seamus dubhghaill

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Tag Archives: Eamon Casey


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Birth of Kevin McNamara, Catholic Archbishop of Dublin

Kevin McNamara, a senior Catholic academic and bishop who serves for three years as Archbishop of Dublin, is born on June 10, 1926, in Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare. In the early 1980s he is seen as one of the most outspoken members of the Irish hierarchy on issues such as abortion and divorce.

McNamara is ordained a priest in St. Patrick’s College Maynooth in June 1949. His natural academic talent is recognised and he is soon appointed to teach moral theology rising to become Professor of Dogmatic Theology.

In 1976, McNamara is appointed by Pope Paul VI to succeed Bishop Eamon Casey in the Diocese of Kerry and is ordained bishop in November 1976 from Cardinal William Conway.

In office, McNamara and the neighbouring Bishop of Limerick, Jeremiah Newman, become the most outspoken conservative voices in the Irish hierarchy. They are seemingly out of step with the more diplomatic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, Tomás Ó Fiaich, and with the Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, Dermot Ryan.

McNamara and Newman are particularly outspoken on the issue of a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the Constitution of Ireland. While other bishops advocate people vote with their conscience in the referendum on the issue, McNamara and Newman instruct Catholics that they have a duty to “vote yes” to the referendum.

In 1984, the Archdiocese of Dublin becomes vacant when Archbishop Ryan is given a senior appointment in the Roman Curia. Ryan is expected to be made a cardinal as a result of the appointment but dies suddenly in office before a consistory can be held. McNamara’s selection to replace the more liberal Ryan in Dublin creates media reports linking his appointment to the ongoing tensions between the papal nuncio in Ireland, Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi, and the liberal Fine Gael–Labour Party coalition under Garret FitzGerald. Relations between Alibrandi and the coalition break down, with the government requesting that Alibrandi be removed because of his suspected closeness to Irish republicans in Sinn Féin and to the opposition Fianna Fáil party and in particular its leader, Charles Haughey. Critics accused Alibrandi of engineering McNamara’s appointment in the belief that the outspoken McNamara can help derail the coalition’s liberal policies on divorce and contraception.

McNamara, as expected, takes a far more outspoken stance of issues than had Ryan previously. While the coalition succeeds in liberalising the law on contraception, its efforts to amend the constitution on divorce are defeated.

McNamara’s service in Dublin is short-lived. Already suffering from what proves to be terminal cancer, he dies on April 8, 1987 after a three year battle with the disease, months after the Fine Gael minority government is defeated in the 1987 Irish general election. He is succeeded as archbishop by a university lecturer, Desmond Connell.

In the early 2000s, amid growing scandals within the Catholic Church in Ireland about clerical sex abuse, it is revealed that as archbishop McNamara had sought legal advice as to the Church’s liability arising from such abuse.


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Death of James McLoughlin, Bishop of Galway & Kilmacduagh

James McLoughlin, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora for twelve years from 1993 to 2005, dies on November 25, 2005.

McLoughlin is born in Cross Street in the centre of Galway on April 9, 1929. His parents run a small wholesale grocery business. He attends the Patrician Brothers primary school in Nuns’ Island and St. Mary’s College, Galway. He studies for the priesthood at Maynooth and is ordained on June 20, 1954.

After ordination McLoughlin is appointed to the teaching staff of St. Mary’s College, Galway where he develops interests in basketball and amateur dramatics. He is appointed diocesan secretary in September 1965, bringing to that role a reserved dedication to duty, meticulous planning and financial acumen. He leaves full-time teaching in 1983 and is appointed parish priest of Galway Cathedral.

On February 10, 1993, the year after the sensational resignation of Bishop Eamon Casey, McLoughlin is appointed by Pope John Paul II as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh. His consecration takes place in Galway Cathedral on March 28, 1993. After his death one obituary notes that McLouglhin’s “quiet demeanour…intimate knowledge of Galway and his being a native son, made him the ideal man to assume responsibility for the diocese when Bishop Eamonn Casey resigned.”

McLoughlin serves as chairman of the finance and general planning committee of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference. In 2003 he is one of the first Irish bishops to announce the clustering of parishes in recognition of the falling number of priests, his diocese having had very few vocations or ordinations in the decade up to 2003.

McLoughlin announces his retirement on May 23, 2005, and on July 3 is succeeded as bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh by Martin Drennan. He lives in Claregalway during his retirement, and dies on November 25, 2005, in Galway Clinic. His funeral is held in Galway Cathedral, and he is interred in the crypt beneath the cathedral.

McLoughlin’s successor, Bishop Martin Drennan, says he is deeply saddened and shocked by the news of McLoughlin’s death and that the late bishop was deeply loved and admired by the people and priests of his native city and diocese.

Dr. Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, also pays tribute to the late bishop. He says Bishop McLoughlin was a gentle and humble man who radiated great joy, friendship and happiness to all whom he met.