Introducing the people in the Irish Synodal Pathway Working Groups and their roles and backgrounds. The Synodal Pathway refused to release this information for unknown reasons so we compiled it in the interest of a transparent Church culture which clearly has some way to go before it is realised.
BELONGING
Bishop Paul Dempsey
Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin.
Dr Gary Carville – Deacon and Communciation Officer for the Clogher Diocese, he is also Executive Secretary for Social Issues and International Affairs of the Bishops’ Conference, and for the Council for Justice and Peace.
Mr Joe Conroy – Served as Vice-Chair of the Raphoe Diocesan Pastoral Council and helped to guide the pastoral plan Forward Together as well as working in adult faith development.
Dr Kevin Hargaden – Elder in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and works as a social theologian for the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice.
Sr Anne Harte Barry – Ursuline sister and former provincial.
Sr Angele Nkamsi – Holy Rosary Sister from Cameroon and on the national steering committee representing AMRI.
Fr Tony O’Riordan – Jesuit priest working with the Jesuit Refugee Service.
Family
Bishop Martin Hayes
Bishop of Kilmore.
Mr Stephen Cummins – Director of Marriage Education with ACCORD Catholic Marriage Care Service. Mr Cummins has been a member of ACCORD for 26 years firstly as a volunteer member and as Director of Marriage Education for the past ten years.
Mr Paul Keogh – Principal of school in Sligo – Youth 2000.
Ms Muirne Lawlor – Retired teacher and diocesan advisor on religious education in the Diocese of Armagh.
Mrs Maura Murphy – Co-founder of Holy Family Mission in Glencomeragh, a Maynooth graduate and worked in diocesan Youth Ministry and led a mission team for Youth 2000.
Dr Cora O’Farrell – Director of the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education (MDCCE) at DCU.
Mr & Mrs Mark and Anne O’Leary – national responsible couple for Teams of Our Lady in Ireland working with couples. Part of the Faith on Fire team.
Mrs Deirdre O’Rawe – Regional Director of Accord Northern Ireland Marriage Care Service, was a delegate to the 10th World Meeting of Families in Rome in 2022.
Healing
Bishop Michael Router
Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh.
Mrs Una Allen – Coordinator for Towards Peace, the spiritual support service run by the Catholic Church.
Mr Ronan Barry – Spiritans – worked for IMU
Sr Denise Boyle – Current executive Director of Franciscans Ireland. Core group of We Are Church.
Dr Nicola Brady – General Secretary of the Irish Council of Churches and Joint Secretary of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting where she facilitates relationship-building between Christian Churches on the island of Ireland and collaborative action on issues of shared concern to member Churches. Dr Brady has been appointed in 2021 as chair of the Synodal Steering Committee but later stepped down.
Sr Cáit Dwyer – Mercy Sister involved in Towards Healing.
Mr Andrew Fagan – Director of Safeguarding for the Dublin Diocese.
Mr Aidan Gordon – Director of National Board formerly worked for the Armagh Diocese.
Fr John Kelly – Director of Pastoral Care in Tallaght hospital.
Fr Hugh Lagan – SMA priest and a chartered clinical psychologist. He is based at the Dromatine Retreat and Conference Centre in Newry.
CO-RESPONSIBILITY & LAY MINISTRY
Bishop Ger Nash
Bishop of Ferns and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Ossory.
Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon -
Limerick priest, he is Vicar General, appointed as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the St James Pastoral. He is a member of the National Synodal team.
Mr Gerard Gallagher – Sec. General of AMRI.
Ms Martina Gilmartin
– Director of Pastoral Development and Faith Formation in Diocese of Kilmore.
Mr Shane Halpin – CEO of Viatores Christi – one of Ireland’s leading faith-based development and training organisations.
Ms Julie Kavanagh – Works in pastoral resources for the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, worked previously for Dublin Diocese.
Ms Julieann Moran -
General Secretary of the Irish Synodal Pathway.
Dr Oonagh O’Brien – Theologian and CEO of Mount St Anne’s Retreat and Conference Centre.
Dr Sean O’Leary – Director of Pastoral Development in the Diocese of Ferns.
