Pope Francis had appointed Fr. Aphonsus ‘Phonsie’ Cullinan as the new Bishop of Waterford and Lismore.
The appointment by Pope Francis is the seventh appointment made in
Ireland since he was elected head of the Catholic Church in March 2013 after
Pope Benedict XVI stood down.
Previous appointments made by Pope Francis are Brendan Leahy (Limerick),
Eamon Martin (Armagh), Raymond Browne (Kerry), Denis Nulty (Kildare and
Leighlin), Francis Duffy (Ardagh and Clonmacnois) and Kevin Doran (Elphin).
In the coming weeks and month’s, Pope Francis is expected to elect new
Bishops in the Dioceses of Clonfert, Cork and Ross, Raphoe as well as Meath as
Bishops John Kirby, John Buckley, Philip Boyce O.C.D. and Michael Smith will
have celebrated their 75th birthday, the age that Bishops are expected
to hand in their resignation to the Vatican.
When appointments are made in these dioceses it will mean that Pope
Francis will have elected 11 Bishops in the current 26 Dioceses on the Island
of Ireland.
Bishop-elect Cullinan is a former school teacher who since he became a
priest has gained a wide range of Pastoral Experience working in Parishes,
schools, third level colleges and in hospital chaplaincy. Fr. Cullinan is also
known in Limerick for his work with the Travelling Community.
Fr. Cullinan is a priest in the Diocese of Limerick and was born in
Lahinch in Co. Clare in 1959, one of a family of ten of which he has four
sisters and five brothers.
His family moved from Lahinch to Limerick City and attended the Salesian
College where he received his early education.
He moved to the John F. Kennedy National School and later Crescent
College Comprehensive for his secondary education.
In 1978 he entered Mary Immaculate College in Limerick where he studied
to be a Primary school Teacher, graduating in 1981 and for six years taught at
Castleconnell in County Limerick.
Fr. Cullinan moved to Valladolid in Spain where he taught English for
two years before returning to Ireland and entering Saint Patrick’s College in
Maynooth from 1989 to 1995 where be completed a Licentiate in Theology.
Ordained by the then Bishop of Limerick Jeremiah Newman in 1994 at St.
St. John’s Cathedral in Limerick and was appointed curate of Saint Munchin’s
Parish in Limerick from 1995 for a year.
From 1996 to 2001 he was chaplain at Limerick Regional Hospital from
where he moved to Rome for three years to study Moral Theology. On returning to
Ireland he was appointed Chaplain at Limerick Institute of Technology until
2011.
In 2011 Fr. Cullinan was appointed Parish Priest of Rathkeale, a
position he held till his appointment as Bishop of Waterford and Lismore.
The news that Fr. Cullinan was to be the new Bishop of Waterford and
Lismore was made after the 10-30am mass this morning at the Cathedral of the
Most Holy Trinity in Waterford.
Present for the announcement were Bishop-elect Cullinan, the Apostolic
Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles Brown, the retired Bishop of Waterford
and Lismore – William Lee and Monsignor Nicholas O’Mahony the Diocesan
Administrator of the Diocese since Bishop Lee stood down due to health reasons
on October 1, 2013.
Speaking following the announcement, Fr Cullinan
said he was “honoured and humbled and excited to have been nominated as bishop
of this Diocese”.
“This is an historic city and Waterford and
Lismore is an historic Diocese with a Christian heritage going back to the
earliest days of Christianity on this island and I am very proud to be called
to do something to continue that wonderful tradition,” he added.
Waterford & Lismore includes County
Waterford, and part of Counties Tipperary and Cork. There are 85 churches
across 45 parishes catering for a catholic population of 152,107.
Fr. Cullinan is one of three new Bishops
announced today by Pope Francis across the world.
Pope Francis
appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Shinyanga, Tanzania, Msgr. Liberatus Sangu.
Bishop-elect Sangu, was born February 19, 1963 at Mwazye, Diocese of Sumbawanga.
After his primary and secondary education in local schools, he studied
philosophy at the Major Seminary of Our Lady of Angels Kibosho, in the Diocese
of Moshi, and theology at the Major Inter-diocesan Seminary St. Charles Lwanga
Segerea, in the Archdiocese of Dar-es-Salaam. He was ordained to the priesthood
on July 9, 1994.
The Diocese
of Shinyanga (1956), is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mwanza, has a
population of 2,440,000 of whom 745,000 are Catholics. There are 28 parishes.
There are 55 priests (41 diocesan and 14 religious), and 20 seminarians. The
Diocese of Shinyanga, has been vacant since 2012, following the death of the
Ordinary, Msgr. Aloysius Balina.
Also appointed
today was Francisco Eduardo Cervantes Merino who is to be Bishop of Orizaba
(Mexico). Bishop-elect Cervantes Merino, was born October 13, 1953, in
Ocatán Merino Palafox, in the Federal District of Mexico City, was ordained
priest on 24 March 1979 and was incardinated in the Diocese of Tuxpan.
He completed
his ecclesiastical studies at the Seminary of Jalapa and earned a Licentiate in
Pastoral Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. He also
obtained a Licentiate in Educational Psychology at the Scuola Normale
Superiore of México.
He is
currently Pastor of the Cathedral and Vicar for Pastoral Care.
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