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	A Down-To-Earth Leader with a Higher Calling Colleagues Praise Farrell's Skills As a Priest and an Executive By Sam Hodges Dallas Morning News [Dallas TX] March 7, 2007 http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/DN-newbishop_07met.ART.State.Edition2.4430a56.html As a boy in Dublin, Ireland, Kevin Farrell blew the question posed to him during his confirmation service by a formidable archbishop. "I got through six sacraments and couldn't remember the last one," he said Tuesday in an interview. "I was sent to the back of the line. The nuns just looked at me and told me I had disgraced the whole school in front of the archbishop of Dublin." He has made few missteps since, gradually building a killer résumé that on Tuesday landed him a papal appointment as bishop of the Diocese of Dallas. Bishop Farrell, 59, has studied or worked in Spain, Rome and Mexico, and for nearly a quarter of a century has been a key figure in the archdiocese of Washington, D.C., recently serving as auxiliary bishop. Colleagues describe him as having an unusual combination of pastoral and administrative skills, and as one highly experienced at issues such as immigration and handling sexual abuse by priests. "I think you guys got a winner down there," said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in Washington, and former editor of America magazine. Bishop Farrell is trim, with fair skin, blue eyes and a fringe of gray hair going white. He still has a trace of an Irish lilt. He smiles often, and though he didn't duck questions about church controversies during his inaugural news conference here Tuesday, he answered modestly. Time and again, he said he needs to know the diocese better before he could establish priorities. Bishop Farrell also made clear that he's aware that the diocese he'll be leading is increasingly Hispanic. He fielded questions in both English and Spanish, and emphasized that his time in Mexico had been formative. "Although I was born in a country that was cold and very far to the north ... I do believe I have a Latin heart," he said. Bishop Farrell grew up in inner-city Dublin. His father worked in a cigarette factory. Bishop Farrell credits his parents' devotion to the church with causing him to think seriously about a vocation as priest. (His older brother Brian Farrell also is a bishop, assigned to the Vatican.) In 1966, he entered the novitiate of the Legionaries of Christ. That organization is controversial for its strict adherence to orthodoxy, its fundraising and organizational tactics (some former members describe it as cultlike) and lately for the sex-abuse accusations faced by its founder, Father Marcial Maciel. But as a young man, Kevin Farrell found the Legionaries appealed to his sense of mission. "When I first met them in Ireland, they had a very unique spirituality and presented the challenge to me – which I probably needed at the time, and wished to accept – to go save the world," he said. "Idealism is not a word that's unheard of in Ireland." While part of the Legionaries, Bishop Farrell studied in Spain and in Rome, earning advanced degrees in philosophy and theology, and in 1978 he was ordained to the priesthood in Rome. He spent six years in Mexico, working in the Legionaries as a chaplain and teacher at the University of Monterrey, according to a profile by the Catholic News Service. In 1984, he left the Legionaries. "We had our differences of opinion on some things," he said. Pressed for specifics, he offered little more than "intellectual differences." In D.C. Bishop Farrell accepted an offer in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., which needed bilingual priests as it experienced a wave of immigration from Latin America. In Washington, Bishop Farrell spent two years serving parishes. Then in 1986, he was assigned by Cardinal James Hickey to direct the Spanish Catholic Center, an agency that helps Hispanics and particularly immigrants in finding jobs, legal representation and health care. After a stint in the top leadership of the Catholic Charities office, he served for more than a decade as secretary of finance for the Archdiocese of Washington. He briefly returned to parish work, then in 2001 became vicar general and moderator of the curia for the archdiocese, being ordained auxiliary bishop in 2002. "I would say he's been the chief operating officer of the archdiocese," said Jane Belford, a lawyer who is the first layperson to serve as chancellor of the Archdiocese of Washington, and who has reported to Bishop Farrell. Ms. Belford described him as orderly, efficient and extremely hardworking. She recalled getting e-mails from him at 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. on the same day. She said he's comfortable reading balance sheets and financial statements, and is technologically savvy. "He would be very successful in the business world, because he has great skills as an executive," she said. "But I think that what makes him really special is that he tempers all those skills with great pastoral care. He never forgets that at the end of the day he's a priest." Familiar with the issues As a behind-the-scenes power in Washington, Bishop Farrell has dealt extensively with issues familiar in the Dallas Diocese – immigration, priest sex abuse and the priest shortage. Michele Bowe, a friend who has worked with him as a board member of the Spanish Catholic Center, said he's a strong advocate for immigrants, regardless of their legal status. She described Bishop Farrell as comfortable with lay leadership in the church, but she also said he has made recruiting men to the priesthood a priority. "He says, 'Pray for vocations, and don't just pray for your neighbor's children, pray for your own,' " she said. Bishop Farrell has had a key role in implementing policy regarding sex abuse by priests. He has also dealt extensively with victims. He said Tuesday that he has "zero tolerance" for any abuse of children. "Unfortunately, Farrell's diocese has worked very hard to beat back efforts at legislative reform that would give child sex victims the chance to expose predators in court," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. But Shay Bilchik, recently retired president and CEO of the Child Welfare League of America and former chair of the Washington Archdiocese's Child Protection Advisory Board, gave Bishop Farrell high marks. "If I was in a community where there has been a history of less-than-stellar performance [in attention to abuse cases], I would welcome Bishop Farrell," said Mr. Bilchik, a former prosecutor. In Washington, Bishop Farrell has been an occasional visitor at the White House. Here, he'll have a less heady atmosphere, but he struck a humble note Tuesday. "I have a certain amount of respect and fear – shall we say holy fear – of what awaits me," he said. "I pray to God that I will always make sound, good decisions." Staff writers Jeffrey Weiss, Bruce Tomaso and Brooks Egerton contributed to this report. E-mail: samhodges@dallasnews.com
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