26 Dioceses is madness. There is Dioceses around the world that are nearly as big as an Irish province or even bigger. I heard one mission priest who came home every three years or so for a short break saying that where he worked in Brazil the Diocese was about the size of Munster.

As for Bishop’s not doing confirmations, I think that is rather old fashioned. Even back in the day the Bishop might not have done it. I was talking to one retired bishop who told me that doing confirmations every day or every second day for maybe three months of the year can become very tiring on him and he said to him he felt there was days when he was just going through the motions. He said he did not have time to do a different homily for each mass and just changed the name of the parish and the priests names every day. Another former Bishop who had confirmation from February to June each year got so tired and had an effect on his health deciced that he would only visit the smaller rural parishes once every two years. He has since died.

Like

‘ I was talking to one retired bishop who told me that doing confirmations every day or every second day for maybe three months of the year can become very tiring on him and he said to him he felt there was days when he was just going through the motions.’
Poor dear.

Like

He wouldn’t, Pat. Many brick layers take great pride in their work and don’t see it as going through the motions, despite being repetitive.

Like

Bishop Pat I am so happy today. I am pregnant. 8 long years and I want to thank you for your prayers for us I am just thrilled.

Like

I would like to make the general point that priests are not promoted to be Bishops. This is a complete misunderstanding of the theology of the Church and a sign of very poor taste. Priests are elevated to the episcopate. To forget this important point is to harm the high calling of Bishops and to demean the office to which they are called.

Like

10.57: How cynically unkind if you Pat. You have no idea if what physical, emotional or spiritual tiredness is like. Zilch. How would you have any awareness with nothing useful to do except in your own time..The question is – how long woukd you last on a building site? An hour probably. Grow up, little man nasty cynic..

Like

This comment kind of encapsulates the entire problem with the church, that clergy have to be coddled and indulged in case they get tired, but real people don’t have a meal on the table if they don’t go to work. And then they bitch that everyone is being unkind to them.

Like

12.19: I know of no clerics who expect to be coddled and indulged. My generation of priests grew up in a time when you only had what you could afford: we lived frugally and learned to appreciate small blessings: our parents inculcated the value of hard work for anything you needed, honesty, commitment and respect for others within us. A unique generation of parents and I try to stay with these values. We are entitled to our salary and are forever grateful to those who are kind and generous. We don’t ever expect anything from begrudgers or from those who haven’t a clue about a priest’s financial situation. Give your pennies to Brother Kevin..

Like

Bishop Pat, my local PP Father Xxxx Xxxxxx, spends more time in the gym and sprucing himself up than he does in his Parish. I have raised concerns with Bishop Noel Treanor in July and I never received a response. What are my options available to me now?

Like

You nosey old bitch, the man is entitled to a private life! Treanor only responds to genuine concerns, not gym going clergy

Like

12.12: Options: MYOB first and foremost. Your type cause huge divisions in parishes. Always. Secondly, stop fantasising. Thirdly, put your over taxed brain asleep for a while. When you waken up, be more intelligent and make decisions that will actually benefit the well being of those who are in need. Gossiping is a sin, May.

Like

Yes MYOB is a very good principle. Perhaps you could follow your own advice and leave women having terminations alone.

Like

We’ll mind our own business about the unholy priests when you all stop harassing women outside abortion clinics. Until then they’re fair game.

Like

I’ve never seen a mass like it today, Fr Keenan raced through mass and couldn’t get out quick enough, and where was Delia Neeson this morning, she’s usually like his body guard and was nowhere to be seen?

Like

re. Repetitive action; “going through the motions” is a rough translation of “ex opere operato” which is the highest action required by the Church of its clergy.

Like

Can I just say I love your approach to Latin translation? I got told off for saying that an idiomatic translation of ‘ Nemo me impune lacessit’ is ‘Come on if you think you’re hard enough’.

Like

Ideally 4 bishops would suffice with their auxiliary bishops for each province (ulster, West of Ireland, munster and leinster).

26 bishops is far too many for a little country like this. Crazy.

During Covid pandemic, bishops were no longer seen as supporters of the people as they didn’t support them. Hence irrelevancy of the bishops as they relied on the parishioners money in comparison to where some dioceses in USA had to fight for their parishioners re their needs.

The more I learned from this blog, bishops won’t do anything unless it was forced by the state.

Like

From the First Sunday of Advent, Archbishop Farrell has appointed Fr Andrew O’Sullivan Parish Priest of Rathgar & Rathmines Parish.

Like

Dear Pat,
I would just like to point out, that once again, I was correct about Fr. Paul Taylor being asked to step down from Rathgar parish.
Regards.

