{{short description|Irish Roman Catholic prelate (born 1966)}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}} {{Infobox Christian leader | image = Fintan Gavin.jpg | alt = | caption = Bishop Fintan Gavin | name = Fintan Gavin | title = [[Bishop of Cork and Ross]] | church = [[Roman Catholic]] | diocese = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Cork and Ross|Cork and Ross]] | appointed = 8 April 2019 | enthroned = 30 June 2019 | predecessor = [[John Buckley (bishop)|John Buckley]] <!-- Orders -->| ordination = 7 June 1991 | ordained_by = [[Desmond Connell]] | consecration = 30 June 2019 | consecrated_by = John Buckley | rank = <!-- Personal details --> | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1966|1|1|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Dublin]], Ireland | previous_post = [[Chancellor (ecclesiastical)|Chancellor]] of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin|Archdiocese of Dublin]]<br>Parish chaplain in Our Lady of Victories parish, Ballymun Road<br>Teacher at Killinarden Community School and St Thomas' Community College | alma_mater = [[Pontifical Gregorian University]]<br>[[University College Dublin]]<br>[[Clonliffe College|Holy Cross College, Clonliffe]] | parents = | honorific_suffix = [[Higher diploma|HDip]] [[Doctor of Canon Law (Catholic Church)|DCL]] | honorific_prefix = [[The Most Reverend]], [[Doctor (title)|Dr.]] }}{{infobox bishopstyles|name=Fintan Gavin|dipstyle=[[The Most Reverend]]|offstyle=[[Your Grace]]|relstyle=[[Bishop]]|image=|image_size=}} '''Fintan Gavin''' (born {{Birth date|1966|1|1|df=y}}) is an [[Republic of Ireland|Irish]] [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[prelate]] who has served as [[Bishop of Cork and Ross]] since 2019.
== Early life and education == Gavin was born in [[Dublin]] on 1 January 1966, to Michael and Angela Gavin,<ref name=":1" /> and baptised in [[St Andrew's Church, Westland Row, Dublin|St Andrew's Church]], [[Westland Row]] on 5 January. He grew up in [[Marino, Dublin|Marino]], where he played [[hurling]] and [[Gaelic football|football]] with [[St Vincents GAA|St Vincent's GAA]] and was a member of Marino Athletic Club.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=8 April 2019 |title=Pope Francis appoints Father Fintan Gavin as the new Bishop of Cork & Ross |url=https://www.catholicbishops.ie/2019/04/08/pope-francis-appoints-father-fintan-gavin-as-the-new-bishop-of-cork-ross-2/ |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference}}</ref>
Prior to his seminary formation in [[Holy Cross College (Dublin)|Holy Cross College]], Gavin had begun training as a residential [[social work]]er in Our Lady's Hostel, [[Eccles Street]], from September 1983 to August 1984. During his seminary formation, he trained at [[Liberty Hall]], the Northlands addiction treatment counselling centre in Derry, and [[St Patrick's University Hospital]].
