A professor of canon law at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, has been appointed Bishop of Dromore. Father John McAreavey is a native of the diocese, one of the oldest and smallest Irish episcopal sees. It is located mainly in Co Down and there are 65,000 Catholics in the general population of 190,000.
Father McAreavey succeeds Dr Francis Brooks who, at 75, is Ireland's longest-serving bishop, having held office since 1976. Father McAreavey's ordination and installation are expected to take place in September.
The bishop-designate's background is largely academic. He was born at Drumnagally, Banbridge, Co Down, in 1949. One of five children, he received his primary education at Ballyvarley School and the Christian Brothers School, Newry. He was a secondary student at St Colman's College, Newry.
He entered Maynooth in 1966. He took a BA in modern languages and was awarded a Bachelor in Divinity degree in 1972. Father McAreavey was ordained in 1973 and completed his Licentiate in Theology the following year.
He pursued postgraduate studies in canon law at the Gregorian University in Rome and obtained his doctorate in 1978. Between 1979 and 1991 he was a member of the Armagh Regional Marriage Tribunal, first as an assistant and, from 1983, its head.
He has been professor of canon law at Maynooth since 1983. He has written and lectured widely on the subject, and his book, The Canon Law of Marriage and the Family, was published two years ago. He is a member of the editorial board of the Irish Theological Quarterly and a member of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the Canon Law Society of America.
His pastoral work has been mainly in counselling married and engaged couples. He has also been involved in pastoral care for children with special needs and was for many years chaplain to the annual Lourdes pilgrimage of the Handicapped Children's Trust.