Our Bishop

Born on June 6th, 1936 at Annaghmore, Glenflesk, Bishop Bill Murphy was educated at Ratheen National School and St. Brendan’s College, Killarney.  He studied for the priesthood at Maynooth and was ordained a priest on the 18th June, 1961.

He taught for six years at St. Colman’s College, Newry and then studied catechetics at Lumen Vitae, Brussels, and Fordham University, New York where he was awarded an MA in Religious Education in 1969.  He was Kerry Diocesan Advisor for Religious Education in primary schools for a year, before spending three years at the Gregorian University, Rome, being awarded a doctorate in divinity (DD) in 1973. For the next five years he worked with the ‘Primary Catechetical Commission’ preparing the Children of God series, the primary catechetical programme.

Bishop Bill taught theology in the Institute for Religious Education, Mount Oliver, Dundalk for a year before returning to Kerry in 1979 as diocesan director of religious education in post-primary schools and co-ordinator of adult religious education in the diocese.

He was the first director of the John Paul II Pastoral Centre, Killarney.  He became Curate of Killarney Parish in September 1987 and Administrator in 1988.  On the death of Bishop Diarmaid Ó Súilleabháin in August 1994, he was appointed Administrator of the diocese of Kerry and Bishop in June 1995.  He was ordained Bishop on 10th September, 1995.

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