Gavin was [[Holy orders in the Catholic Church|ordained]] a [[deacon]] for the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin|Archdiocese of Dublin]] by the [[Archbishop of Dublin (Catholic Church)|Archbishop of Dublin]], [[Desmond Connell]], in the Church of the Holy Cross, [[Clonliffe]], on 11 March 1990, and gained summer parish experience at [[Brentwood Cathedral]], [[Essex]]. He was subsequently ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Dublin by [[Auxiliary bishop|Auxiliary Bishop]] of Dublin, [[Éamonn Walsh (bishop)|Éamonn Walsh]], in St Vincent de Paul Church, Marino, on 7 June 1991.<ref name=":0" />
== Presbyteral ministry == Following ordination, Gavin's first pastoral assignment was as [[curate]] in [[Holy Redeemer Church, Bray|Holy Redeemer parish]], [[Bray, County Wicklow|Bray]], where he also served as a teacher at St Thomas' Community College and chaplain to [[St Gerard's School, Bray|St Gerard's Junior and Senior School]], and completed a [[higher diploma]] in [[Pedagogy|education]] from [[University College Dublin]]. Gavin was appointed curate in Sacred Heart parish, Killinarden, [[Tallaght]], in 1994, where he also served as a teacher at the local [[Community school (Ireland)|community school]], while also gaining summer pastoral experience in [[Coram, New York]] between 1992 and 1995.<ref name=":0" />
Gavin moved to Rome in 1996 to complete a [[Licentiate (degree)|licentiate]] in [[Canon law of the Catholic Church|canon law]] from the [[Pontifical Gregorian University]] in 1999, and subsequently a [[Doctor of Canon Law (Catholic Church)|doctorate]] in 2002, with a specialisation in rotal jurisprudence. His published dissertation was taken in large part from uncredited sources, according to plagiarism researcher Michael Dougherty. In his 2024 book about plagiarism at the Gregorian University, a chapter is devoted to Gavin's "renovation plagiarism", which reportedly includes text copied from a dissertation on canon law submitted at [[Catholic University of America]] in Washintgton, DC in 1938.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dougherty |first=Michael V. |url=https://brill.com/view/title/70376 |title=New Techniques for Proving Plagiarism: Case Studies from the Sacred Disciplines at the Pontifical Gregorian University |date=2024-05-21 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-69985-4 |pages=73–104 |doi=10.1163/9789004699854_004}}</ref> During his time in Rome, he resided at the {{Ill|Pontifício Colégio Português|pt|}}. During his postgraduate studies, Gavin assisted at parishes in [[Florence]] and [[Benidorm]] through both summer and migrant ministries. Gavin also participated in the ministry of [[Community of Sant'Egidio]] and collaborated with the community of {{Ill|Missionarie di Cristo Risorto|it}} and ministries led by local university students. He also gained summer pastoral experience in [[Argentina]], working with an [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous community]] in [[Patagonia]] and accompanying a group of Italian university students on a mission experience in the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of San Miguel (Argentina)|Diocese of San Miguel]].<ref name=":0" />
Gavin returned to Dublin in 2002, where he was appointed curate in [[St Andrew's Church, Westland Row, Dublin|St Andrew's Church]], [[Westland Row]]. During his time in Westland Row, he collaborated in a pastoral initiative centred around inviting and encouraging those who had drifted away to return to the church.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Buckley |first=Dan |date=2019-04-08 |title=Father Gavin to become fourth bishop appointed by the Vatican to join Diocese of Cork and Ross |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30916294.html |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=Irish Examiner |language=en}}</ref>
Gavin was appointed vice-chancellor of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin|Archdiocese of Dublin]] in 2003.<ref name=":0" />
He was appointed parish chaplain in Our Lady of Victories parish, Ballymun Road, in 2010, serving as part of the [[List of parishes in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin#Fingal South West|parish grouping]] centred around [[Ballygall]], [[Drumcondra, Dublin|Drumcondra]] and [[Glasnevin]]. During his time in Our Lady of Victories parish, Gavin developed the parish gospel choir to lead a Sunday evening Mass in the parish that was aimed at young people.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bermingham |first=Darragh |date=2019-06-26 |title=Cork's new Bishop: 'Honesty is needed to bring young people back to the church' |url=https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40145690.html |access-date=2023-02-12 |website=[[Evening Echo|The Echo]] |language=en}}</ref>
Gavin was subsequently appointed chaplain to the Italian-speaking community in the archdiocese in 2015 and [[Chancellor (ecclesiastical)|chancellor]] in 2017. He also served as chaplain to the archdiocesan children's pilgrimage to Lourdes each Easter.<ref name=":0" />
