Bishop Ger installed Bishop of Ossory

By Dan Walsh

More than a thousand people are expected to attend Sunday’s 3pm Mass of Installation at St Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny, where Bishop Gerard Nash will be installed as the new Bishop of Ossory.

Since Bishop Nash is already a bishop – appointed as Bishop of Ferns by Pope Francis on June 11^th 2021 – on Sunday he will be installed rather than ordained. 

Another former Bishop of Ossory, Archbishop Dermot Farrell, now Archbishop of Dublin, will lead the Installation ceremony for Bishop Nash, who will serve as the principal celebrant and homilist for the Mass.

During the Mass, a crozier that will be presented to Bishop Nash by his predecessor Bishop Niall Coll, now the Bishop of Raphoe. Significantly, this crozier is the same one used by Bishop Edward Walsh during the original Dedication of the Cathedral on October 4^th, 1857, exactly 168 years ago.

This installation liturgy will also mark the moment when the Diocese of Ossory and the Diocese of Ferns are united “in persona episcopi” – in the person of the Bishop. 

Also present at the ceremony will be Bishop Denis Brennan, Emeritus Bishop of Ferns.

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Gerard Nash as Bishop of Ossory on July 29^th 2026.

The Diocese of Ossory has a Catholic population of 83,595.  The diocese comprises 42 parishes, 35 priests in active ministry, and covers the areas of most of County Kilkenny, six parishes in County Laois, and one parish in County Offaly.