David QuinnPastoral success is the measure of a bishop, writes David Quinn
Bit by bit, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles Brown is making his mark on the Irish hierarchy. Nine out of the 26 dioceses are now being run by men chosen during his time here.
The latest is Fr Alphonsus (‘Phonsie’) Cullinan of Limerick diocese, who has been appointed to the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore.
The others are Ray Browne of Kerry diocese, William Crean of Cloyne diocese, Kevin Doran of Elphin diocese, Francis Duffy of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Brendan Leahy of Limerick diocese, Donal McKeown of Derry diocese, Denis Nulty of Kildare and Leighlin and, of course, the Primate of All Ireland, the Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin. (While Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly was originally appointed to Killaloe diocese before Dr Brown’s appointment as nuncio, it was during Archbishop Brown’s tenure that Dr O’Reilly was promoted to Cashel and Emly.)
All of these appointments have one thing in common: none of them are from the dioceses they are now heading.
Why would this be so? One reason could be to ensure that the new bishop is not overly linked with a particular group of priests from his diocese, which would give rise to the possibility that other priests who did not belong to that group would feel alienated.
Conditions
Of course bringing a priest in from another diocese and installing him as bishop of a new diocese has dangers of its own. Perhaps he will never be able to settle in properly. Perhaps his lack of familiarity with the local priests and local conditions will be a permanent handicap.
However, the practice of making appointments from outside the diocese was not invented by Archbishop Brown. In the last few years the only bishop who was appointed from within his diocese was Liam McDaid, Bishop of Cloyne.
In any event, it is not as though Ireland is a big country or that any of the appointments are non-Irish. We should keep in mind all the Irish missionary bishops from the past who were appointed to dioceses in such places as Australia, New Zealand or parts of Africa. If an Irishman can successfully run an African diocese, then a Dubliner can surely successfully run a rural diocese and vice versa.
What is to be said about the appointments that have taken place under Archbishop Brown? It is really too early to say, or rather it is hard to pass judgment unless you are very familiar with the diocese in question. To find out, for example, how William Crean is doing in Cloyne, you would have to ask the priests and laity of Cloyne diocese.
One thing we can say is that out of the nine bishops appointed so far, only one had anything resembling a national profile and that is Bishop Kevin Doran in Elphin. Bishop Doran, originally a priest in the Dublin archdiocese, would have been known for his work on pro-life and bioethical issues as well as for being the principle organiser of the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.
He remains unafraid to dip his toe in the water on controversial issues such as the upcoming referendum on marriage or the abortion issue.
Several of the other appointments weren’t especially well known even in their home dioceses, let alone in their new dioceses, never mind nationally. This isn’t a good or a bad thing either way so long as they have been well chosen.
Liberal Catholics are concerned about the way the nuncio is making the appointments. For example, on his blog, Fr Tony Flannery says about the Waterford and Lismore announcement: “…a matter of much greater concern for the Irish Church is the manner in which bishops are being chosen by our current papal nuncio, Charles Brown. The policy would appear to be that he chooses someone from outside the diocese, and in most cases they have been priests with a good bit of pastoral experience. That is a good thing. But the lack of consultation is a worry.”
He goes on: “I doubt if many, or any, people in Waterford would have chosen this man [Fr Cullinan] from Limerick. I suspect very few knew him at all.”
He’s surely right about that. But then again, if being known in the diocese is a prerequisite for being made bishop of the diocese, then it would be virtually impossible ever to appoint an outsider in which case the person would invariably be an ‘insider’, that is, someone who might be overly-aligned with some priests of the diocese at the expense of others.
Needs of diocese
If there is a policy of mainly appointing outsiders, then the main purpose of consulting with locals would be to ascertain the needs of the diocese. Presumably the nuncio is doing that. Certainly he has made a habit of being constantly on the road travelling the length and breadth of the country and getting to know the Church in Ireland intimately.
He is a far cry from some of our previous nuncios who really only ventured out of the residence on the Navan Road for official occasions.
Fr Flannery is probably also worried that some of the appointments are too ‘conservative’. But I know for a fact that some ‘conservatives’ were worried that several of the appointments were too safe and lacked the sort of ‘dynamic orthodoxy’ they think the Church in Ireland badly needs.
I’m not going to give any of the recent appointments the kiss of death by naming the ones I think possess the right sort of dynamic orthodoxy and evangelical zeal we need to renew the Church here.
Suffice it to repeat at this stage that it is really too early to assess ‘Charles Brown’s hierarchy’. It will be some years before we can do that, but here is what to look out for over time: have successful new pastoral and evangelical projects been initiated; has there been any uptick in vocations; has the hierarchy as a whole shown a greater willingness to take on the hot button social issues on a national level once again?