New Columban Superior General

New Columban General Council: l-r Frs Alvaro, Tim, Joseph, Brian

Source: Columbans

Fr Tim Mulroy is the new Superior General of the Missionary Society of St Columban. He was elected at the Columban General Assembly, which has been meeting in Taiwan during September.

Fr Mulroy is Irish and a former primary school teacher. He has been Regional Director in the United States for the past six years, based in Omaha. Originally from Meelick, Swinford, Co Mayo, Fr Mulroy attended St Patrick's Secondary School, Swinford. He became a Columban seminarian in 1987 and was ordained at Our Lady Help of Christians Church, Swinford, in 1995.

The 54-year-old worked in parish ministry in Japan from 1995 until 2002, when he went to the United States as director of formation at the Columban International Seminary in Chicago, a role he held for nine years. Afterwards he served in parish ministry at St Pius X Parish in El Paso, Texas, before he was elected Regional Director of the United States Columban Region in November 2012, a role he continued until 2018.

The new Vicar General of the Society is Fr Brian Vale from New Zealand, who is currently serving as Regional Director in Australia/New Zealand. He has worked in Japan. Joseph Kang, Vice-Director in Korea, has been elected second councillor. He studied theology in Maynooth and spent six years in Peru.

The other councillor is Chilean Fr Alvaro Patricio Martinez Ibañez. Fr Alvaro joined the Columbans in 1994. Between 1995-1996 he studied philosophy at the Major Seminary in Santiago (Chile). Then in 1997, he spent a number of months in Ireland studying English before he went to Fiji in 1998. Between 1999-2002, he studied Theology at CTU (Chicago) and was ordained a deacon in November 2002. He returned to Chile in 2003 where he was ordained to the priesthood in May of that year. Between 2004-2011, Fr Alvaro acted as co-ordinator for vocations and headed the formation house in Chile. In May 2011, he was appointed as regional director for Chile and he continued in this role until 2017.

You can hear Fr Tim Mulroy explain what drew him to the Missionary Society of St Columban and what continues to inspire him here: https://columbans.ie/the-columban-call/