Bishop McLoughlin submitted his resignation on reaching age 75, in accord with canon law. He turned 75 in April 2004.
Martin Drennan was born in Piltown, in the Diocese of Ossory, on June 2, 1944. Sent to Rome, he obtained a licentiate in sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute. He was ordained a priest for Ossory in July 1968.
He was professor of sacred Scripture in the seminary of Ossory from 1975 to 1980, when he became professor of sacred Scripture at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth.
He was promoter of the priestly movement Fraternitas Jesus and was director of the Fraternity for the Laity, of Charles de Foucauld. He was ordained auxiliary bishop of Dublin in September 1997.
Bishop Drennan is a member of the bishops’ Department of Catholic Education and Formation; chairman of the episcopate’s Commission on Catechetics; and a member of the bishops’ Commission on Religious.
The Diocese of Galway, Kilmnacduagh and Kilfenora has a Catholic population of 102,000.
