Séamus Cunningham

Séamus Cunningham (born 7 July 1942) is an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the current Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle in the north of England.

Biography

Séamus Cunningham was born in Castlebar, County Mayo. He attended St. Nathy's College in Ballaghaderreen and St. John's College in Waterford. He was ordained to the priesthood for the diocese of Hexham and Newcastle on 12 June 1966 and then undertook pastoral work in North West Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne until 1972.

Cunningham was a diocesan adviser for Religious Education and Catechetics from 1972 to 1978, when he became director of Religious Education. From 1984 to 1987, he served as spiritual director at Ushaw College. In 1987 he was appointed pastor of St. Mary’s Cathedral Church and a canon. Following a sabbatical in the United States Cunningham became a pastor in Tynemouth and Cullercoats in 1988. He was named vicar general of Hexham and Newcastle in 2004 and, following Bishop Kevin Dunn’s death on 1 March 2008, appointed Apostolic Administrator on 2 March.

On 9 January 2009, Cunningham was appointed the thirteenth Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle by Pope Benedict XVI. He received his episcopal consecration on 20 March (feast of St. Cuthbert, the diocese's patron), at St. Mary’s Cathedral.^[1]

References

External links

• Catholic-Hierarchy
• Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle