The Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation in the Archdiocese of Dublin has been appointed as the new Rector of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome.Fr Ciarán O’Carroll, who is also Administrator of the Catholic University Church on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin, succeeds Mgr Liam Bergin from the Diocese of Ossory, who has been Rector of the College since 2001.
The position of Rector is appointed by the Congregation for Catholic Education in the Holy See on the authority of the Pope, having been recommended by the Trustees of the Irish College.
There are currently 20 seminarians studying for the priesthood at the College of whom 17 are Irish. In addition, there are 40 priests who studying at post-graduate level.
Fr O’Carroll, who holds a doctorate in ecclesiastical history and is the author of several publications in this area, is a graduate of University College Dublin, the Angelicum University, Rome, and the Gregorian University, Rome.
He has lectured in ecclesiastical history at a number of third level institutes including Holy Cross College in Clonliffe and at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.
A priest of the Archdiocese of Dublin, he has ministered in a number of parishes including Naul, Sutton, Rathmines and Saggart prior to his present appointment.
Welcoming the news of his appointment, Fr O’Carroll said, “I am very much looking forward to meeting with the staff and students of the Pontifical Irish College. I am honoured to accept this challenging role at this time when renewal of the Church is at the heart of all we do and the formation of students has such a particular role in that renewal.”
He also expressed his appreciation of his colleagues in the Office of Evangelisation in Dublin, saying they had helped highlight the importance of evangelisation throughout the diocese in a relatively short time.
He is currently secretary to the Council of Priests in Dublin, Chair of the Diocesan Trócaire Working Group and a member both of the Diocesan Council and the board of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Ireland 2012.
The Irish College in Rome was founded on January 1 1628 by the Irish Franciscan, Fr Luke Wadding and Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi.
The College serves as a centre for the Irish community in Rome and each year over 250 Irish couples celebrate their weddings there.
The College is the only surviving example of the large number of Irish seminaries established on the European mainland during the era of the penal laws in Ireland to educate priests for the Irish Church.
Past pupils include Saint Oliver Plunkett and Blessed Columba Marmion.