Appointment of New Rector
Posted on 08. Sep, 2011 in Carousel
Father Ciarán O’Carroll has been appointed as Rector of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome. Father O’Carroll was the Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation in the Archdiocese of Dublin and Administrator of the Catholic University Church on Saint Stephen’s Green, Dublin. Father O’Carroll succeeds Monsignor Liam Bergin from the Diocese of Ossory, who has been Rector of the Irish College since 2001.
Welcoming news of his appointment Father 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.” Father O’Carroll also expressed his appreciation to 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.
From Mount Merrion Parish in Dublin, Father O’Carroll is the son of Tadhg (RIP) and Sheila O’Carroll; he has three sisters and two brothers.
Father O’Carroll holds a doctorate in ecclesiastical history and has been the author of several publications on the subject including a study of a previous rector of the Irish College Paul Cardinal Cullen – Portrait of a Practical Nationalist (2008). He is a graduate of University College Dublin and the Gregorian University, Rome.
Father O’Carroll has lectured in ecclesiastical history at a number of third level institutes including Holy Cross College in Clonliffe, Dublin, and at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth in County Kildare. 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.
He is currently secretary to the Council of Priests, 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.