Colm O'Reilly

The Most Reverend  Colm O'Reilly
Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise
Diocese	Ardagh and Clonmacnoise
Enthroned	10 April 1983 (appointed)
Predecessor	Cahal Daly
Orders
Ordination	19 June 1960 (Priest)
Consecration	10 April 1983 (Bishop)
Personal details
Born	11 January 1935 (1935-01-11) (age 76) Colmcille, County Longford, Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Denomination	Roman Catholic Church
Parents	John and Alicia O'Reilly

Colm O'Reilly (born 11 January 1935) is an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the current Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise.

The youngest of seven children, O'Reilly was born to John and Alicia O'Reilly in Colmcille, County Longford.^[1] His eldest brother, Peter (died 1988), was superior general of St. Patrick's Missionary Society for sixteen years, and another brother, Brendan (died 2000), was a member of the Divine Word Missionaries.^[1] He studied at St. Mel's College in Longford, and was ordained a priest on 19 June, 1960.^[2]

He spent his priesthood in parishes in the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise; he ministered for nine years in Granard and until 1983 he was curate and later administrator at St. Mel's Cathedral.^[1]

On 24 February 1983, O'Reilly was appointed Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 10 April 1983 from Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich, with Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi and Bishop Cahal Daly as co-consecrators.

Within the Irish Bishops Conference, he is Chairman of the Commission for the Missions and of the Liaison Committee for Child Protection; and a member of the Conference Department of Social Issues and International Affairs, Committee for Family and Children, Commission for Justice and Social Affairs, and Trócaire.^[3]

In the early hours of Christmas Day 2009, St Mel's Cathedral in Longford was destroyed by fire. Bishop O'Reilly said that the building was just a shell and had been burned out from end to end. He described the church whose construction had begun in 1840 as a flagship cathedral of the midlands. The cause of the fire is unclear.^[4]

In February 2010 it was revealed that 200 objects have been recovered from the ruins of St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford which was almost entirely destroyed in a fire on Christmas morning. The two finest examples of stained glass windows by Harry Clark Studios can be repaired and the windows in the cathedral can be copied, the bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise Dr Colm O’Reilly told a meeting at the weekend of the Longford Association in London. ^[5]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Bishop". Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise. http://www.ardaghdiocese.org/page6.html. 
2. ^ "Bishop Colm O'Reilly". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/borec.html. 
3. ^ "Bishop Colm O'Reilly". Irish Bishops Conference. http://www.catholicbishops.ie/missions/915-bishop-colm-oreilly. 
4. ^ "St. Mel's Cathedral destroyed by fire", The Longford Leader, 25 December 2009, http://www.longfordleader.ie/news/St-Mel39s-Cathedral-destroyed-by.5938801.jp, retrieved 2009-12-25 .
5. ^ [Searchers recover 200 artefacts from St Mel's Cathedral after fire http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0208/1224263954250.html]

External links

• Irish Catholic Bishop's Conference

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Cahal Daly	Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise 1983 – present	Succeeded by incumbent

Persondata
Name	Oreilly, Colm
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	11 January 1935
Place of birth	Colmcille, County Longford, Ireland
Date of death
Place of death