Michael Duignan (bishop)
Michael Duignan is an Irish Roman Catholic clergyman who has been the Bishop of Clonfert since 2019.Early Life and Education
Duignan is the eldest of a family of six and attended Cloonakilla National School, Bealnamulla and St. Aloysius College, Athlone, Co Westmeath.
He began his seminary formation for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Elphin with a Spiritual Year at St Patrick’s Missionary Society in Kiltegan, Co Wicklow. His studies continued at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome where he attended the Pontifical Gregorian University. He graduated with a Baccalaureate in Philosophy in 1990 and a Baccalaureate in Theology in 1993. As a postgraduate student, he completed a Licentiate in Dogmatic Theology in 1995.
In 1993, he was ordained a deacon in the Basilica of Santa Prassede, Rome and ordained a priest in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Athlone by Most Rev Dominic Joseph Conway, Bishop of Elphin in July 1994.
After completing his Licentiate, he ministered as Curate in the Cathedral Parish of St Mary’s, Sligo and subsequently as Chaplain to the Institute of Technology, Sligo before returning to Rome to complete doctoral studies in contemporary trinitarian theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University with Father Gerald O'Collins AC SJ.Ministry
He was appointed Bishop of Clonfert in July 2019.