Like

3.33: What’s the story if this is true? After such a short tenure? Has Billeen Mulvihill bern interfering?? He and Paul have history.

Like

NI could be made a single suffragan of an archdiocese on the mainland, eg Liverpool, to reflect the political arrangements.

Like

I see the archdiocese of New Orleans put in fraudulent claims for hurricane damage and has been fined $1,000,000 by the US government.
But sure it’s just a few rotten apples so let’s talk about everyone else and deny Joe Biden communion. 😂
Perhaps they didn’t know fraud was illegal.

Like

God my heart bleeds for those priests who claim to work hard. They wouldn’t know the meaning of the word. When you compare the hours worked by doctors, nurses and HCAs, and indeed what their work entails, to what nearly every priest does, priests are shown to do very little. 37.5hrs per week is the bare minimum number of hours healthcare professionals work, the reality is much higher, yet they find the time to have lives outside of that. Priests don’t work, they say Mass, don’t bother visiting the sick the way they used to, have parish administrators etc and live very privileged lives. Suck it up and do a day’s work.

Like

3.49: And are you saying to us now that you didn’t live it up, that you didn’t waste any time in 24 hours, that you didn’t enjoy the benefits given to you while a priest, that you didn’t hold out your hand to get all you could get.. ? Oh, I forgot, you were the incarnation of St. John Vianney? Pull the other leg. The work was so demanding, you left. None of us claims to be mega, super heroes. Comparisons are silly but WE do work. Your new life must be fantastic..God bless our good, dedicated priests.

Like

3.49: The typical ex priest turned cynic after benefiting materially and financially while in priesthood! Of course the work as priest was all too demanding that you left. What wonderfully new, vibrant, demanding, real work are you doing now? Using the education given you for free by the Church? Oh, to be such a hypocrite, to be so blindly cynical!!

Like

3.49pm
For your information ExPriest???? all Priests work hard in their Parish.
Every Priest is on Call Duty for one week ,24 hours a day as Bishop Pat knows. I could be called out at any time during the night/day to a hospital, an accident or to give the Last Rites to a sick person. During the day I can be called on to say Daily Mass, to assist at Funerals, Christenings etc.etc.so get your facts straight before you comdemn the clergy for not knowing the meaning of hard work.. Crawl back under the stone you came out of.

Like

3.49: If you were a priest, which I doubt, thank God you left. Your wirds reveal you as a nasty, lazy, silly gombeen type.

Like

I guarantee you, he is an active priest and he has a bf who works in one of them jobs. He has just show himself in the foot by posting that comment.

Like

6.33: Indeed, there are many screwballs Pat could unvite onto his show. What about the coterie of supporters on his blog? MC would be a super guest: Mother McVeigh: MMM: De Integro: Roberta: Paulinus: Maggie: Sausage Roll Maureen: Lollipop Josie:….imagine the circus with this elite!

Like

The Southern Star on “the blog”. A strange collision of two worlds. Careful +Pat the Eagle is watching 🧐🤣

Like

3.49: And are you saying to us now that you didn’t live it up, that you didn’t waste any time in 24 hours, that you didn’t enjoy the benefits given to you while a priest, that you didn’t hold out your hand to get all you could get.. ? Oh, I forgot, you were the incarnation of St. John Vianney? Pull the other leg. The work was so demanding, you left. None of us claims to be mega, super heroes. Comparisons are silly but WE do work. Your new life must be fantastic..God bless our good, dedicated priests.

Like

Do you think we will ever have an Irish Pope? Or who would be most likely to be in a position for the role?

Like

5.41pm
Another good news story. I wish Deacon Sheehan every Blessing and Happiness in his upcoming Ordination to the Priesthood. May God and The Holy Spirit Guide and Direct him on the path ahead.

Like

A lot of comments today, Bp Pat, but I preferred yesterday’s tittle-tattle about a priest who may have packed it in over a man.

Like

Oh, those poor A&B priests deprived of eye candy and fantasies with the departure of Fr Tom to a liberated life. I remember when the young Fr Aaron Spinelli was the object of much desire, but his picture at the ordination of Fr Tom shows a somewhat plumpish and moustached parish priest – Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” — 2 Corinthians 4:16

Like

5.41pm
Another good news story. Best of good luck to Deacon Sheehan and every Blessing and Happiness in his upcoming Ordination to the Priesthood. May God and The Holy Spirit Guide and Direct him on the path ahead.

Like

10.39: Think you are right as he hasn’t responded to challenging, nasty commentary against him. What a fecking idiot!

Like

That’s because the Male big wigs in BBC NI have chosen Mary’s bile. Shame that the lovely Donna Traynor has to resign though.

Like

Leave a comment