DISCERN: “The Catholic School in a Missionary Church”

H.L. MGR DÓNAL MCKEOWN is the Bishop of Derry in Ireland. He previously served as Titular Bishop of Cell Ausaille and auxiliary bishop in The Diocese of Down and Connor. He was born on 12 April 1950 in Belfast. Mgr. McKeown was educated at St MacNissi’s College, Garron Tower where he was a boarder from 1961–1968. He entered the Seminary, Saint Malachy’s College, in 1968, and studied at Queen’s University, Belfast, where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree with Honours in German and Italian in 1973.
From 1970 to 1971 he taught English at a school in Dieburg Germany. Then he obtained the degree of Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1977 and a year later began a 23-year career as a teacher. He was appointed to teach Religious Education, and German at St. Patrick’s College, Knock, while assisting in the parish of Derriaghy. Then, Cardinal Cahal Daly appointed him full-time teacher and Dean at St. Malachy’s College, Belfast,
and in 1995 he became President of the same College. While in the post of President, Mgr. McKeown continued his education, and in 2000 he graduated from the University of Leicester obtaining a Master Degree in Business Administration specialising in educational management.