I warmly welcome the appointment today by Pope Francis of Bishop-elect Fintan Gavin as the new Bishop of Cork & Ross.
Bishop-elect Fintan will bring a wealth of pastoral and administrative experience to his important role from his work in his native Archdiocese of Dublin. I look forward to his contribution to the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Maynooth and, along within our own local bishops, to the metropolitan province of Cashel & Emly. I personally look forward to working with Bishop-elect Fintan and, on behalf of the bishops of the province, I wish him a very warm welcome and assure him of our support and prayers.
On this special day in the history of the Diocese of Cork and Ross, I offer every blessing and good wish to the people, religious and priests of the diocese.
In a particular way I would like to pay tribute to Bishop John Buckley who today welcomes his successor to the See of Saint Finbarr and Saint Fachtna. Bishop John has exercised a long and fruitful ministry in the diocese serving in all over thirty-five years first, as an Auxiliary Bishop from 1984 -1997 and, from then, to the present day, as bishop of the diocese. I would like to pay tribute to the ministry that he has exercised in the diocese over this time but especially his ministry to the sick through visitation of hospitals and to Bishop John’s presence at moments of bereavement in many families. Bishop John has contributed greatly to the work of the Bishops’ Conference in particular his work in the area of health care and with spiritual support service, Towards Peace. May God continue to bless Bishop John and his ministry into the future.
I offer my prayerful good wishes to Bishop-elect Fintan, his family, friends and to all the faithful of the sixty eight parishes of the Diocese of Cork and Ross May our Blessed Lady, Saint Finbarr and Saint Fachtna watch over and guide Bishop-elect Fintan in his new ministry.
ENDS
