Michael Cox (clergyman)

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Archbishop Michael Patrick O'Connor Cox (born 1945) was ordained on 1 January 1976 and consecrated a Palmarian bishop on September 9, 1977 by Ciaran Broadberry. Neither ceremony was recognised by the Roman Catholic Church.

Cox left the Palmarian Apparitions' Movement and proceeded to lead an Independent Catholic ministry in Ireland.

On 19 May 1998, Cox consecrated the Irish diocesan priest Fr. Pat Buckley a Bishop. Since he had no authority from the Vatican to do so, both Cox and Buckley were automatically excommunicated latae sententiae.

In April 1999, Cox ordained female rock singer Sinéad O'Connor as a priest. In 1992, O'Connor tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II on live television during a performance on Saturday Night Live, leading to hundreds of complaints to the TV show and in 1997, O'Connor apologized to the Pope for that action. The ceremony was held in a Lourdes hotel bedroom, with O'Connor assuming the name Mother Bernadette Mary after six weeks of theological study.

Religious leaders including Buckley objected to this ordination, in part due to news stories alleging that O'Connor had offered Cox IR£150,000 at the time to pay for the Archbishop's hernia operation. These leaders stated that the donation was a form of simony.

In 2004, Archbishop Cox again made headlines, when he commissioned an old trawler, consecrated it and renamed it "The Little Bishop" in order to protest against the abortion ship being sailed into Ireland by pro-choice feminist group Women on Waves.