Dermot Farrell
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Monsignor Dermot Farrell is a native of Castletown-Geoghegan, County Westmeath, Ireland. He was educated at St Finian’s College, Mullingar and St Patrick's College, Maynooth. Maynooth comprises the Pontifical University and the National Seminary.
Ordained in 1980, Dermot Pius Farrell undertook postgraduate studies at Maynooth before his brief tenure as curate in Mullingar in 1981.
In 1985 he went to Rome to complete his doctorate at the Gregorian University while also serving on the staff of the Pontifical Irish College.
On his return to the Diocese in 1988 he was appointed curate in Tullamore. In 1990 he was appointed by the Trustees of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, to the Faculty of Theology.
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[edit] President of Maynooth
Three years later he was appointed Vice-President and executive secretary to the then President, Michael Ledwith and in 1996 President.
During his tenure, Mgr Farrell presided over a thorough revision of the formation programme in the light of Pastores Dabo Vobis as well as overseeing the major reconstruction and renovation of all Maynooth College’s heritage buildings. His time as President has also coincided with a general decline in the number of vocations in Ireland, by some 75% between 1997 and 2006.[1]
As President of Maynooth, there was controversy after theologian Fr Charles Curran, a censured dissident theologian, was invited to speak at the college in April 2006. Mgr Farrell has said his approval was not sought before the invitation was sent.[2] The American priest was banned from teaching by Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger, in 1986 after he questioned the Catholic Church's ban on contraception.
[edit] Parish Priest of Dunboyne
Monsignor Farrell has been Parish Priest of Dunboyne, in the Diocese of Meath, since 1 September 2007. He replaced Monsignor Edward Dunne
[edit] Potential bishop?
His name has been mentioned as a potential bishop. On 24th March, 2007, The Irish Catholic Newspaper suggested he was to made auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Meath. However, on 29th March, 2007, The Irish Catholic published a statement from the Bishop of Meath, Dr Michael Smith (bishop), denying strongly that Dermot Farrell was to be appointed auxiliary bishop in Meath.
