Father Niall Coll, a parish priest and veteran university lecturer from Northern Ireland, has been selected by Pope Francis to lead the Diocese of Ossory in the country’s southeast. In his presentation to his new diocese, he urged the development of a “new generation of Christian witnesses.”
“Please understand that I am as astonished as you are to be standing before you this morning as the future Bishop of Ossory,” he remarked on Friday. He described the appointment as “the start of a new life and vocation for me, as well as a new chapter for the Ossory Diocese.”
Coll is a priest for the Diocese of Raphoe at age 59. He is currently a parish priest serving churches in Donegal town and Clar in the Tawnawilly Parish of County Donegal.
His appointment was announced in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Kilkenny, Ossory Diocese. The bishop-remarks designate’s related to the differences between Ulster, Ireland’s northern province, and Leinster, his new home in the island’s eastern region.
“An Ulsterman in deepest Leinster? A bishop who devoted the majority of his ministry to education?” he inquired. “But here I am! I am truly intimidated by the idea and realize that I will only be able to minister fruitfully here with God’s mercy, your gracious welcome, and your continued support.”
The vast majority of the nearly 85,000 citizens of the Ossory Diocese are Catholic. According to the diocese’s website, there are 42 parishes across its area, which covers portions of the three Irish counties of Kilkenny, Laois, and Offaly.
The diocese has been without a bishop since 2018, when Dermot Farrell was appointed Archbishop of Dublin. Since that time, Bishop Denis Nulty, the bishop of the nearby diocese of Kildare and Loughlin, has served as the administrator of the Ossory Diocese.
Nulty stated in a statement released on Friday, “I have known Niall since our student days in Maynooth in the 1980s, and as such, I am fully aware of his extraordinary gifts, his deep faith, and his great passion for theology, pastoral ministry, and lay faith development.” In the coming weeks, as we prepare for your ordination as the future Bishop of Ossory, we will continue to keep you in our prayers, Niall.
The bishop-designate described some of his connections to his prospective diocese, including his interactions with local religious sisters, clergy, and seminarians. Coll was “heartbroken” to leave his current parish, especially in light of the pandemic’s hardships.
“As you are aware, the recovery from COVID-19 has been gradual, and we do not yet have a clear understanding of its entire impacts,” he stated. It will likely extend a lengthy shadow into the distant future.
Coll contemplated the difficulties facing Catholicism, such as the need for transformation.
“I come to Ossory at a time when Irish society is becoming increasingly secular and individualistic,” he explained. According to him, the “Tridentine pattern” of Catholicism, which dates back to the Council of Trent, has “rendered Catholics almost everywhere incapable of detecting and negotiating opportunities for reform in church life.”
Nevertheless, he continued, “relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, we must recognize and adapt in accordance with Pope Francis’ emphasis on the necessity of synodality.”
Coll stated, “I look forward to working with the priests, people, and religious of the Diocese of Ossory to improve the work already being done to establish a theological and pastoral vision capable of inviting, informing, and inspiring a new generation of Christian witnesses.”
Coll was born in Letterkenny, County Donegal, on August 25, 1963. He attended St. Patrick College in Maynooth, the principal seminary in Ireland, which is a pontifical university. On July 3, 1988, he was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Raphoe.
In 1995, he earned his doctorate in sacred theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. He served as a lecturer, the equivalent of an assistant professor, at St. Eunan’s College in Letterkenny and then as a theology lecturer at St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth.
He taught religious studies and religious education at St. Mary’s University College in Belfast from 2001 to 2019. RTÉ News notes that he has contributed to periodicals such as Doctrine and Life, The Furrow, The Irish Theological Quarterly, and The Tablet.
His parochial responsibilities include serving as vicar of the Dungloe parish church from 1998 to 2001. From 2019 to 2021, he served as the pastor of Druholm-Ballintrina parish.
The Ossory Diocese has its origins in the sixth-century ministry of St. Kieran the Elder, an abbot. Coll will be Kieran’s successor number 96.
Coll concluded his speech by reciting a prayer in Irish for the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, and the Irish saints Kieran, Canice, and Brigid.