Fr Tom Deenihan Pope Francis has appointed leading educationalist and Cork priest Fr Tom Deenihan as the new Bishop of Meath. The announcement was made in a Vatican communique this morning (June 18). He will succeed Bishop Michael Smith who recently turned 78 and was Ireland’s longest-serving bishop having been appointed to the episcopal bench by St John Paul II in 1983.
Bishop-elect Deenihan (50) is currently acting Executive Secretary of the Irish bishops’ conference Episcopal Commission for Education. He has been a key player in Catholic education for many years and is a former head of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA).
Speaking after Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Mullingar this morning, Dr Deenihan pledged to serve and work with the priests and people of his new diocese.
“I always had the view that the Diocese of Meath has a unified and a talented clergy and younger too than many other dioceses. That must be a blessing.
“In the weeks and months ahead, I look forward to meeting the priests of the diocese and visiting the various parishes,” he said.
He added that “those parishes could not survive either without the work and expertise of the laity who live in them and give of their talents willingly and freely.
“I look forward to working with those people into the future and benefiting from their expertise, commitment and talents in supporting the diocese, particularly in the areas of education, finance and safeguarding,” he said.
Dr Deenihan was born in the parish of Blackpool in Cork city in 1967. He attended the North Monastery Christian Brothers School in the city.
After completing post-primary education, he studied in the national seminary of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Bishop-elect Deenihan was ordained a deacon by Bishop Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath, in Maynooth on April 1, 1990. The following year he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Cork & Ross by the late Bishop Michael Murphy.
Welcoming the appointment, Primate of All-Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin said that “Bishop-elect Deenihan’s background in education, serving as General Secretary of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association from October 2013 and as Acting Executive Secretary of the Council for Education of the Irish Episcopal Conference from July 2016, as well as his role as Diocesan Secretary in his home dioceses of Cork & Ross highlights some of the rich experiences that he will bring to the people of his new diocese.
“I look forward to working alongside Bishop-elect Deenihan in the Irish Bishops’ Conference and I pray that his new patron, St Finian, will guide him in his ministry,” Dr Martin said.
Since ordination, Bishop-elect Deenihan worked in Glanmire Parish (1991-1994), taught in St Goban’s College, Bantry (1994-2003) during which time he also worked in the parishes of Schull, Kealkil and Bantry. During that time he also he undertook a masters and doctoral degree in Education.
In 2003, Bishop John Buckley appointed him as Diocesan Advisor for Post-Primary Catechetics and, in 2006, as Diocesan Secretary and Diocesan Education Secretary.
The Diocese of Meath includes the greater part of counties Meath, Westmeath and Offaly, and a portion of counties Longford, Louth, Dublin and Cavan. There are 69 parishes in the Diocese of Meath and some 270,000 Catholics.
With the appointment of Dr Deenihan, the dioceses of Clonfert, Cork & Ross, Clogher, Achonry and Dromore remain the only dioceses awaiting the appointment of a new bishop.
In a brief statement, Bishop Smith said the appointment of Dr Deenihan will “greatly benefit the Church in the Diocese of Meath and will also contribute significantly to the work of the Irish Episcopal Conference and its commissions and agencies”.
Of the current bishops serving in Ireland, nine were appointed by St John Paul II, six by Pope Benedict XVI and nine by Pope Francis.