From Texas Catholic

BISHOP Kevin Joseph Farrell was appointed seventh bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas on March 6, 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI.

He succeeds Bishop Charles V. Grahmann, who retired after serving the diocese since July 15, 1990.

Bishop Farrell was installed as Dallas’s new bishop in colorful ceremonies and Mass at the Cathedral shine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in downtown Dallas on May 1, 2007, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

Bishop Farrell was born in Dublin, Ireland on September 2, 1947. One of four boys, he graduated from the Irish Christian Brothers High School in Drimnagh, Dublin. He entered the novitiate of the Legionnaires of Christ in 1966 and received an M.A. in Philosophy and an S.T.L. in Theology after studies in Rome.

After being ordained to the priesthood in Rome on December 24, 1978, then-Father Farrell was assigned to be the chaplain for the University of Monterrey in Mexico. While there, he conducted seminars in bioethics and social ethics.

Bishop Farrell first visited the United States in 1967. Later in the early eighties he went to the Arch-diocese of Washington, D.C. to help fill the need for Spanish-speaking priests. He decided to leave his religious order and seeking incarnation as a diocesan priest in the archdiocese.

His first assignment was associate pastor at St. Peter, Olney in 1984. He also served at St. Bartholomew in Bethesda and St. Thomas the Apostle in Washington, D.C.

In 1985, he was chosen by Cardinal James A. Hickey to be the director of the Spanish Catholic Center, an agency of the Archdiocese of Washington that primarily serves the Hispanic community and new immigrants through legal assistance, education, employment assistance and health care.

In 1987, Bishop Farrell also became assistant executed director of Catholic Charities and then was name interim director in 1988.

From 1989 to March 2001, he served as Secretary of finance for the Archdiocese of Washington. He was named a Prelate of Honor, with the title of Monsignor, in 1995 by Pope John Paul II.

From October 2000 to March 2002, he was pastor of Annun-ciation parish in Northwest Washington, D.C. Since March 2001, he has served as vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Archdiocese of Washington. He was ordained an auxiliary bishop in Washington, D.C. on February 11, 2002.

Bishop Farrell serves on the board of directors of CLINIC (Catholic Legal Immigration Network) and is a member of several committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, including Consecrated Life, Migration and Hispanic Affairs.

Bishop Farrell is fluent in Italian and Spanish. His brother Brian Farrell, a member of the Legionaries of Christ, is also a bishop and serves as secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.