Cloyne diocese likely to be amalgamated with Cork and Ross

Bishop of Cloyne William Crean will reach the Church's mandatory retirement age of 75 in December. Picture: David Keane

The Cloyne diocese is likely to be amalgamated with neighbouring Cork and Ross under a single bishop in the coming years.

Catholic priests in Cloyne have sought “a conversation” with the Church hierarchy about any merger, most likely with Cork and Ross, ultimately creating a new diocese with a combined Catholic population of about 375,000.

Last month, a consultation document was circulated privately by the seven bishops in Munster before it was published by the Association of Catholic Priests.

The document presented four options for Cloyne, merging it with Cork and Ross, Waterford and Lismore, Kerry, or Limerick.

Lending weight to the likelihood of Cloyne being merged with another diocese, its current bishop, William Crean, will reach the Church's mandatory retirement age of 75 in December.

Cloyne covers much of the northern half of Co Cork and has a Catholic population of more than 150,000.

Many of the diocese’s clergy would favour an amalgamation with Cork and Ross, which covers most of the southern half of Co Cork and has a Catholic population of approximately 224,000.

Under the proposals, each of the other five Munster dioceses, Kerry, Limerick, Killaloe, Waterford and Lismore, and Cashel and Emly, faces possible mergers.

The bishops’ document said: “Everyone in every parish is encouraged to make their voice heard when opportunities for consultation are announced locally by their diocesan bishop."

Fr Tim Hazelwood, parish priest of Killeagh and spokesperson for ACP, said the Munster bishops needed to have a conversation with priests and laity.

“Synodality is the new policy in the Church; it came from Pope Francis, it’s been endorsed by Pope Leo, meaning instead of priests and bishops having all the say, all baptised Catholics are equal and have a say.

“That’s the way at parish level, at diocesan level, so let the people have their say, those for the mergers, those against them," he said.

Mary Pedder-Daly, musical director of the Killeagh church choir, said the merging of church territories was inevitable, given the decline in vocations and the ageing profile of the clergy.

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“This was always going to have to happen, but the way in which it has leaked out is very disheartening,” she said.

“There is an ongoing problem with communications between the hierarchy and the laypeople, and that must change."

Ms Pedder-Daly added that, in her opinion, the falling numbers of clergy were a symptom of “the relegation of women from positions of authority in the Church”.

The proposed mergers are part of the Catholic Church’s efforts to address the continuing drop in numbers of priests in Ireland.

Parishes across the country have been merged in recent years, and in February 2025, the then cardinal Robert Prevost — now Pope Leo XIV — met with the four Irish archbishops to discuss reconfiguring dioceses.

Last year, the diocese of Achonry merged with Elphin, while this year, Killala merged with Tuam, and Ossory with Ferns.

This policy of downsizing is likely to continue under the new papal nuncio, Archbishop Jan Romeo Pawlowski, 65, who was appointed last month.