Fr Ger Nash ‘excited’ after Pontiff appoints him new bishop of Ferns

Co. Clare priest Fr Ger Nash (62) has said it is “exciting to be asked to take a leadership role” after Pope Francis appointed him as the new bishop of the Diocese of Ferns last week. He will be taking over from Bishop Denis Brennan.

Bishop-elect Nash said he looked forward to walking with the people and parish communities throughout the diocese of Ferns “as we respond to that call to synodality”, in the Cathedral of Saint Aidan, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, June 11.

Speaking of the upcoming national synod in Ireland, he said: “I have a sense that we are at a turning point in our Church story in Ireland, and it is exciting to be asked to take a leadership role at such a time.”

Bishop Brennan welcomed the incoming bishop, saying his ministry begins in Ferns “at a time which poses many choices and challenges for the Church but at a time which is also blessed by possibility”.

Bishop-elect Nash has been working as the Director of Pastoral Development for the Diocese of Killaloe since 2016. Bishop-elect Nash was born in Glandree in the parish of Tulla, Co. Clare, was ordained in 1991, and has been working in the areas of pastoral and diocesan planning, Catholic education and youth ministry since then.