Patrick O'Donoghue (4 May 1934 – 24 January 2021) was an Irish Roman Catholic bishop who served as the fifth Bishop of Lancaster, who led the diocese from 2001 to 2009.

Early life

He was born in the small parish of

Mourne Abbey Mourneabbey () is a small civil and Roman Catholic parish in the barony of Barretts, northwest County Cork, Ireland. The parish is situated just south of Mallow, on the main Mallow-Cork Road and Rail Line. The population of the parish is about ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

, Ireland on 4 May 1934, one of five children of farmers Daniel and Sheila O'Donoghue. O'Donoghue came to Britain in 1959 to train for the priesthood first at Campion House, Osterley, Middlesex, then from 1961 to 1967 at Allen Hall seminary when it was at St Edmund's, Ware. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood for the

Archdiocese of Westminster The Catholic Diocese of Westminster is an archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in England. The diocese consists of most of London north of the River Thames and west of the River Lea, the borough of Spelthorne (in Surrey), and th ...

in England on 25 May 1967.

Episcopal Ministry

He was appointed an Auxiliary Bishop of

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

and

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Tulana on 18 May 1993. His

consecration Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

took place on 29 June 1993, the principal

consecrator A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

was

Basil Hume George Basil Hume OSB OM (2 March 1923 – 17 June 1999) was an English Catholic bishop. He was a monk and priest of the English Benedictine monastery of Ampleforth Abbey and its abbot for 13 years until his appointment as Archbishop of Wes ...

, Cardinal-Archbishop of Westminster and the principal co-consecrators were

John Patrick Crowley John Patrick Crowley (born 23 June 1941 in Newbury, England) is a retired Roman Catholic bishop of Diocese of Middlesbrough, England, who carries the honorary title of Bishop Emeritus. He was ordained a priest in 1965, and, as secretary to Cardi ...

Bishop of Middlesbrough The Bishop of Middlesbrough is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough in the Province of Liverpool, England. The diocese covers an area of of the counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire together with th ...

and Patrick Joseph Casey, Bishop Emeritus of Brentwood. As an auxiliary bishop, O'Donoghue had particular oversight for the West London area; he succeeded in this role the late Bishop Gerald Mahon, who had died in office in January 1992. Following the sudden death of John Brewer O'Donoghue was appointed the Bishop of Lancaster on 5 June 2001, and installed at

St Peter's Cathedral, Lancaster Lancaster Cathedral, also known as The Cathedral Church of St Peter and Saint Peter's Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. It was a Roman Catholic parish church until 1924, when it was elevated to the sta ...

on 4 July 2001. His portrait was painted for

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of ...

in 2002 by

Christian Furr Christian Furr (born 1966, Heswall, Wirral, England) is an English painter. In 1995 he was commissioned to paint Queen Elizabeth II. Education Furr was educated at Ladymount Primary School, Heswall and St Anselm's College, Birkenhead. He lat ...

Diocesan situation

In 2007 he led a major diocesan review called ''Fit for Mission?'' to prepare the diocese for the future with fewer priests and practising Catholics and attempting to encourage all Catholics to be more missionary-focussed.

Catholic schools

In November 2007, he brought out his teaching document on Catholic education, ''Fit for Mission? – Schools.'' Hailed in the Catholic press as 'groundbreaking' and 'courageous', it was also praised by the Holy See. The Congregation for Clergy 'hopes it will become an example for other Dioceses in the country in their implementation of the General Directory for Catechesis and the Catechism of the Catholic Church', and the Congregation for Catholic Education wrote, it ''will undoubtedly be a reliable resource for renewing the vitality of Catholic Education in today's society''. O'Donoghue was an opponent of attempts to secularise the culture of Catholic schools in the

Diocese of Lancaster The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lancaster is a Latin Church Roman Catholic diocese centred on Lancaster Cathedral in the city of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. History The diocese was erected in 1924, taking areas and parishes from the Archdi ...

. For instance, he gave instructions to the schools to halt promotion of contraceptives, remove "anti-Catholic" books from their libraries and prevent the presentation of ideas contrary to the Catholic Church's official teaching. Some secularist critics, such as

Barry Sheerman Barry John Sheerman (born 17 August 1940) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Huddersfield, previously Huddersfield East, since 1979. He is also Labour's longest continuously servi ...

, a Labour MP and

Steve Sinnott Steve Sinnott (24 June 1951 – 5 April 2008) was the General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers from 2004 until his death in 2008. Born in Liverpool, Sinnott became deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers in 1994 in ...

of the

National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in Education in England, England, Education in Wales, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NU ...

attacked him for his views on education in Catholic schools.

Catholic Caring Services

In October 2008 he came into direct conflict with trustees of the local Catholic-founded adoption agency, ''Catholic Caring Services'' (CCS), which was attempting to enact

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

adoption contrary to Church teachings, following the UK government's

Sexual Orientation Regulations The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 was secondary legislation in the United Kingdom, outlawing discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities, services, education and public functions on the grounds of sexual orientation. ...

. In a letter to the agency he threatened them with eviction from church property, warned that he would sue the CCS for money left in wills by Catholics to the agency if they did not change their stance within one week, threatened to inform the Charities Commission that the organisation was no longer Catholic, and would break its link with the Lancaster diocese:

''I find it unthinkable, indeed heart-breaking, that ''Catholic Caring Services'', so linked to the Catholic Church since its inception, would abandon its position and capitulate to recent same-sex adoption legislation''.

Retirement and death

O'Donoghue retired on 1 May 2009, with a special Mass at St Peter's Cathedral, Lancaster, and assumed the title Bishop

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of Lancaster. He left the Diocese of Lancaster on 29 May 2009 and retired as an assistant priest to the parish of

Bantry Bantry () is a town in the civil parish of Kilmocomoge in the barony of Bantry on the southwest coast of County Cork, Ireland. It lies in West Cork at the head of Bantry Bay, a deep-water gulf extending for to the west. The Beara Peninsula is ...

on the west coast of County Cork, Ireland. He died on 24 January 2021 at the Nazareth House care home at

Dromahane Dromahane () is a village located south west of the town of Mallow, County Cork, Ireland on the R619 regional road. Centred on a main crossroads, the village overlooks the Blackwater Valley. As of the 2016 census, Dromahane had a population ...

, where he had been resident after becoming infirm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonoghue, Patrick 1934 births 2021 deaths People from County Cork Roman Catholic bishops of Lancaster Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom People from Bantry 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in England