Senior clergy, local priests and parishioners in Cork are wondering why, a year after the death of Bishop Michael Murphy, nobody has been appointed to replace him. Increasingly, in the diocese of Cork and Ross, parishioners are asking their local priests why a successor has not been installed in one of the largest dioceses in the Republic. Even senior members of the clergy are in the dark as to why Rome has not nominated a successor to Dr Murphy.
The process by which the new Bishop of Cork and Ross will be appointed is a deeply secret one, involving a small group of senior clergy including the Congregation of Bishops in Rome and the Papal Nuncio in Ireland, Archbishop Luciano Storero.
Apparently the Papal Nuncio will by now have forwarded the names of three potential candidates to the Congregation of Bishops. At about this time they will consider the potential of each candidate and then forward their choice to the Nunciature in Dublin.
The Nuncio is then expected to make the choice known to clergy in the diocese of Cork and Ross and, a day later, the Catholic Press Office in Dublin will announce the full details.
According to Canon Law, a candidate for the Cork episcopacy must be a Catholic, a single male, at least 30 years of age and at least five years in the priesthood.
When he died just over a year ago Dr Murphy was replaced - but only in an informal sense - by Dr John Buckley, his auxiliary bishop. As an auxiliary Dr Buckley had no automatic right of succession, even though he was elected to be the administrator of the diocese - a role which he still fills.
Under Canon Law Dr Buckley's brief was essentially to hold the pass until a new bishop had been appointed. He was, for instance, precluded from making long-term arrangements for the diocese, and for the first year of his tenure as administrator it was not open to him to appoint a parish priest. However, in the second year this power would be granted to him.
Sources in the diocese say that Dr Buckley had neither been ruled in nor ruled out as an automatic successor to Bishop Murphy.
Father Tom Hayes, editor of the Fold magazine in Cork and the communications director for the diocese, said yesterday that many people had been asking about the delay in appointing a bishop, but he and his fellow priests were unable to answer. The process of appointment was highly secretive and nobody in the diocese had a clue as to the outcome.