By Cian Molloy - 01 September, 2018
Fr Tom Deenihan, who will tomorrow become Ireland’s newest bishop.
Tomorrow is a red-letter day in Co Meath with a new bishop, Tom Deenihan, being consecrated in the Cathedral of Christ the King in Mullingar.
The chief ordaining prelate will be the Primate of all-Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, assisted by the Bishop Emeritus of Meath, Michael Smith, and Bishop John Buckley of Cork and Ross.
Bishop Buckley’s presence on the altar is due to the fact that Msgr Deenihan is a native of Cork City, born in the parish of Blackpool and educated at the Christian Brothers’ famous North Monastery College (known as “North Mon”) before he entered the national seminary in Maynooth.
It was Bishop Smith who ordained his future successor as a deacon in a ceremony in Maynooth in April 1990. The following year, the late Bishop Michael Murphy of Cork and Ross ordained him as a priest of that diocese.
Other concelebrants for the Mass will include His Excellency Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Okolo, Apostolic Nuncio; Bishop Dermot Farrell and Bishop Denis Nulty, both formerly priests of the Diocese of Meath; and several retired prelates from Cork, including Archbishop Patrick Coveney and Bishop Padraig O’Donoghue. Bishop Fintan Monahan, who was ordained to the diaconate alongside Bishop Deenihan, will also concelebrate the Mass.
Since his ordination, Msgr Deenihan has served in Glanmire Parish, taught in St Goban’s College, Bantry, and served in the parishes of Schull, Kealkil and Bantry. While working on pastoral duties, he obtained a master’s degree and a doctorate in education.
He was appointed diocesan advisor for post-primary catechetics in Cork and Ross in 2003 and three years later he became Cork diocesan secretary and diocesan education secretary.
Nationally, he served as general secretary of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association from 2013 to 2016 and was acting executive secretary to the Bishops’ Council for Education and their commission for Catholic Education and Formation.