Mr Peter Siney – Faith Development Coordinator for Adult Faith Development and Pastoral Councils in Dublin Archdiocese, former parish pastoral worker.
WOMEN
Bishop Kevin Doran
Bishop of Elphin since 2014 and Bishop of Achonry since 2025.
Ms Róisín Alexander-Pye – From Boharnabreena in Dublin and works as Laudato Si’ Officer for Trócaire.
Msgr Liam Bergin – Ossory priest and former president of the Irish College in Rome and is currently Professor of the Practice in the Theology Department of Boston College.
Dr Amanda Dillon – Academic specialising in biblical studies and is president of the Irish Biblical Association.
Dr Gráinne Doherty – Works in pastoral ministry, adult faith formation, and facilitation. Prior to becoming self-employed, Gráinne was part of the Theology department in All Hallows College (Dublin) for many years, while also working in pastoral leadership at both parish and diocesan level.
Ms Noelle Fitzpatrick – Prominent Irish humanitarian and aid worker best known for her tenure as the Country Director for the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in South Sudan, where she led teams addressing severe refugee crises.
Mrs Janet Forbes – Member of the National Synodal Team and works for the Archdiocese of Armagh.
Ms Noirín Lynch – Director of the FCJ Spirituality House – Teach Spioradálta on the west coast of Co. Clare in Ireland. She has worked in youth ministry, chaplaincy, pastoral development facilitation and training across 25 years in four Catholic diocese in Ireland and Germany.
Mr Joseph McGowan – facilitator in the Down and Connor diocesan contribution to the Irish Church Synthesis.
Mrs Sinead Strong – Head of Catholic Mothers Ireland, a charity registered in Northern Ireland.
FAITH FORMATION & CATECHESIS
Bishop Michael Duignan
Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora. Bishop of Clonfert.
Ms Hilda Campbell – Post Primary RE Advisor for Kildare and Leighlin Diocese.
Ms Patricia Carroll – Dublin Diocesan Director of Mission and Ministry. Former Synodal Task Group member.
Ms Hannah Evans – Coordinator of Council for Evangelisation Catechetics and Pastoral Renewal.
Ms Maureen Kelly – Pastoral Programmes Co-Ordinator in Maynooth College, former Pastoral Worker in Killaloe diocese.
Fr Michael Long – Kiltegan priest, ecologist and writer.
Ms Jane Mellett – Church Outreach Manager at Trócaire and was Trócaire’s Laudato Si’ Officer.
Dr Jessie Rogers – Formerly Dean of Theology, she now directs the Centre for Mission and Ministries. She lectures in Sacred Scripture, is a founding member of Godly Play Ireland, and is part of the Tarsus Scripture School team.
Rev. Dr Dermot Ryan – President of St Kieran’s College in Kilkenny, he’s a diocesan priest and theologian, and Director of Adult Faith Development for the Diocese of Ossory.
YOUTH
Bishop Brendan Leahy
Bishop of Limerick and was appointed vice-chair of the Synodal Steering Committee in 2021.
Mr Luke Casserly – English and R.E. teacher in Longford.
Ms Deirbhile Craven – Former teacher in London, Development Education Officer in Belfast and currently Church Youth Officer for Trócaire.
Ms Natalie Doherty – is the Diocesan Faith Development Coordinator for Youth Ministry for South Dublin.
Mr Jake Magill – Armagh Diocese involved in youth outreach – part of the Irish group who went to Rome for the jubilee for synods.
Mr James McLoughlin – Youth Director for CLOGHER DON ÓIGE, Youth & Young Adult Ministry in the Diocese of Clogher.
Ms Hannah Montgomery –
Youth 2000 National Leader.
Fr Cyril Odia – Salesian priest and Rector at Salesian House of Theology Maynooth and University chaplain.
Ms Helena O’Shea – Former National Leader of Youth 2000. She has represented Irish youth and laity at the European Continental Assembly of the Synod in Prague.
Ms Michelle Ward – Use to work for the Dublin diocese – She was part of the Kildare and Leighlin Diocesan Synod Committee.
The Irish National Synod will be held in the City North Hotel, Co. Meath on October 17.
