Mags GarganArchbishop Kieran O’Reilly tells Mags Gargan listening is key to ministry
Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly SMA is a man who is used to being on the move. From leaving his home in Cork to work as a missionary in Liberia and Nigeria, he was then based in the Society of African Missions Generalate in Rome for many years until his move to Ennis, Co. Clare as the new Bishop of Killaloe nearly five years ago. However, saying goodbye to the familiar and facing a new role and environment is always a challenge, so it is with a mixture of sadness and excitement that he moves to Thurles, Co. Tipperary as the new Archbishop of Cashel & Emly this week.
“It was only really just now that I felt I was getting going in Killaloe, so it is a bit sad in one way, but I am leaving very good people behind and I am sure they will find an excellent replacement,” he says.
As preparations by a “tremendous committee” were still underway for his installation ceremony in Thurles at the weekend, Archbishop Kieran told The Irish Catholic he has received a very warm welcome from his new diocese. “It has been wonderful. They have been very welcoming and seem excited to see what kind of person the new bishop will be.”
He says his appointment as the next Archbishop of Cashel & Emly, to succeed Archbishop Dermot Clifford who had reached retirement age, came as a complete surprise. As did his appointment as Bishop of Killaloe in 2010. However, he brings with him extensive experience of the universal church and of working in leadership roles.
Welcoming the appointment of his replacement, Archbishop Clifford described him as a gentleman and a scholar, saying: “I believe Bishop Kieran is the ideal man to work with priests and people in the work of evangelisation and spreading the Good News.”
Connections
Archbishop Kieran admits that he has no connections to the Archdiocese of Cashel & Emly, but it is not an area unfamiliar to him either. The Diocese of Killaloe covers part of North Tipperary, including Nenagh and Roscrea, so “it is not a river that I have never crossed before”.
He says his first task in his new diocese is to get to know the priests and people.
As an avid fan of outdoor activities, such as golf, hillwalking and fishing, he is also looking forward to reacquainting himself with the Galtee mountains and the Golden Vale.
He is also a GAA fan and, as a Corkman moving from Clare to Tipperary, he has to navigate some major long-standing rivalries. “I succeeded in weathering the Cork and Clare double All Ireland hurling challenge in 2013, so I think I will manage,” he says.
“Growing up in Cork, Coláiste Chriost Ri was a big hurling school and I followed the Munster colleges in football and hurling, so I am looking forward to moving to the home of the GAA.”
Archbishop Kieran was born in Turner’s Cross in Cork City in 1952 to Seán and Theresa O’Reilly. Educated at Scoil Chríost Rí and Coláiste Chríost Rí, he entered the Society of African Missions in Wilton, Cork in 1970.
He was ordained for the society in 1978 and served in Liberia for two years before studying for a licentiate in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. From 1984 to 1989 Fr Kieran lectured in Scripture at the Major Seminary of Ss Peter and Paul in Ibadan, Nigeria. In 1989, the members of the SMA Irish province elected him to the provincial council, the body which oversees the administration of the society in Ireland.
Six years later, at the 1995 SMA General Assembly in Rome, Fr Kieran was elected as the SMA Vicar General, part of a team that would lead the society throughout the world. As a member of the general council he was responsible for several matters: Formation of seminarians and priests; justice and peace issues; the development of the African branch of the SMA.
He became noted for his administrative and leadership skills, and at an international level he drew attention to the needs of the poor and marginalised, in particular lobbying for the rights of Africans, both in Africa itself and those who live in other parts of the world.
In 2001, he became the SMA Superior General leading an international group of over 1,000 members from Europe, America, Asia and Africa – the fourth Irishman to serve in this post. At the time of the announcement of his appointment in May 2010 as the next bishop for the Diocese of Killaloe, he was serving his second term as Superior General. He was the first Irish SMA priest ordained to serve as a bishop in the Church in Ireland.
In May last year, Pope Francis appointed him as a member of the Congregation for Religious and Societies of Apostolic Life and he serves as the Episcopal Secretary to the Irish Episcopal Conference.
