Church Roman Catholic Church Installed 8 February 2015 Denomination Roman Catholic Ordination 17 June 1978 Diocese Ennis Cathedral | Archdiocese Cashel and Emly Nationality Irish Predecessor Dermot Clifford Consecration 29 August 2010 Appointed 22 November 2014 | |
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Other posts Bishop of Killaloe (2010-2015) Born 8 August 1952 (age 64)
Cork, Ireland ( 1952-08-08 ) | ||
Kieran O’Reilly S.M.A. (born 8 August 1952) is an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly since his installation on 8 February 2015, before he was able to take up his 22 November 2014 appointment as Archbishop of Cashel and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Emly, at the close of his service as Bishop of Killaloe which he began with his episcopal ordination on 29 August 2010.
Biography
O'Reilly was born in Cork in the Diocese of Cork and Ross in 1952. In 1970, he entered the noviciate of the Society of African Missions in Wilton, Cork.
He subsequently attended courses in philosophy and theology at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. In 1974 he was awarded a Bachelor's degree in Literature, then in theology in 1977 and in 1978 the Diploma in missionary studies. On 10 April 1977, with the perpetual vow, he became a permanent member of the Society of African Missions (SMA). He was ordained a priest on 17 June 1978.
After ordination he served for two years in pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Monrovia, Liberia. In 1980 he was sent to the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome, where he obtained in 1984, his Licentiate in Sacred Scripture. He was subsequently Professor of Biblical Studies at the seminary in Ibadan, Nigeria.
From 1990 to 1995 he was a member of the Provincial Council of the Irish Province of his Institute, based in Cork. In May 1995 he was elected Vicar General and in 2001, Superior General of the Society of African Missions, and was then reelected to a second term in 2007.
He was appointed the Bishop of the Diocese of Killaloe by Pope Benedict XVI on 18 May 2010. The speed with which a successor to Bishop Walsh was named is notable as it normally takes a year to name a new diocesan ordinary. At the time of his consecration he was Ireland's youngest-serving Bishop in Ireland. He was consecrated on 29 August 2010.
On 22 November 2014, Pope Francis appointed O'Reilly to be the next Metropolitan Archbishop of the ecclesiastical province then denominated the province of Cashel, replacing retiring Archbishop Dermot Clifford. He took possession on 8 February 2015 of the newly united metropolitan see of Cashel and Emly, established on 26 January 2015.