Monsignor Noel Treanor will be ordained Bishop of Down and Connor on 29th June 2008, in St. Peter's Cathedral, Belfast. The Principal Consecrator will be His Eminence Cardinal Seán Brady, and both Bishop Patrick Walsh  and Bishop Joseph Duffy will be co-consecrators.

In a recent interview with William Scholes of the Irish News, Monsignor Treanor talked about the challenges facing him in this new role. He indicated that his priorities and challenges would be worked out in “attentive conversation…with the priests of the diocese, with the religious women and men engaged in various ministries, with those living the monastic life and with lay men and women, parents and youth leaders.”

Monsignor Treanor further indicated that, at the dawn of the 21st Century, we as Christians face a particular challenge, that of handing on our Christian faith in a society which has undergone profound and rapid social, economic and cultural changes. Old and tried forms of evangelisation and pastoral care, he continued, will have to be complemented by new initiatives.

Asked if he had specific plans for the diocese, Monsignor treanor said: ‘On June 29th, the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, I shall join a diocese that has a long and rich history, a history I shall need to get to know better. Trials, sufferings and great achievements characterise that history, not least in more recent times. I wish to learn from this history so as to face the future together with the clergy, religious and people of the diocese. I do not come with a plan… If plans are required, as I am sure will be the case in the years ahead, we shall evolve them together through discussion, consultation and prayer’.

In relation to young people, Monsignor Treanor said that he believed that they would form the diocese in the future and indicated that their energy and youthful spirits were essential in the building of a just and Christian society. He concluded be talking about the fact that his experience with the Commission of the Bishop’s Conference in the EU helped him to understand that reconciliation between erstwhile enemies is possible and can in fact produce new life and new possibilities. We wish Monsignor Noel Treanor many blessings as he begins his new appointment.

Claire McKiernan DC

Quotations from Irish News