Bishop Hayes’ Statement re. Diocesan Appointments 2026

“Our crisis is our opportunity to give witness to our faith with God’s help”

In announcing the clergy appointments for 2026, I wish to draw attention to the statistics on the current number of priests in Kilmore Diocese,

30% of our priests in Kilmore Diocese are over 75, some of whom are retired fully while others choose to be active in parish ministry.
Almost half (47%) of our priests are over 70 years old,
60% are over 65 years old,
2/3’s are over 60 years old, with 1/3 under 60 years old, that is 20 priests and
9 priests including our foreign priests, whose generous availability we appreciate, are under 40 years old.

This means that the task of providing priests for each parish into the future in the diocese is challenging and amounts to a crisis. However, it affords the opportunity for increased lay involvement in our parishes, ongoing prayer for priestly vocations and our appreciation of the availability and giftedness of our priests from abroad. Together, we are embracing new models of parish ministry.

Following a six-month period of discernment, the women and men who are our candidates for Lay Pastoral Ministry have now successfully completed the first year of their two-year formation programme. Trusting in the Good Lord, we look forward to the collaboration of our priests, deacons and lay pastoral workers into the future. We can never have enough people with the capacity for listening, ministry and working together in the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Also, this year marks the completion of the 4-year term of our Parish Pastoral Councils. We are grateful for their leadership as we commence the recruitment of new members of our Parish Pastoral Councils throughout the coming months. We will hold information events in September leading to the formation of new Parish Pastoral Councils in October and their commissioning early in the New Year. Each Parish Pastoral Council, together with our priests and deacons, is vital in prayerfully identifying the needs of their parish and in responding by coordinating the gifts of parishioners for the sake of their local community.

Together, we in Kilmore Diocese – as people, deacons, priests of our diocese and from abroad, and the bishop – embrace the crisis of the evident reduction in vocations to diocesan priesthood in Ireland. It is our opportunity with God’s help to give witness to our faith.

As these words accompany the announcement of appointments of priests to new responsibilities and of some retirements from ministry, I wish, in the light of the challenges we face as Church today, to thank all our priests and deacons for their faithful ministry in cooperation with our hard-working diocesan staff and dedicated volunteers.

As we give thanks for priesthood, we congratulate the following priests who celebrate significant anniversaries of their ordination to priesthood this year;
Golden – Father Peter McKiernan PP Crosserlough.
Ruby – Father John Sexton Adm Ballaghameehan / Kiltyclogher, Chaplain to Saint Clare’s Comprehensive School, Manorhamilton.
Silver – Monsignor Enda Murphy, Chaplain to Pope Leo XIV’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Rome.

Pope Leo in his Apostolic Letter on priesthood entitled A Fidelity That Generates the Future 1 states that “every vocation in the Church arises from a personal encounter with Christ”. He added “the call to ordained ministry is a free and gratuitous gift from God”..it is..“a loving proposal” (to us as priests and bishop) “to accept, with God’s grace, Jesus as the centre of our lives”.2

As I reflect on the value of priestly ministry, I wish to acknowledge the priests who have worked in Kilmore Diocese, who have died since January 2025 as follows,
Father Eamonn Bredin; Father Bernard Doyle; Father Michael Gilsenan ss.cc; Father Patrick Brady; Father Philip Brady; Father Oliver O’Reilly; Monsignor Michael Cooke; Father Anthony Fagan and, Father Patrick McHugh. We give thanks for their contribution and that of all our deceased clergy to the mission of Kilmore Diocese and pray that they will be rewarded for their good work in the company of the Good Lord. We continue to pray for Vocations to Priesthood in the diocese,

Loving God, our need for Vocations to the priesthood in our diocese is great.
In a busy world it is difficult for people to hear and respond to your gentle but insistent call.
We pray for the gift of courage, generosity and faith in the hearts of those you call.
We beg you, Lord, for the gift of new vocations to the Priesthood in our diocese.
In your fatherly care, accompany those who are seeking to do your will in their lives.
Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

ENDS

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1 Apostolic Letter, ‘A Fidelity That Generates the Future’, Pope Leo XIV, The Holy See, 8th December 2025.
2 Ibid, paragraphs 5-6.