== Episcopal ministry == Gavin was appointed [[Bishop of Cork and Ross|Bishop-elect of Cork and Ross]] by [[Pope Francis]] on 8 April 2019.<ref name="vatican20192">{{cite press release |publisher=Holy See Press Office |access-date=9 April 2019 |date=8 April 2019 |url=http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/04/08/190408b.html |title=Resignations and Appointments, 08.04.2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=8 April 2019 |title=Pope appoints new Bishop for Cork, Ireland |url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-04/pope-appoints-new-bishop-for-cork-ireland.html |accessdate=7 July 2019 |website=Vatican News |publisher=Dicasterium pro communicatione}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=English |first=Eoin |date=8 April 2019 |title=Fr Fintan Gavin appointed as new Bishop of Cork and Ross |work=Irish Examiner |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/fr-fintan-gavin-appointed-as-new-bishop-of-cork-and-ross-916152.html |access-date=9 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Daly |first=Greg |date=8 April 2019 |title=New beginning for Cork as Dublin priest takes the reins |work=The Irish Catholic |url=https://www.irishcatholic.com/new-beginning-for-cork-as-dublin-priest-takes-the-reins/ |access-date=9 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=MacDonald |first=Sarah |date=8 April 2019 |title=Fr Fintan Gavin to be next Bishop of Cork and Ross |work=The Tablet |url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/11565/fr-fintan-gavin-to-be-next-bishop-of-cork-and-ross |access-date=9 April 2019}}</ref> His appointment was seen as historic, as he was the first bishop not to have previously served as [[Auxiliary bishop|auxiliary]] or [[coadjutor bishop]] since 1847, and the first bishop to be born outside the diocese since 1763.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Donovan |first=Diarmuid |date=28 June 2019 |title=The fascinating history of Cork's bishops |url=https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40147868.html |access-date=27 February 2023 |website=The Echo}}</ref>
Gavin was consecrated by his predecessor, [[John Buckley (bishop)|John Buckley]], on 30 June in the [[Cathedral of St Mary and St Anne]], [[Cork (city)|Cork]].<ref name="rte20192">{{cite web |last=O'Sullivan |first=Jennie |date=30 June 2019 |title=Cork diocese ordains first non-Cork bishop in 300 years |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2019/0630/1059267-dublin-priest-cork/ |accessdate=4 July 2019 |publisher=RTÉ}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Roche |first=Barry |date=30 June 2019 |title=Church must reach out to those on the margins, says new Cork bishop |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/church-must-reach-out-to-those-on-the-margins-says-new-cork-bishop-1.3942300 |access-date=2023-02-27 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref>
He became the first bishop of the diocese to say a "station Mass" in November 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Mahony |first=Kieran |date=11 November 2019 |title=Bishop surprises parish to say 'station mass' |url=https://www.southernstar.ie/news/bishop-surprises-parish-to-say-station-mass-4182083 |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=[[The Southern Star (County Cork)|The Southern Star]] |language=en}}</ref>
Ahead of the publication of a pastoral letter in August 2022 which outlined a restructuring of diocesan structures, Gavin stated in an interview with ''[[The Echo (Cork newspaper)|The Echo]]'' that while the Catholic Church had served Ireland well in some aspects, its previously dominant role in Irish society had led to corruption and a loss of focus on mission. He also emphasised the importance of greater [[Catholic laity|lay involvement]] over a focus on the priesthood in the process of renewal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Keeffe |first=Donal |date=2022-08-27 |title=Bishop Fintan Gavin: Church 'paying price' for allowing its power to corrupt |url=https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40948934.html |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=The Echo |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Keeffe |first=Donal |date=2022-08-27 |title=More power to laity, less focus on priesthood, says Cork Bishop |url=https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40948688.html |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=The Echo |language=en}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{wikiquote}} * [https://catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop//bgavinf.html Bishop Fintan Gavin] on [[Catholic-Hierarchy.org]] * [https://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/cork0.htm?focus=62618&tab=bishops Bishop Fintan Gavin] on GCatholic {{Roman Catholic dioceses in Ireland}} {{Roman Catholic bishops of Cork and Ross}} {{authority control}}{{portal bar|Biography|Catholicism|Ireland}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gavin, Fintan}} [[Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Cork and Ross]] [[Category:Christian clergy from Dublin (city)]] [[Category:1966 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland]] [[Category:Alumni of Clonliffe College]] [[Category:Alumni of University College Dublin]] [[Category:Pontifical Gregorian University alumni]] [[Category:Bishops appointed by Pope Francis]]