Bishops Emeriti

Bishop John Kirby (born 29 October 1938) was the Bishop of Clonfert from 1988 to 2019.

He was a native of Baylough, Athlone, County Westmeath. He was educated at St Joseph College, Garbally Park, Ballinasloe He went to St. Patrick College, Maynooth to study for the priesthood and was ordained there on 23 June 1963 for Clonfert. He was appointed to the teaching staff of the college and became President and School Principal in 1979.

On 18 February 1988 he was named Bishop of Clonfert, following the appointment of Bishop Joseph Cassidy to become Archbishop of Tuam. He was ordained a bishop on 9 April. The principal consecrator was Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland; the co-consecrators were two of his predecessors in Clonfert Archbishop Joseph Cassidy, and Bishop William Philbin.

Pope Francis accepted his resignation on 16 July 2019. He is currently parish priest of Cappataggle & Kilrickle.

Born in Derrybrien in the parish of Ballinakill, Co. Galway on 20 May 1946 to Seán and Annie Kelly, Bishop Brendan was the second of nine children. He attended Craughwell National School and subsequently boarded at St Mary’s Diocesan College in Galway City. Following completion of his Leaving Certificate in 1964 he applied to and was accepted by the then bishop, Michael Browne, to study for diocesan priesthood in the Galway diocese. He was sent to St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, in September of that year. As a seminarian Bishop Brendan completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1967 and a Bachelor of Divinity Degree in 1970.

He was ordained to the priesthood on 20 June 1971 by Bishop Browne in the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas. His first appointment was to the parish of Kinvara as a curate before being appointed to the teaching staff of Coláiste Éinde in Salthill in 1972, completing a Higher Diploma in Education in University College Galway (now NUI Galway) in 1973. Bishop Brendan remained on the staff of Coláiste Éinde until 1980 when he was transferred to the teaching staff of Our Lady’s College, Gort, where he became President in 1986.

Following the 1995 amalgamation of the three Gort secondary schools, Bishop Brendan applied for and was granted sabbatical leave from his diocese for one year and went to live with the L’Arche Community at Cuise-la-Motte in France. Founded by Jean Vanier in 1964, the worldwide L’Arche movement seeks to create inclusive, creative and caring families where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work in friendship, joy and mutual respect.

Returning to his diocese in 1996, Bishop Brendan was appointed by Bishop James McLoughlin as parish priest of Lisdoonvarna in Co. Clare and subsequently as parish priest of An Spidéal in 2003.

On 20 November 2007 Bishop Brendan was named by Pope Benedict XVI as the Bishop of Achonry, succeeding Bishop Thomas Flynn, and on 27 January 2008 he was ordained to the episcopate by Cardinal Seán Brady in the Cathedral of the Annunciation and St Nathy in Ballaghaderreen.

On 11 December 2017 Pope Francis named Bishop Brendan as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora, succeeding Bishop Martin Drennan who retired in July 2016. Bishop Kelly was offically installed as bishop in the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas, Galway, on 11 February 2018, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.