Biography

Born 3 February 1934 of Edward Duffy and Brigid MacEntee, Annagose, Newbliss, Co. Monaghan. Joseph Duffy was the eldest of three boys and one girl. He was educated at St Louis Infant School, Clones, Largy N.S., Clones, and in 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. On 2 September 1979 he was ordained Bishop of Clogher.

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 in 1960. He then returned to St Macartan’s College and taught Irish and French there for twelve years. During these years he spent several sessions in French universities doing summer courses in French. He also worked at the pilgrimage shrine of Lough Derg in county Donegal and translated two books of the Old Testament, Amos and Ezekiel, for An Bíobla Gaeilge.

From 1972 to 1979 he was a curate in the parish of Enniskillen, Co. 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 part-time chaplaincy to 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.

His special interest outside his formal duties has been the local history of the Diocese of Clogher. From 1963 to 1975 he was editor and frequent contributor to Clogher Record and since 1975 has been chairman of the Clogher Historical Society. In 1972 he published a popular work on St Patrick, Patrick in his own words, which was updated in a second edition in 2000.

As a member of the Bishops Conference he was spokesman from 1987 to 1993 and has been chairman of the Committee for European Affairs and delegate of the Conference on COMECE, the Commission of Bishops Conferences of the European Community, since 1983. He has also been a member of the Inter-Church meeting, chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Liturgy and chairman of the Committee for the Sacred Art and Architecture.