Dermot Clifford

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The
Coadjutor Archbishop of Cashel and Emly
(1985–1988)

Dermot Clifford, (born 25 January 1939), was the Catholic

Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Cloyne.[1] He was a founding board member of Bothar.[2]

Early life and education

Clifford was born in

St Brendan's College, Killarney. Among his teachers at St. Brendan's was the late Bishop of Kerry, Diarmaid Ó Súilleabháin
.

From Killarney, he moved to

Licentiate in Sacred Theology
, being in Rome for the first two sessions of Vatican Council II. As a student, he claims to have been given responsibility of looking after the Irish bishops who stayed in the Irish College.

Priesthood

Clifford's first post after ordination was as a teacher and Dean of Discipline in

St Brendan's College, Killarney
, where he taught from 1964 to 1972. He commuted to Cork five days per week (1965–1966) for his Higher Diploma in Education. He was later to lecture on a part-time basis in University College Cork in Social Science (1975–1981).

Clifford then studied Social Administration at the

Eamon Casey
. During that time he also served as Chaplain to St. Mary of the Angels, Beaufort, a home for children with learning disabilities.

Archbishop of Cashel and Emly

Styles of
Dermot Clifford
Your Grace
Religious styleArchbishop

The

Eamon Casey
and Annie Murphy it is widely believed Clifford was promoted from Casey's secretary to Archbishop to reduce the risk of the story leaking.

In 1989 he became the first Kerryman to hold the office of Patron of the

PhD degree for a thesis on Carers of the Elderly and Handicapped at Loughborough University
; this was based on studies he conducted in Kerry.

Clifford served on the Emigrant Commission of the Bishops' Conference and, in 1987 helped to set up the Chaplaincy Scheme to the young emigrants in the USA..

On 24 March 2010 it was announced by the Holy See that John Magee had formally resigned from his duties as Bishop of Cloyne and was now bishop emeritus and that Clifford, already apostolic administrator there, will remain as such until the appointment of a full-time successor to the Cloyne diocese.[3]

In July 2011 Clifford wrote to the lay faithful of Cloyne and apologised for the poor way in which complaints had been handled by diocesan officials in the Diocese of Cloyne[4]

Clifford served as Apostolic Administrator to the Diocese of Cloyne until the new bishop, William Crean was ordained and installed on 27 January 2013.

Apostolic visitation

In October 2010, Archbishop

Seán Brady, Archbishops Diarmuid Martin
of Dublin and Dermot Clifford of Cashel and Emly met for high-level talks with heads of Vatican congregations over the apostolic visitation of Irish dioceses in the wake of the Murphy and Ryan reports. While in Rome, the Irish churchmen met with a team of investigators appointed by Pope Benedict to examine the four Irish archdioceses and "some other as yet unspecified dioceses".

In November 2014 he retired on the grounds of age.

The "Apostolic Visitors" included Cardinal

Timothy Dolan of New York
. This investigation was hampered by the exclusion of past seminarians who had not been ordained.

References

  1. ^ "Archbishop Dermot Clifford". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  2. ^ Beesley, Arthur; Raleigh, David. "Bóthar founder Peter Ireton found dead at home in Limerick". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  3. ^ Press Office of the Holy See[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Archbishop Clifford writes letter of apology". 16 July 2011.
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