Ennis parish priest to move to Birr
Very Rev Tom Hogan, Parish Priest in Ennis for the last 20 years, is to become Co-Parish Priest in Birr, and Vicar Forane of the Brendan Pastoral Area 14, residing in Birr.
Bishop Fintan Monahan announced the new clerical appointments on Friday last includes the formation of new pastoral areas, that bring the 58 parishes, which up until now have been divided into 12 clusters, divided into 15 pastoral areas across the Diocese.
Fr Hogan who is a native of Templederry in North Tipperary was ordained in 1979, worked for a time in Shannon as director of religious education there, before moving to Ennis for the last 20 years. Many people locally will know him however, from his work as school chaplain in Roscrea.
The other change will see Rev Rexon Chullickal, a native of India, who has been based in Kerala, Birr, become CC in Pastoral Area 12 in Nenagh.
A third change will see Very Rev David Carroll, currently Parish Priest in Birr, move to Bodyke, and become Co-Parish Priest and Vicar Forane there. Fr David is also to take on responsibility for developing pastoral supervision for clergy.
Pastoral area 14 comprises Birr, Shinrone, Kilcolman, Kinnitty, and will maintain four Priests, plus one semi-retired and one school chaplain including Tom Hogan, Michael Reddan, Michael O'Meara, Kieran Blake (Tom Hannon), and Pat Gilbert. The Vicare Forane is Tom Hogan.
Vicar Forane, formerly referred to as “rural dean”, will be in charge of coordinating all the priests in the diocese to work more closely as a team and encourage the work of lay ministers to become more involved in liturgical, clerical and administrative life of the parish. Fr Brendan Quinlivan, Killaloe Diocesan Communications Officer said the numerous changes made by the Bishop are due to an imbalance in the age profile of the clergy in certain areas.
“Many are either near to, at the age of, or past the age of retirement. You might have five or six clergy of that age in the one area, so what the Bishop wanted to do was to restore a balance. The pastoral areas have also been divided into smaller clusters to encourage clergy to work closer together. They are being encouraged to work together as a team and to build up lay ministers to become involved in the liturgical, clerical and and administrative life of the parish,” Fr Quinlivan explained.
“One priest in each area will become a coordinator of this, and for this an old term, 'Vicar Forane' has been appointed, and they will have powers given to them by the Bishop to carry out work to encourage the priests of the area - Birr, Kilcolman, Shinrone and Kinnity to meet more frequently to plan and organise things, and to increase the level of lay participation. That is their mission.”
The appointments will take effect from Friday July 20.