HE IS a man who gets things; done and has a sense of humour - he once said self deprecatingly he had only "an outsider's grasp" of the challenges of episcopal leadership.
The 57 year old Cavan priest, Mgr Sean Brady was described by a friend before his appointment as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh in 1994: "Whether he's a priest or a bishop or one day a cardinal it will always sit lightly with him. He'll blush every time someone calls him `Your Eminence'."
Mgr Brady, who organised Jack Charlton's audience with the Pope during the World Cup in Italy in 1990, is seen as a safe pair of hands by Rome.
He was Born in Laragh, Co Cavan, and is the eldest of three children. He was educated at St Patrick's College, Cavan. He studied for the priesthood in Maynooth, the Irish College in Rome and the Lateran University. He was ordained in 1964.
From 1967 he spent 13 years teaching languages in St Patrick's College, Cavan, before he was appointed vice rector of the Irish College in Rome in 1980.
He took over as rector in 1987, when the Irish College was in considerable financial difficulty and succeeded in turning it into a popular centre for visiting Irish pilgrims.
In the autumn of 1994 he was appointed parish priest of Ballyhaise, six miles south of the Cavan Fermanagh border. At a press conference to announce his appointment as coadjutor, he said he had "spent the last year learning to become a parish priest and I'm just about up to pass mark on that."
Since his appointment he has been assisting Cardinal Daly in the Armagh diocese, visiting parishes and speaking to priests.
On a visit to a Christian "renewal centre he spoke about the Northern Ireland situation, saying: "The great challenge is to, build a real peace that is something more than a ceasefire. Real peace means right relationships, wholeness in our relationships with God, with our neighbours, with our environment."
Two weeks ago he told the National Conference of Priests of Ireland the hierarchy had carried out a "pastoral audit" to canvass the views of priests and religious. He spoke of the problems of isolation and loneliness among priests and a strong grassroots desire for, "greater spiritual motivation.
He stressed the importance of more lay involvement, saying people needed to be persuaded "to take ownership and responsibility for their own parishes."
During the Trocaire annual lecture last year, Dr Brady made an unusually strong call to the Government to lead the EU discussion on arms control.
At Mgr Brady's ordination as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Daly described his successor as a man who "combines sound doctrine and compassion to an outstanding degree."