Participants in the Pre-Synodal Assembly in Kilkenny in October 2025. Photos: John McElroy
Meet the Synodal Pathway Working Groups members
Introducing the people in the Irish Synodal Pathway Working Groups and their roles and backgrounds. The Synodal Pathway refused to release this information for unknown reasons so we compiled it in the interest of a transparent Church culture which clearly has some way to go before it is realised.
BELONGING
Bishop Paul Dempsey
Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin.
Dr Gary Carville – Deacon and Communciation Officer for the Clogher Diocese, he is also Executive Secretary for Social Issues and International Affairs of the Bishops’ Conference, and for the Council for Justice and Peace.
Mr Joe Conroy – Served as Vice-Chair of the Raphoe Diocesan Pastoral Council and helped to guide the pastoral plan Forward Together as well as working in adult faith development.
Dr Kevin Hargaden – Elder in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and works as a social theologian for the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice.
Sr Anne Harte Barry – Ursuline sister and former provincial.
Sr Angele Nkamsi – Holy Rosary Sister from Cameroon and on the national steering committee representing AMRI.
Fr Tony O’Riordan – Jesuit priest working with the Jesuit Refugee Service.
Family
Bishop Martin Hayes
Bishop of Kilmore.
Mr Stephen Cummins – Director of Marriage Education with ACCORD Catholic Marriage Care Service. Mr Cummins has been a member of ACCORD for 26 years firstly as a volunteer member and as Director of Marriage Education for the past ten years.
Mr Paul Keogh – Principal of school in Sligo – Youth 2000.
Ms Muirne Lawlor – Retired teacher and diocesan advisor on religious education in the Diocese of Armagh.
Mrs Maura Murphy – Co-founder of Holy Family Mission in Glencomeragh, a Maynooth graduate and worked in diocesan Youth Ministry and led a mission team for Youth 2000.
Dr Cora O’Farrell – Director of the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education (MDCCE) at DCU.
Mr & Mrs Mark and Anne O’Leary – national responsible couple for Teams of Our Lady in Ireland working with couples. Part of the Faith on Fire team.
Mrs Deirdre O’Rawe – Regional Director of Accord Northern Ireland Marriage Care Service, was a delegate to the 10th World Meeting of Families in Rome in 2022.
Healing
Bishop Michael Router
Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh.
Mrs Una Allen – Coordinator for Towards Peace, the spiritual support service run by the Catholic Church.
Mr Ronan Barry – Spiritans – worked for IMU
Sr Denise Boyle – Current executive Director of Franciscans Ireland. Core group of We Are Church.
Dr Nicola Brady – General Secretary of the Irish Council of Churches and Joint Secretary of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting where she facilitates relationship-building between Christian Churches on the island of Ireland and collaborative action on issues of shared concern to member Churches. Dr Brady has been appointed in 2021 as chair of the Synodal Steering Committee but later stepped down.
Sr Cáit Dwyer – Mercy Sister involved in Towards Healing.
Mr Andrew Fagan – Director of Safeguarding for the Dublin Diocese.
Mr Aidan Gordon – Director of National Board formerly worked for the Armagh Diocese.
Fr John Kelly – Director of Pastoral Care in Tallaght hospital.
Fr Hugh Lagan – SMA priest and a chartered clinical psychologist. He is based at the Dromatine Retreat and Conference Centre in Newry.
CO-RESPONSIBILITY & LAY MINISTRY
Bishop Ger Nash
Bishop of Ferns and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Ossory.
Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon - Limerick priest, he is Vicar General, appointed as Co-Parish Priest and Moderator of the St James Pastoral. He is a member of the National Synodal team.
Mr Gerard Gallagher – Sec. General of AMRI.
Ms Martina Gilmartin – Director of Pastoral Development and Faith Formation in Diocese of Kilmore.
Mr Shane Halpin – CEO of Viatores Christi – one of Ireland’s leading faith-based development and training organisations.
Ms Julie Kavanagh – Works in pastoral resources for the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, worked previously for Dublin Diocese.
Ms Julieann Moran - General Secretary of the Irish Synodal Pathway.
Dr Oonagh O’Brien – Theologian and CEO of Mount St Anne’s Retreat and Conference Centre.
Dr Sean O’Leary – Director of Pastoral Development in the Diocese of Ferns.