Archbishop Kieran says he feels that his time as a missionary served him well in his work as a bishop and he would like to see the missionary spirit spread through the Irish Church.
Missionary
“I would hope that when people see me coming they see I am a missionary. The key idea of Pope Francis’ Joy of the Gospel is that we are all missionary disciples. It is quite exciting to discover and build around that spirituality, which is very much alive and active,” he says.
“I am more familiar with the world Church, but what I have discovered here is the amazing number of links with missionaries in every parish. From sisters, priests and brothers working away quietly and now a number of volunteers with NGOs who go out to Africa to help with projects. One of things that came as a big surprise is the number of people who have mission contacts and the great groups involved in apostolic work providing supplies and materials to missionaries for the last 50 years. They are incredible people with a strong sense of mission. I would like to tap into those resources and highlight their extraordinary work.”
Coming to take his seat in Killaloe, Archbishop Kieran returned to a very different Ireland and a different Irish Church than the one he left in the 1970s. One of the big changes for him was the amount of work being done in the area of the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults.
“I didn’t’ realise the number of people involved in safeguarding and I was amazed at the commitment of people in the parishes and how pro-active the Church is in terms of vetting and policy updating. That work didn’t exist when I was in Ireland. The great thing is, what we have been able to do here can become a model and basis for the Church in other parts of the world to follow,” he says.
Archbishop Kieran has spoken before of how his return to Ireland showed him the number of people who are still deeply committed to the Church, but he has also noticed that large segments of the Catholic population are not present.
“One of the challenging things is that, say for instance, men from the ages of 25 to 45 largely are not there at times. I can go to big functions and I can count on my two hands the number of men in that group. That is a concern. They are the fathers; they are the role models in so many ways in our society.
“I think we have begun in Killaloe to try to see how best to harness resources to bring them in and I believe that is a challenge that remains for the diocese continually.”
One of the biggest undertakings Archbishop Kieran took on in Killaloe was the publication of the diocesan pastoral plan in 2013, which was the fruit of a two-year listening process of surveys, meetings and conversations.
The plan is a blueprint which will shape the Church in the diocese. It lists 10 goals to be achieved by 2020 under the headings of leadership, ministry, liturgy, spirituality and prayer, youth ministry, adult faith formation, justice and peace, safeguarding, communications and management of resources.
Controversy
Archbishop Kieran caused some controversy last year when he issued a pastoral letter in August inviting applications to the permanent diaconate, a ministry reserved to men. This sparked a protest campaign by parish volunteers, many of them women, who saw the diaconate as a barrier to lay involvement in the diocese and not an element of the pastoral plan.
In September, Archbishop Kieran announced he would not proceed with the proposal after carefully listening to the “observations and concerns raised by individuals and groups in the diocese” and “in the interest of allowing the further implementation of the pastoral plan”.
Archbishop Kieran says now that the importance of listening attentively has become the most important lesson he has learned from his time so far as bishop.
“It is the ability to be able to listen more attentively,” he says, “and to try to seek out the real hunger for the Word of God.
“I always have the feeling that I could do more in that area on a spiritual level. When we launched our diocesan pastoral plan, the whole area of spirituality was one of the priorities.
“It is something for the whole Church to develop, a spirituality that brings out our faith tradition and history, and I would like to see that understanding as a Christian people grow more.”
Archbishop Kieran has spent the last few weeks saying goodbye to the people of Killaloe, while making preparations for his move to Cashel & Emly.
Final meeting
He has attended his final meeting with the priests and the diocesan pastoral council, some parish farewell celebrations and met with the religious of the diocese in a celebration in Mount St Joseph in Roscrea for World Day for Consecrated Life.
He describes his final Mass in the Cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in Ennis as “low key”. “That’s the way I wanted it. I haven’t died or resigned. I am only moving to another part of the vineyard,” he says.
“It is mainly about thanking people for my time in Killaloe. I received a wonderful welcome when I came to the diocese and received great help from Bishop Willie Walsh.
“They didn’t know me and I didn’t know them, and I wanted to thank them for their work and to acknowledge that I leave Killaloe with a great team of very engaged pastoral workers.”