New Bishop of Waterford inspired by Donal Walsh

The new Bishop of Waterford and Lismore has said he found encouragement in the “words and example” of Kerry teenager Donal Walsh, as he accepted the challenge of his new leadership role.

It was announced on Monday that Pope Francis appointed Fr Alphonsus Cullinan, parish priest of Rathkeale in Limerick, as Ireland’s newest bishop. Bishop William Lee retired on the grounds of ill-health in October 2013.

At the announcement of his appointment, the bishop-elect said he was “honoured and humbled” to have been nominated.

“Up to last week I had under my care the 4,000 or so souls in my parish. Now I am moving to the other side of Munster and am called to be the shepherd of over 150,000 souls! I don’t have any illusions about the difficulties of the job which I have been given and I know my own unworthiness and limitations. In that sense I have a mountain to climb but mountains are made for climbing,” he said.

The new bishop said he had “been much encouraged by the words and example of that wonderful young man Donal Walsh”. “If he were here he’d probably say; ‘Look, keep climbing the mountain because it’s God’s mountain – and God is asking you to keep climbing’.”

Donal’s courageous battle with cancer came to light months before his death in 2013, when he publicly appealed to young people not to end their lives by suicide. people not to end their lives by suicide.