Roman Catholic Diocese of Ferns

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The Diocese of Ferns (Irish: Deoise Fhearna) is an Irish diocese located in the South East of Ireland covering most of County Wexford and some of County Carlow and County Wicklow. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Dublin.

Contents 1 History 2 Ordinaries 3 Sex abuse controversy 4 References 5 Sources 6 External links

[edit] History

W. H. Grattan Flood wrote a History of the Diocese of Ferns that was published in 1916. ^[1]

He begins his Introduction, illustrating the origin of the Diocese, by stating:

“

It is a far cry back to the year 598, when the See of Ferns was established, with St. Aedan (Mo-Aedh-og or Mogue) as first Bishop. During his episcopate thirty churches and numerous monasteries were founded. St. Ibar, St. Abban, St. Brendan, and St. Senan were also early labourers in the diocese. St. Aedan died on January 31st, 630, leaving a fragrant memory behind him, and his episcopal See was known as Fearna-mor-Moedhoc." [2]

”

[edit] Ordinaries

• Nicholas French (1645 - 1652)
• Vacant (1652 - 1744)
• Nicholas Sweetman (1745 - 1786)
• James Caulfield (1786 - 1814)
• Patrick Ryan (1814 - 1819)
• James Keating (1819 - 1849)
• Vacant (1850 - 1856)
• Thomas Furlong (1857 - 1875)
• Michael Warren (1876 - 1884)
• James Browne (1884 - 1917)
• William Codd (1917 - 1938)
• James Staunton (1938 - 1963)
• Donald J. Herlihy (1964 - 1983)
• Brendan Oliver Comiskey S.S.C.C. (1984 - 2002)
• Denis Brennan (2006 - )

[edit] Sex abuse controversy

The October 2005 Report of the Ferns Inquiry has outlined the serious levels of clerical sex abuse in the diocese since the 1960s. It strongly criticised the former bishops of Ferns, Donal Herlihy and Brendan Comiskey for their inability to deal with the allegations of sexual abuse made against a number of priests.

[edit] References

1. ^ Grattan Flood, History, title page.
2. ^ Grattan Flood, History, p. ix.

[edit] Sources

• Grattan Flood, W.H. History of the Diocese of Ferns. Waterford: Downey & Co., 1916.

[edit] External links

• Ferns.ie - Official site
• Diocese of Ferns (Giga-Catholic Information)
• Catholic-Hierarchy.org - Diocese Profile
• Profile from CatholicCity.com - info from Catholic Encyclopedia

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