Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on May 23, 2008 13:45:30 GMT
The Diocese of Clogher has slightly more than 86,000 Catholics in 37 parishes staffed by 82 priests. It covers all of Co Monaghan, most of Co Fermanagh, and few parishes in counties Tyrone and Donegal and a small area in Co Louth. It is one of Ireland's four cross-border dioceses. Its official website is: www.clogherdiocese.ie/
The Bishop of Clogher, Mgr Joseph Duffy, is the longest serving member of the Irish hierarchy, serving since 1979. As such, he has been the only bishop in this diocese since the promulgation of the indult Quattuor Abhinc Annos in 1984. If Mgr Seamus Hegarty of Derry is known as an ardent Germanophile on the bench of bishops in Ireland, Mgr Duffy is the leading Francophile among the Irish bishops.
Since 1984, activity by traditionalists in Clogher has been very limited. The Society of St Pius X had a monthly Mass in a private chapel in Kesh, Co Fermanagh (a predominantly Protestant village). This has been abandoned in recent months.
The traditional Mass was organised on an annual basis at St Patrick's Purgatory, Lough Derg, Co Donegal between 1994 and 2001 (see www.loughderg.ie/). This was discontinued in 2001 as the Prior of Lough Derg, Mgr Mohan, was constantly assigning unfavourable days to the organisers. However, the authorities in Lough Derg are adamant that they are not excluding the traditional Mass as a matter of principle and that if a group such as the LMSI could guarrantee at least 400 pilgrims, they would look at the possibility of allowing the traditional three-day pilgrimage with the extraordinary form.
In 2005, a teenager from Newbliss in the parish of Kileevan presented a petition to the bishop gathered in this parish. Newbliss is a few miles from Clones and is on the Monaghan side of the border. In point of fact, it is Bishop Duffy's home town. The bishop received the young man and told him though he personally didn't agree him, he respected his right to seek the traditional Mass and said he was prepared to allow the parish priest of Killevan say Mass in what is now known as the extraordinary form on a trial basis . That is the last that is known about the matter.
It is not known if there is any priest in the Clogher Diocese either available to say the extraordinary form or even if any is interested in doing so.
The Bishop of Clogher, Mgr Joseph Duffy, is the longest serving member of the Irish hierarchy, serving since 1979. As such, he has been the only bishop in this diocese since the promulgation of the indult Quattuor Abhinc Annos in 1984. If Mgr Seamus Hegarty of Derry is known as an ardent Germanophile on the bench of bishops in Ireland, Mgr Duffy is the leading Francophile among the Irish bishops.
Since 1984, activity by traditionalists in Clogher has been very limited. The Society of St Pius X had a monthly Mass in a private chapel in Kesh, Co Fermanagh (a predominantly Protestant village). This has been abandoned in recent months.
The traditional Mass was organised on an annual basis at St Patrick's Purgatory, Lough Derg, Co Donegal between 1994 and 2001 (see www.loughderg.ie/). This was discontinued in 2001 as the Prior of Lough Derg, Mgr Mohan, was constantly assigning unfavourable days to the organisers. However, the authorities in Lough Derg are adamant that they are not excluding the traditional Mass as a matter of principle and that if a group such as the LMSI could guarrantee at least 400 pilgrims, they would look at the possibility of allowing the traditional three-day pilgrimage with the extraordinary form.
In 2005, a teenager from Newbliss in the parish of Kileevan presented a petition to the bishop gathered in this parish. Newbliss is a few miles from Clones and is on the Monaghan side of the border. In point of fact, it is Bishop Duffy's home town. The bishop received the young man and told him though he personally didn't agree him, he respected his right to seek the traditional Mass and said he was prepared to allow the parish priest of Killevan say Mass in what is now known as the extraordinary form on a trial basis . That is the last that is known about the matter.
It is not known if there is any priest in the Clogher Diocese either available to say the extraordinary form or even if any is interested in doing so.