Fintan Monahan KC*HS (born 23 January 1967) is an Irish

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

who has served as

Bishop of Killaloe The Bishop of Killaloe ( ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the town of Killaloe in County Clare, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bis ...

since 2016.

Early life

Monahan was born in

Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, Midlands Reg ...

County Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland, ancient Kingdom of Uí ...

, on 23 January 1967, one of three children to Tom Monahan and his wife Peg (née Conneely). He moved with his family to An Cheathrú Rua,

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, in 1980 where his father was

principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...

at Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin, and subsequently to his mother's native Castlegar in 1996. Monahan attended primary school in Tullamore and secondary school in Scoil Chuimhsotheach Chiaráin, An Cheathrú Rua, before studying for the priesthood in

St Patrick's College, Maynooth St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth (), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mou ...

, in 1984, completing a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

NUI Maynooth Maynooth University (MU) (), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Maynooth University was formerly known as National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ). It was Ireland ...

, in 1987, and a

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD, DB, or BDiv; ) is an academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies. ...

in the Pontifical University in 1990. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Tuam on 16 June 1991.

Presbyteral ministry

Monahan's first pastoral assignment was as

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

in An Tulach,

Baile na hAbhann Baile na hAbhann, anglicised as Ballynahown, is a Gaeltacht village about west of Galway, Ireland, on the R336 road (Ireland), R336 Regional road (Ireland), regional road between Inverin, Indreabhán and Casla. The name means "town of the rive ...

, between 1992 and 1993, during which he completed a licentiate in

biblical theology Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, Biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define. The academic field of biblical theology is sub-divided into Old Testament theology and New Testament theology. Academic ...

in 1992 and a

higher diploma A higher diploma is an academic award in Iraq, Libya, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Ireland and Oman. In Iraq, it is awarded one year after a bachelor's degree (i.e., not equivalent to a bachelor's degree). In Ireland it is a postgradu ...

in education from

NUI Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

in 1993. Between 1993 and 2006 he taught science, mathematics, Irish and religion at Saint Jarlath's College,

Tuam Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...

, while also coaching basketball and hurling. Monahan was appointed chaplain to Saint Jarlath's College and Assistant Diocesan Secretary of the Archdiocese of Tuam in 2006, before being appointed Diocesan Secretary in 2007, during which time he worked in the area of communications, promoting vocations, and editing the diocesan magazine, ''New Dawn''. He was also appointed secretary of the diocesan finance committee, director of vocational pastoral care, and designate for child protection. Monahan was appointed to the Council for Communications of the

Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference The Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference () is the episcopal conference of the Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland. The conference meets a number of times a year in Maynooth which is the location of St Patrick's College, Ireland's national seminary. ...

in 2013.

Episcopal ministry

Monahan was appointed Bishop-elect of Killaloe by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

on 29 July 2016. He was consecrated by his predecessor, the

Archbishop of Cashel and Emly In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

, Kieran O'Reilly, on 25 September in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul,

Ennis Ennis ( , meaning 'island' or 'river meadow') is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in Cou ...

. During his episcopate, Monahan has also authored a series of books on people whose lives and literary works have inspired him, namely

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915December 10, 1968), religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, Christian mysticism, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. He was a monk in the Trapp ...

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

and

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

Bibliography

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References

External links

Bishop Fintan Monahan
on

Catholic-Hierarchy.org ''Catholic-Hierarchy.org'' is an online database of bishops and dioceses of the Latin Church and the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches that are in full communion with Rome. The website, not officially sanctioned by the Church, is run as a private pro ...

Bishop Fintan Monahan
on GCatholic
Bishop Fintan Monahan
on

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*
Bishop Fintan Monahan
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Monahan, Fintan 1967 births Living people Alumni of the University of Galway Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland People from Tullamore, County Offaly Roman Catholic bishops of Killaloe Christian clergy from County Offaly Bishops appointed by Pope Francis