Bishop asks parishioners to find men for priesthood

The newly ordained Bishop of Elphin Dr Kevin Doran yesterday challenged parishioners to help address the shortage of vocations by identifying six suitable candidates for the priesthood from among their own families and communities between now and Easter.

“Will you find one suitable candidate for priesthood in each deanery between now and Easter and invite him to contact me or one of the members of the vocations team,” he said.

Bishop Doran (61) was ordained by his predecessor Bishop Christopher Jones at a ceremony attended by more than 1,000 people at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo.

Same-sex marriage

Speaking to journalists before the ceremony, Bishop Doran repeated his view that legislation to allow same-sex marriage would undermine traditional marriage. Asked whether he anticipated a collision between Church and State on this issue, he said he hoped there would not be, but common sense suggested “we will not agree on everything”.

Bishop Doran said he had not heard Pope Francis’s comments about the possibility of finding a solution for the celibacy issue. He said, “I have great confidence in Pope Francis and his intuitive sense of the need to address issues.”

He added that the Pope had indicated a willingness to address difficult issues and “does not beat around the bush”.

Bishop Doran told the congregation the Pope had asked him to give special care to the marginalised, “to the poor, to those who are in prison and to those who are sick”.

He said he would like to make caring for those on the margins a hallmark of the diocese.

He said Elphin had received a very positive report from the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church. “This is good news but of course we need to remain alert to the risks, which are, sadly, part of our social reality today,” the Bishop added.

The two-hour ceremony was streamed live online. About Bishop Doran

Bishop Dolan came to national attention last year when he resigned from the board of the Mater hospital after the Catholic-run institution agreed to comply with the Government’s abortion legislation.

At the time he said: “I can’t reconcile my own conscience personally with the statement, largely because I feel a Catholic hospital has to bear witness… to Gospel values alongside providing excellent care.”

The former administrator of the Sacred Heart parish in Donnybrook was born in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, in June 1953 to Joseph Doran and Marie Brady, who both died in 2002. He has two sisters, Colette and Patricia. Ordained in 1977, he was chaplain at UCD from 1983 to 1990 and spiritual director at the Irish College in Rome from 1990 to 1995. He returned to Dublin as curate in Foxrock as well as a lecturer at the Mater Dei Institute in philosophy and Catholic social teaching. From 2000 to 2006 he was national co-ordinator for diocesan vocations and lectured at the Milltown Institute in Dublin.

He was parish priest at Glendalough from 2005 to 2009 and he was appointed in 2008 as secretary general of the International Eucharistic Congress which took place in Dublin in 2012. Last year he was appointed administrator in Donnybrook parish.

From 1996 to 2011 he was a member of the Bishops’ Committee for Bioethics. Between 2001 and 2013 he was on the board of governors at Dublin’s Mater hospital and also on its board board of directors.

PATSY McGARRY