The parish priest of Nenagh Co Tipperary, Fr Des Hillary, has been appointed administrator of Killaloe diocese following the installation of its former Bishop Kieran O’Reilly as Archbishop of Cashel & Emly on Sunday.
He was elected to the position at a meeting of Killaloe’s College of Consultors and will remain in the role until the appointment of a new bishop.
As diocesan administrator he has responsibility for the day-to-day running of the diocese.
From Milltown Malbay in Co Clare, Fr Hillary attended St Flannan’s College in Ennis and St Patrick’s College Maynooth from where he was ordained in 1984. He continued post-graduate studies at Maynooth and UCC while teaching in St Finbarr’s College in Farranferris Co Cork.
In 1986 he returned to Killaloe and taught in St Flannan’s there until 1994 when he was appointed to the formation staff at St Patrick’s College Maynooth where he remained until 2005.
‘Pastoral plan’
He then took a course in mission studies at the Columban’s centre in Dalgan Park, Navan, Co Meath, and in 2006 volunteered to work with Columban missionaries in Lima, Peru. He remained there until 2012 when he returned to Killaloe diocese as as parish priest of Nenagh.
On appointment as administrator he said he hoped “to continue the good work of Archbishop Kieran and Bishop Willie [Walsh] in encouraging us to respond to the challenges of the Gospel. I hope to do all that I can to facilitate the continued implementation of the pastoral plan for the diocese of Killaloe which recognises our shared mission as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. I respectfully ask that the people of the diocese would keep me in their prayers as we await the appointment of a new bishop.”
