Speculation grows about new Archbishop of Tuam

Three names are to the fore in clerical circles to take up one of the most senior positions in the Church in Ireland.

Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam turned 75 in April and therefore under Church rules was obliged to tender his resignation to Pope Francis. The papal nuncio Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo is now responsible for recommending successors to the Vatican.

Clerical circles have identified the current Bishop of Elphin Dr Kevin Doran as one of the likely successors. Bishop Doran (68) is a veteran of the various agencies of the bishops’ conference and was appointed to Elphin in 2014 just two years after leading the International Eucharistic Congress, which was largely viewed as successful in difficult circumstances.

Succession

Another bishop who is considered a likely candidate for succession is Dr Brendan Leahy of Limerick. Bishop Leahy (61) has led the midwest diocese since 2013 and pioneered a synodal process which could prove appealing to Pope Francis given that the Church in Ireland has embarked on that pathway.

The third name consistently spoken about in clerical circles is Killaloe’s Bishop Fintan Monahan. Fifty-four-year-old Dr Monahan was a priest of the Tuam Archdiocese and as a long-serving diocesan secretary he was a close confidant of Archbishop Neary’s. He is well-known amongst the priests and has a keen sense of the challenges facing the diocese. He has served as the Bishop of Killaloe since 2016.

Archbishop Neary is currently the longest-serving member of the Irish hierarchy having been appointed as an auxiliary bishop to Tuam Archdiocese in 1992 by Pope St John Paul II. He succeeded as archbishop just three years later.

As one of the four metropolitan archbishops in Ireland, he exercises a certain limited supervisory role in the neighbouring dioceses of Achonry, Clonfert, Elphin, Killala as well as Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora.

The Archbishop of Tuam is also traditionally conferred with the pallium by the Pope as a sign of his unity with the Holy See and his local authority.