Brendan Leahy

Brendan Leahy (born 28 March 1960) is an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been the Bishop of Limerick since his appointment on 10 January 2013 by Pope Benedict XVI.[1][2]

Born and raised in Dublin in Crumlin and Rathfarnham, his father and mother were school principals; Leahy himself went to school at Coláiste Éanna. He was further educated at University College Dublin where he studied law from 1977-1980,[3] Mater Dei Institute of Education 1980-1981, and Clonliffe College 1980-1983, King's Inns. He studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 1983-1986.[4] He began studying for professional qualifications to be a barrister in 1981, graduating in 1983 and was ordained to the priesthood on 5 June 1986 for the Diocese of Dublin.[5] From 1983-1991 he studied for an STD degree in theology from the Gregorian entitled The Marian Principle in the Church According to Hans Urs Von Balthasar.[6]

An author of a number of publications and books, and a von Balthasar scholar.[7] For eight months, he was curate at Clonskeagh, then was appointed Professor at Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin in 1992 serving until 2006. He was concurrently professor at the diocesan seminary of Holy Cross College, Clonliffe from 1992-1999. In the years 1999-2004 he served as curate in the parish of Lusk.

From 2006 until 2013 he served as a professor of systematic theology at the Pontifical University and National Seminary in St. Patrick's College in Maynooth. Leahy served as chairman of the Diocesan Commission for Ecumenism of the Archdiocese of Dublin and Secretary of the Ecumenical Commission of the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference.

He was ordained a bishop on 14 April 2013 by Archbishop Dermot Clifford.