ROME, NOV. 27, 2012 (Zenit.org).- On Saturday Pope Benedict XVI appointed a new bishop of the diocese of Cloyne, Ireland.
The appointment was announced on the feast day of Saint Colman, who is the patron saint of the diocese of Cloyne. Bishop-elect William Crean was up until now the parish priest of the Daniel O’Connell Memorial Church in Cahirciveen, Diocese of Kerry. He will replace Archbishop Dermot Clifford, who has been the Apostolic Administrator of the diocese since March 2009.
He was appointed as the administrator following the resignation of Bishop John Magee who left owing to controversy about his handling of sex abuse allegations in the diocese. Bishop Magee stepped aside in 2009 and later resigned in 2010.
The Diocese of Cloyne has a Catholic population of over 150,000 people, with 46 parishes and 107 churches. The diocese includes most of County Cork.
Cloyne’s future bishop was born in Tralee on 16 December 1951. His immediate family has a number of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. After graduating with a BA at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, he went to Rome to the Pontifical Irish College, Rome. While in Rome he studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He then went on to obtain his Licentiate in Sacred Theology in 1977.
He was ordained to the priesthood on the 20 June 1976 for the diocese of Kerry.
Archbishop Clifford welcomed the news, saying it was a happy day for the diocese. “I know Canon Crean since his student days in Saint Brendan’s College, Killarney, where I was teaching and I have followed his distinguished career since then,” he said.
“Therefore, I can assure the good people of Cloyne that they will have a holy and hard-working pastor in the years ahead,” Archbishop Clifford commented.
“I have no illusions about the myriad challenges that the Church in Ireland faces, said Bishop-elect Crean in a statement”. “Yet I remain hopeful and steadfast,” he added.
“As I accept this appointment you will appreciate that I feel apprehensive – because I am deeply conscious of the trauma of these years past – so much suffering endured by young people at the hands of a few – sufferings compounded by the failure of those who didn’t believe them and those who didn’t hear their cry for help,” he said.
“Today I commit myself to do all that I can with others in the diocese to continue to bring healing and new hope to the lives of all victims of abuse and their families,” he continued.
