Invite-only Service for New Bishop to Be Streamed Live from Cathedral

Evening Echo
January 25, 2013

http://www.eveningecho.ie/2013/01/25/invite-only-service-for-new-bishop-to-be-streamed-live-from-cathedral/

THE ordination of the Diocese of Cloyne’s new bishop on Sunday will be streamed online amid unprecedented interest in the appointment.

Canon William Crean will be ordained at St Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh on Sunday during an invitation-only ceremony at 3pm.

Parishes throughout the diocese have been restricted to 25 places for parishioners at the ceremony due to the demand to be present for the event. The Diocese of Cloyne has 46 parishes, 107 churches and 150,000 parishioners.

Up to 150 priests will attend the ordination, as will Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown, the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, Dr Dermot Clifford and Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin. St Colman’s Cathedral has a capacity of approximately 600.

It will be streamed online for those who cannot attend.

The 60-year-old canon will take over the role following the darkest period in its history.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed 60-year-old Reverend Canon William Crean, parish priest of Cahirsiveen in County Kerry, as Bishop of Cloyne on November 24. The appointment was made on the day of the Feast of Saint Colman, Patron Saint of the Diocese of Cloyne.

Archbishop Dermot Clifford has been Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Cloyne since March 7, 2009.

Bishop John Magee resigned amid fierce criticism of his handling of child sex abuse cases in the Diocese.

In 2011, the Cloyne Report found the diocese failed adequately to record, report or investigate allegations made against priests from 1996 to 2009.

Canon Crean acknowledged the scandal on the day of his appointment, referring to victims’ “suffering compounded by the failure of those who didn’t believe them and of those who didn’t hear their cry for help”.

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