Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Bishop of Kerry speaks of his forthcoming retirement

Having reached 75 years of age, the mandatory age for Bishops retirement on June 6, the Bishop of Kerry Dr Bill Murphy has said that he ''is ready to go.’’ 

''I'm ready to go.  I'm 75 and I haven't the energy I had before.  I've done 16 years as Bishop and a year before that as Administrator of the diocese and I feel I have now done my bit'.”

Bishop Murphy, who celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination, recently, added that he was, “ready to hand over the reins to a younger and more energetic person.’’ 

He said that he had, “enjoyed the job over the past number of years.  It's really not very challenging, maybe the physical size of Kerry is an issue but the priests here have been very easy to work with. But it will become more difficult due to priest numbers , so experience and a capacity to make tough decisions will be needed.”

Highlighting some of his personal goals that he managed to achieve during his tenure he said, “I said that my main focus would be the involvement of laity at diocesan and pastoral level and I think considerable progress has been made in that respect.  We have a very good Diocesan Pastoral Council, with a member from each of the pastoral areas and we have area pastoral councils as well as parish pastoral councils in every parish and liturgy groups.  We have also a lot of laity involved in the whole issue of child protection with representatives who are implementing policies and procedures in every parish.”

On his retirement plans, Bishop Murphy said, “I'll be retired from administration, which I'm looking forward to, but I won't be retired from priesthood, and I will be available to priests if they are sick or on holiday.”

Having submitted his resignation to Rome, the process to appoint Bishop Murphy's successor could take between three months and two years. 

Bishop Murphy has also become the third Bishop in Munster to retire in the past 2 years following the retirements of the Bishop of Limerick Dr Donal Murray and the Bishop of Killaloe Dr Willie Walsh.