Best wishes and heartfelt prayers to our newly appointed Prefect, His Excellency Msgr. Kevin Farrell as he prepares to start his service to the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.
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On August 15, 2016 the Holy Father has named His Excellency Msgr. Kevin Farrell, Bishop of Dallas, Prefect of the newly established Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.
Monsignor Farrell was born in Dublin (Ireland) on September 2, 1947.
After completing High school, he studied in Spain at the University of Salamanca, and in Italy at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He also attended the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), receiving degrees in dogmatic theology (1976) and pastoral theology. He later obtained a Master's in business and administration from the University of Notre Dame (U.S.A.). In 1966 he entered the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ and was ordained to the priesthood on December 24, 1978.
After the priestly ordination, he served as Chaplain at the University of Monterrey in Mexico, Professor of Economics, and General Administrator of the Legionaries of Christ with responsibilities for seminaries and schools in Italy, Spain, and Ireland.
From 1983 he served St. Bartholomew Church in Bethesda. In 1984 he was incardinated in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. From then on, he was Associate Pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle (1984-1985); Director of the Spanish Catholic Center in 1986; Vice Executive Director of Catholic Charities (1987-1988); Archdiocesan Secretary of Finance (1989-2001); Pastor of the Annunciation Parish (2000-2002) in Washington D.C.
Appointed on December 28, 2001 by Pope John Paul II as Auxiliary Bishop of the Washington Archdiocese with the titular see of Rusuccuru, and then consecrated on February 11, 2002 by Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick. From 2001 he served until 2007 as Washington's Moderator of the Curia and Chief Vicar-General.
On March 6, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Dallas to replace the retiring Bishop Charles Victor Grahmann.
Msgr. Farrell was installed on May 1, 2007.
