Bishop John Buckley has just taken over the role of administrator of the Dioceses of Cork and Ross. Cork is one matter - Ross is another.
Cork, you might say, is a selfevident patch. Ross, in the west of the county, feels it is also and has been agitating for some years for its own bishop. West Cork folk are proud of being Corkonians but they are prouder still of being west Corkonians. No bishop of Cork will be a shepherd in the county without realising fairly quickly that Ross feels somewhat neglected.
After his appointment, Dr Buckley headed for Skibbereen in the heart of Ross. His mission was twofold. The scandals that have beset and diminished the church in recent times have left priests as no other group of professionals - as the bishop puts it - reeling from the effects of a small number of bad eggs.
Morale is low and he intends to do something about it. He plans to visit the priests in their homes.
Isn't that like the cigire calling on the teacher? "Not at all," he says, "the priests are much more at ease in their own place. I get to hear their concerns and I get to know what's going on at grassroots level in the parish."
Skibbereen was chosen because of the Ross issue and not least because the new bishop wanted to beef up the spirits of his clergy. It was a great weekend, he said, and it finished with a score of bowls on Skibbereen's Marsh Road. It is impossible to talk to this latest member of the Hierarchy without the noble game of bowling entering the conversation at some stage.
"Bowling in Cork," he says, "is like a virus for which there is no cure". Dr Buckley caught the bug when he was at national school in his native Inchigeela. His teacher was an enthusiast, and during religious instruction class, he was wont to bring his charges on to a quiet road in the area to throw a few shots.
The bishop was hooked but got it slightly wrong. For some time he held the view that bowling and religion were part of the same experience. "I think I still do," he added.
This episcopacy comes in the wake of two very prominent bishops - Dr Cornelius Lucey - Connie to one and all - and Dr Michael Murphy, whom Dr Buckley served as Auxiliary. Dr Lucey, despite his apparent hauteur, was, when one got to know him a little, a humble man, but one with a will which the hot irons couldn't move.
Dr Murphy had similar characteristics and was, like his predecessor, a reserved person. But Dr Buckley, who says his role in life is to be prayerful, will bring a bubbling enthusiasm to his new job - one that Corkonians will find refreshing.
The Bishop's Palace is there for him to inhabit but he will not be moving in. Instead, he will continue to live at 25 St Anne's Park, in the Turner's Cross area of the city where he once served as parish priest. The bowling bishop is happiest when he has people around him.
The scandals - what lies ahead? Are there more skeletons in the cupboard waiting to be revealed? "I don't know but who does?" comes the reply. Dr Buckley's philosophy was and remains that once an allegation has been made it will be investigated immediately - the priority being the welfare of the young person.
"Right now, I couldn't say that there will be dramatic revelations up ahead." However, from informal contacts in Cork the bishop cannot take it for granted there are no skeletons in that cupboard. This remains to be seen, but he is open on the matter and is determined the church will act quickly once an allegation has been made.
The majority of the clergy under him, he says, are decent, hard-working people, with a desire and a vocation to serve.
Each of his predecessors spoke bluntly about unemployment and emigration. Dr Buckley intends to do no less. It was not too long ago, he says, that the B&I ferry from Penrose Quay in Cork to Wales was the normal conveyance to work for thousands of displaced Cork people seeking jobs. Unemployment, he adds, is an injustice. The duty of the church is to speak out about such injustices and to do so loudly and clearly.
Dr Buckley abhors paper work and administration and has no intention of succumbing to either. His plan is to delegate. "I couldn't see myself becoming desk-bound - I couldn't stand it. I much prefer talking to people, visiting the hospitals, interacting - that's what I believe we need to be about."
The bishop has instructed his priests to open parish facilities in local communities so that education providers can bring their services to the communities rather than the communities coming to them. He is well aware that those who feel disadvantaged and abandoned are not always inclined to make the trip - and that's not to mention the cost of taking a return trip on a bus to UCC or the Cork Institute of Technology.
He has also instructed his priests that the presidential style is out - there should be no portraits of him hanging in the parish houses. If they had to have one, let it be one of the bishop with his parishioners.
As a young boy, Dr Lucey confirmed him. He noted the words of the austere bishop who told his congregation that he was sad to be among them - not because of those who were present - but because of those who were not, those who had to go away to find work. It was a powerful sermon, according to the new bishop.
Since then, he has become a member of the Episcopal Commission for Emigrants and Prisoners, and has met the Irish diaspora in many locations. Some Irish people go abroad because they wish to, most of them go because they have to - and the Government is presenting the issue as some sort of new opportunity. Emphatically, it is not, he says, and adds that any forced emigrant he ever came across would rather have been at home.
Dr Buckley has not yet fully set out his stall. There is a sense, though, that even if his wish is not to storm the theological bastions, he may bring refreshing times to Cork and Ross.