Mr Peter Siney – Faith Development Coordinator for Adult Faith Development and Pastoral Councils in Dublin Archdiocese, former parish pastoral worker.
WOMEN
Bishop Kevin Doran
Bishop of Elphin since 2014 and Bishop of Achonry since 2025.
Ms Róisín Alexander-Pye – From Boharnabreena in Dublin and works as Laudato Si’ Officer for Trócaire.
Msgr Liam Bergin – Ossory priest and former president of the Irish College in Rome and is currently Professor of the Practice in the Theology Department of Boston College.
Dr Amanda Dillon – Academic specialising in biblical studies and is president of the Irish Biblical Association.
Dr Gráinne Doherty – Works in pastoral ministry, adult faith formation, and facilitation. Prior to becoming self-employed, Gráinne was part of the Theology department in All Hallows College (Dublin) for many years, while also working in pastoral leadership at both parish and diocesan level.
Ms Noelle Fitzpatrick – Prominent Irish humanitarian and aid worker best known for her tenure as the Country Director for the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in South Sudan, where she led teams addressing severe refugee crises.
Mrs Janet Forbes – Member of the National Synodal Team and works for the Archdiocese of Armagh.
Ms Noirín Lynch – Director of the FCJ Spirituality House – Teach Spioradálta on the west coast of Co. Clare in Ireland. She has worked in youth ministry, chaplaincy, pastoral development facilitation and training across 25 years in four Catholic diocese in Ireland and Germany.
Mr Joseph McGowan – facilitator in the Down and Connor diocesan contribution to the Irish Church Synthesis.
Mrs Sinead Strong – Head of Catholic Mothers Ireland, a charity registered in Northern Ireland.
FAITH FORMATION & CATECHESIS
Bishop Michael Duignan
Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora. Bishop of Clonfert.
Ms Hilda Campbell – Post Primary RE Advisor for Kildare and Leighlin Diocese.
Ms Patricia Carroll – Dublin Diocesan Director of Mission and Ministry. Former Synodal Task Group member.
Ms Hannah Evans – Coordinator of Council for Evangelisation Catechetics and Pastoral Renewal.
Ms Maureen Kelly – Pastoral Programmes Co-Ordinator in Maynooth College, former Pastoral Worker in Killaloe diocese.
Fr Michael Long – Kiltegan priest, ecologist and writer.
Ms Jane Mellett – Church Outreach Manager at Trócaire and was Trócaire’s Laudato Si’ Officer.
Dr Jessie Rogers – Formerly Dean of Theology, she now directs the Centre for Mission and Ministries. She lectures in Sacred Scripture, is a founding member of Godly Play Ireland, and is part of the Tarsus Scripture School team.
Rev. Dr Dermot Ryan – President of St Kieran’s College in Kilkenny, he’s a diocesan priest and theologian, and Director of Adult Faith Development for the Diocese of Ossory.
YOUTH
Bishop Brendan Leahy
Bishop of Limerick and was appointed vice-chair of the Synodal Steering Committee in 2021.
Mr Luke Casserly – English and R.E. teacher in Longford.
Ms Deirbhile Craven – Former teacher in London, Development Education Officer in Belfast and currently Church Youth Officer for Trócaire.
Ms Natalie Doherty – is the Diocesan Faith Development Coordinator for Youth Ministry for South Dublin.
Mr Jake Magill – Armagh Diocese involved in youth outreach – part of the Irish group who went to Rome for the jubilee for synods.
Mr James McLoughlin – Youth Director for CLOGHER DON ÓIGE, Youth & Young Adult Ministry in the Diocese of Clogher.
Ms Hannah Montgomery – Youth 2000 National Leader.
Fr Cyril Odia – Salesian priest and Rector at Salesian House of Theology Maynooth and University chaplain.
Ms Helena O’Shea – Former National Leader of Youth 2000. She has represented Irish youth and laity at the European Continental Assembly of the Synod in Prague.
Ms Michelle Ward – Use to work for the Dublin diocese – She was part of the Kildare and Leighlin Diocesan Synod Committee.
The Irish National Synod will be held in the City North Hotel, Co. Meath on October 17.
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