Installation Mass today of Bishop Niall Coll as Bishop of Raphoe

Bishop Niall Coll in Saint Eunan’s Cathedral, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, following his appointment by Pope Leo XIV on 13 November 2025 as the new Bishop of Raphoe (Catholic Communications Office archive)

Date and time   Sunday 25 January, at 3.00pm
Venue   Saint Eunan’s Cathedral, Letterkenny, Donegal, F92 CF88
In attendance   Laity, religious, clergy, family and guests.

Following the conclusion of the Mass, and at the front door of the Cathedral, Bishop Coll will greet members of the congregation in person. 

Details on the Installation Ceremony
Principal Celebrants will include:

  • Archbishop Eamon Martin, Metropolitan Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
  • His Excellency Archbishop Luis M Montemayor, Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland
  • Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ, Bishop of Down and Connor
  • Bishop Philip Boyce, Bishop Emeritus of Raphoe

Following the moment of his Installation during the Mass, Bishop Coll will then lead the liturgy as Chief Celebrant and deliver the homily as the new Bishop of Raphoe.

Also in attendance will be members of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, both serving and retired, and other clergy from the Dioceses of Raphoe, and from Ossory.  Family members and friends of Bishop Coll, along with lay representatives from across the diocese, as well as teachers and students from local schools, will also make up the congregation.  Representatives of other Christian denominations are also expected as are civic leaders and local and national public representatives.

The choir will comprise members drawn from the 33 parishes of the Diocese of Raphoe, and will perform the music throughout the liturgy under the direction of Father Michael Carney.

ENDS

Notes for Editors

  • His Holiness Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Niall Coll, as Bishop of Raphoe on 13 November 2025.
  • The Diocese of Raphoe includes the greater part of Co Donegal.  Patron Saints of the diocese are Saint Eunan and Saint Columba, it has a Catholic population of 83,050 and consists of 33 parishes and 71 churches.  There are 39 diocesan priests and 7 priests on loan in active ministry in the diocese.  There are 26 others who are currently working in other dioceses, retired or on sick leave.  The diocese has two Friaries, Capuchin Friary in Ards, Creeslough and the Franciscan Friary in Rossnowlagh.  The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Merciful Jesus are also based in the diocese.  The Bishop of Raphoe is patron of 99 primary schools, and there are 20 voluntary secondary schools and State schools in the diocese.  The Cathedral of Saint Eunan has a capacity for 1,000 people.

Life and Ministry of Bishop Niall Coll

Niall Coll was born in 1963, the eldest of four children, to Willie and Kathleen Coll, Saint Johnston, Co Donegal.

Niall attended Saint Baithin’s National School, Saint Johnston and Saint Eunan’s College, Letterkenny.  In September 1981 he entered the National Seminary at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, to begin his formation for the priesthood.  He obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Geography in 1984, and a Bachelor Degree in Divinity in 1987.  He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Séamus Hegarty for the Diocese of Raphoe in 1988.  Following a two-year period of post-graduate study in Rome he was conferred with a Licence in Theology by the Gregorian University.

In 1989, having completed his studies, Father Niall was appointed to Saint Eunan’s College as chaplain and teacher.  Three years later he obtained a Higher Diploma in Education from Trinity College, Dublin.  In 1992 he was sent to Rome to study for a Doctorate in Theology at the Gregorian University.  In 1995, he was awarded a Doctoral Degree for a thesis in Christology which was later published as Christ in Eternity and Time: Contemporary Anglican Perspectives (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001). 

Thereafter, following his return from Rome, Father Niall was appointed as a lecturer in Systematic Theology in Saint Patrick’s College, Carlow.  Three years later he returned to Raphoe to serve as both chaplain in Pobalscoil na Rossan and curate in the parish of Dungloe.  In 2001, he was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies and Religious Education at Saint Mary’s University College, Belfast, which is a college of Queen’s University, Belfast.

In 2020, at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic, he returned to Raphoe as parish priest of Drumholm (Ballintra and Laghey), and a year later was transferred to the neighbouring parish of Tawnawilly (Donegal Town and Clar).

Bishop Niall is editor, along with Father Paschal Scallon CM, of A Church with a Future: Challenges to Irish Catholicism Today (Dublin: Columba Press, 2005), and also of Ireland and Vatican II: Essays Theological, Pastoral and Educational (Dublin: Columba Press, 2015). He was, for many years, editor of Le Chéile: A Catholic Schools Ethos Journal, published by Saint Mary’s University College, which sought to promote the values and work of Catholic education locally.  He is a member of the Irish Inter-Church Committee. 

His appointment as Bishop of Ossory by Pope Francis was announced on 28 October, 2022.  Bishop Niall was ordained Bishop of Ossory on 22 January 2023 by Archbishop Dermot Farrell, Archbishop of Dublin, who himself had previously served as Bishop of Ossory.  Three years later, on 13 November  2025, Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Niall as Bishop of Raphoe, his native diocese.

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