Former Bishop Brendan Comiskey dies

By Dan Walsh

The death has occurred of former Bishop of Ferns, Brendan Comiskey. He was aged 89.

He was appointed Bishop of Ferns on April 4^th, 1984, consecrated in St. Aidan’s Cathedral, Enniscorthy, on May 20th and served in the position for 18 years.

Born on August 13^th, 1935 in Clontibret, Co Monaghan, he was ordained a priest for the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on June 25th, 1961.

He became head of his order in Ireland and the UK and was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Dublin in 1979 when he was 45 and was appointed to the Diocese of Ferns in 1984.

He resigned in 2002 after the broadcast of the BBC documentary Suing the Pope, which uncovered over 100 allegations of abuse against 21 priests stretching back as far as 1962.

Bishop Comiskey failed to protect children from paedophile priests and did not report allegations against Fr Sean Fortune for abusing several children.

Following the publication of the Ferns Report, which documented a series of child sex abuse cases in the diocese over forty years, he withdrew from public life.

Bishop Comiskey received care from the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Ranelagh, Dublin in recent years.

Requiem Mass for Bishop Comiskey was held in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Clondalkin, Dublin. The celebrant was Rev. Jim Fegan from the Diocese of Ferns. Afterwards the bishop’s remains were taken to Annyalla in Co. Monaghan for burial.