TWO new auxiliary bishops have been appointed to the Archdiocese of Dublin. Mgr Raymond Field and Father Martin Drennan will fill vacancies created by the retirement of Bishop Dermot O'Mahony and the appointment of Bishop Dermot Murray to Limerick.
Mgr Field (53) has been head chaplain to the Defence Forces since 1991. He was a member of the first successful Irish expedition to Mount Everest in 1993 with Dawson Stelfox.
A native of Drumcondra in Dublin, he attended O'Connell Schools and Clonliffe College.
Mgr Field is a qualified barrister, and has been called to both the Irish and English Bars. He taught at Plunkett College, Dublin, and has been a chaplain in Mountjoy Prison and St Patrick's Institution. He was assistant diocesan director of the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council (now Accord) for 13 years.
Father Drennan (53) is professor of sacred scripture at Maynooth College. He was spiritual director at the Irish College in Rome for five years, until 1985.
From Piltown in Co Kilkenny, Father Drennan attended St Kieran's College, Kilkenny, before going to Maynooth in 1961. After ordination in 1968 he went to the Biblical Institute in Rome, where he was awarded a licentiate in sacred scripture in 1971.
From 1973 to 1975 he worked in parishes in Kilkenny, before being appointed as a lecturer at St Kieran's seminary there. He held the post until 1980.
Both men are expected to be consecrated in September.
