The Diocese of Dromore is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It is one of eight suffragan dioceses which are subject to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Armagh.Archdiocese of Armagh
Retrieved on 16 January 2009. The diocese has lacked an ordinary since 2018. The most recent bishop was John McAreavey.

Geographical remit

The geographical remit of the see includes portions of the

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of Down, Armagh and Antrim which are all situated in

. Large population centres in the diocese include

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...

Banbridge Banbridge ( , ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the River Bann in 1712. It is situated in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iv ...

, Craigavon,

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

and Warrenpoint.Diocese of Dromore
''Catholic Hierarchy''. Retrieved on 23 August 2009. The bishop's seat ( cathedra) is in the cathedral church of SS Patrick and Colman, Newry.

History

Foundation

The monastery of Dromore is believed to have been founded in the sixth century by St Colman (called also Mocholmóc), probably the first Abbot of Dromore.History
''Diocese of Dromore''. Retrieved 28 April 2010. The first building was a small

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

church on the northern bank of the River Lagan. The Diocese of Dromore was established through the reorganisation of the Irish Church in the late 12th century, possibly at the synod held in Dublin in 1192 by the papal legate, Múirges Ua hÉnna, Archbishop of Cashel. The diocese coincided with the territory of the

Uí Echach Cobo Iveagh ( ; ) is the name of several historical territorial divisions in what is now County Down, Northern Ireland. Originally it was a Gaelic Irish territory, ruled by the ''Uí Echach Cobo'' and part of the overkingdom of Ulaid. From the 12th c ...

, which later became the baronies of Upper and Lower

Iveagh Iveagh ( ; ) is the name of several historical territorial divisions in what is now County Down, Northern Ireland. Originally it was a Gaelic Irish territory, ruled by the ''Uí Echach Cobo'' and part of the overkingdom of Ulaid. From the 12th ...

, and the lordship of

, County Down.

Post-Reformation

During the 16th century

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, the Roman Catholic Church lost control of the old cathedral in Dromore to the Protestant

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

, which was wholly destroyed during the rebellion of 1641 and rebuilt twenty years later. In the 19th century, the Church chose the site of a new cathedral at

, the largest town of County Down, and a place of significant ecclesiastical importance as the site of an ancient monastery, situated at the head of Carlingford Lough. Work for building of Newry Cathedral begun in 1823 and was completed in 1829 by Dr. Michael Blake (bishop of Dromore 1833–1860) who had been Vicar-General of Dublin and the restorer of the Irish College at Rome. This cathedral was enlarged and beautified by Bishop Henry O'Neill, who succeeded Bishop Thomas MacGivern in 1901. Under McGivern's predecessor, John Pius Leahy, O.P. (1860–1890), a Dominican priory was founded on the Armagh side of Newry, and a church erected. The

Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...

, who went to Newry from Harold's Cross, Dublin, in 1830, were for many years the only nuns north of the

River Boyne The River Boyne ( ga, An Bhóinn or ''Abhainn na Bóinne'') is a river in Leinster, Ireland, the course of which is about long. It rises at Trinity Well, Newberry Hall, near Carbury, County Kildare, and flows towards the Northeast through C ...

. The

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

founded a convent at Newry in 1855. Abbey Yard in Newry marks the site of the Cistercian abbey founded in 1144 by St. Bernard's friend, St. Malachy O'Morgair, and endowed in 1157 by Maurice O'Loughlin, High King of Ireland. It is called in the annals ''Monasterium de Viridi Ligno'' — a name given to Newry from the yew-tree, said to have been planted there by St. Patrick, the Irish name being Niubar (and sometimes Newrkintragh, "the yew at the head of the strand") which is Latinized Ivorium or Nevoracum, but more commonly as above Viride Lignum.

Allegations of Sexual Abuse

In 2012 the Parish Priest of Donaghmore in the diocese, Fr Terence Rafferty, was convicted of four counts of indecently assaulting a young girl in 2001. Five other offences were left on the books. The offences had been reported to the diocese in 2011: the diocese suspended him and promptly informed the relevant authorities. On 1 March 2018 Bishop John McAreavey resigned as

Bishop of Dromore The Bishop of Dromore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the original monastery of Dromore in County Down, Northern Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church the title still continues as a separate bishopric, but in the Church of Irel ...

with immediate effect amid controversy concerning his knowledge of, and behaviour towards Fr. Malachy Finegan. McAreavey celebrated Mass alongside him in 2000 despite knowing Finegan to be a paedophile against whom very serious criminal allegations had been made. In 2002, McAreavey celebrated the funeral Mass of Malachy Finegan in Warrenpoint, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. Pope Francis accepted McAreavey's resignation on 26 March 2018 and Bishop Philip Boyce was appointed

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic adm ...

. On 15 April 2019, Pope Francis appointed the Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin as Apostolic Administrator of the diocese.

Ordinaries

The following is a list of the bishops since the beginning of the 19th century. * Edmund Derry (1801–1819) * Hugh O'Kelly (1820–1825) * Thomas Kelly (1826–1833) *

Michael Blake (bishop) Bishop Michael Blake was an Irish Catholic Priest who served as Bishop of Dromore from 1833 to 1860. Michael Blake was born in Dublin in 1775, went to Rome at the age of seventeen to study for the priesthood. Dr Blake studied at the Pontifical Ir ...

(1833–1860) *

John Pius Leahy John Pius Leahy, O.P. (b. Cork 25 July 1802; d. Newry 6 September 1890) was an Irish Catholic Priest who served as Bishop of Dromore from 1860 to 1890. Aged 15, Leahy sailed from Cork for Lisbon. He was received into the Dominican Order on 8 Se ...

, O.P. (1860–1890) * Thomas MacGivern (1890–1900) * Henry O'Neill (1901–1915) * Edward Mulhern (1916–1943) * Eugene O'Doherty (1944–1975) * Francis Gerard Brooks (1976–1999) * John McAreavey (1999–2018)

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dromore 1192 establishments in Ireland Roman Catholic dioceses established in the 12th century Religion in County Antrim Religion in County Armagh Religion in County Down Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Armagh