The Diocese of Ferns is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in south-eastern Ireland. It is one of three suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin and is subject to the Archdiocese of Dublin. The incumbent Ordinary is Gerard Nash.

Geographical remit

The See covers most of County Wexford and some of County Carlow and County Wicklow. The major towns are Enniscorthy, Gorey, New Ross and Wexford, along with its namesake town of Ferns. It is a suffragan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.

History

W. H. Grattan Flood, author of the History of the Diocese of Ferns, illustrates the origin of the Diocese, by stating: It is a far cry back to the year 598, when the See of Ferns was established, with St. Aedan (Mo-Aedh-og or Mogue) as first Bishop. During his episcopate thirty churches and numerous monasteries were founded. St. Ibar, St. Abban, St. Brendan, and St. Senan were also early labourers in the diocese. St. Aedan died on January 31, 630, leaving a fragrant memory behind him, and his episcopal See was known as Fearna-mor-Moedhoc."

Ordinaries

The following is a list of the most recent post-Reformation Roman Catholic bishops and vicars apostolic.

Sex abuse controversy

The October 2005 Report of the Ferns Inquiry has outlined the serious levels of clerical sex abuse in the diocese since the 1960s. It strongly criticised the former bishops of Ferns, Donal Herlihy and Brendan Comiskey for their inability to deal with the allegations of sexual abuse made against a number of priests. Comiskey resigned as Bishop on 1 April 2002.

Sources