Background
Duffy was the eldest of three boys and one girl born to Edward Duffy and Brigid MacEntee of Annagose, Newbliss, County Monaghan. Born in Dublin, he was educated at St. Louis' Infant School, Clones, County Monaghan, and at St. Macartan’s College, Monaghan, where he was a boarder for five years.
He studied for the priesthood at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, and was ordained priest for the Diocese of Clogher on 22 June 1958. After his ordination to the priesthood he continued his studies in Irish and completed a thesis on the dialect of South Tipperary for a Master’s degree in the National University of Ireland (the N.U.I.) in 1960.
He returned to St. Macartan’s College, where he taught Irish and French for twelve years. During these years he spent several sessions in French universities pursuing summer courses in French.
From 1972 to 1979 he was a curate in the parish of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. This was a team ministry with three other curates and the parish priest, and included a chaplaincy to St. Fanchea’s College for Girls, and a part-time chaplaincy at the Erne Hospital. During these years he was involved in PACE (Protestant and Catholic Encounter) and served on the committee of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society (the U.A.H.S.).
On 7 July 1979, Duffy was named Bishop-elect of Clogher,becoming the first Irish bishop to be appointed by Pope John Paul II. He was ordained a bishop in St. Macartan's Cathedral, Monaghan Town, on 2 September of the same year. The Principal Consecrator was His Eminence The Most Rev. Dr. Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich, Lord Primate of All Ireland and Lord Archbishop of Armagh. His Grace The Most Rev. Dr. Gaetano Alibrandi, Titular Lord Archbishop of Binda, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland at the time, and The Most Rev. Dr. Patrick Mulligan, the Bishop-Emeritus of Clogher, both acted as the Principal Co-Consecrators.
| Styles of Joseph Duffy |
|
|---|---|
| Reference style | The Most Reverend |
| Spoken style | Your Lordship |
| Religious style | Bishop |
| Posthumous style | not applicable |
The youngest Irish bishop at the time of his ordination, on 28 January 2008, Duffy became the longest serving ordinary in Ireland. In accordance with Canon Law he offered his resignation to the Holy See on his seventy-fifth birthday, on 3 February 2009. His resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on 6 May 2010, when it was announced that The Rt. Rev. Dr. Liam Monsignor MacDaid would be his successor. Monsignor MacDaid was enthroned as Bishop MacDaid in late July, 2010.
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