Laurence Forristal

Laurence Forristal (5 June 1931 – 10 October 2018) was an Irish Roman Catholic prelate, who served as the Bishop of Ossory from 1981 to 2007.

Early life and education

Born to William Forristal and Kathleen Forristal (née Phelan) in Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland in 1931, Forristal was educated locally at Mercy Convent primary school and the Boys' National School in Thomastown, and at Mount St Joseph College, Roscrea. He studied for the priesthood at Clonliffe College, Dublin, and studied philosophy at University College, Dublin. He pursued further studies at the Propaganda Fide College in Rome and was ordained there as a priest for the Archdiocese of Dublin on 21 December 1955.

Episcopal ministry

He was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Dublin and Titular Bishop of Rotdon on 3 December 1979 and received episcopal ordination on 20 January 1980.

As auxiliary bishop in Dublin his role and knowledge of clerical child sex abuse was considered by Judge Yvonne Murphy. Forristal's obituary noted that Murphy wrote of the then auxiliary bishop "Of Dublin’s eight auxiliaries, the report said “Bishop Forristal was the only bishop to unequivocally admit in evidence to the commission that he may not have handled matters satisfactorily".

The following year, he was appointed the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Ossory on 30 June 1981.

In 1994, he decided to close Ireland's oldest seminary, St Kieran's College as a result of falling numbers.

Bishop Forristal retired on 14 September 2007, and assumed the title Bishop Emeritus of Ossory.

Forristal's grave on the grounds of St. Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny His death was announced by one of his successors as Bishop of Ossory Dermot Farrell on 10 October 2018. He is buried in the grounds of St. Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny.