Fr Fachtna O'Driscoll, the Irish Provincial Leader of the Society of
African Missions (SMA), has been elected as Superior General of the
society for the coming six years.Fr O'Driscoll, a native of Rathcormac, Co. Cork, is the fifth Irishman to hold the office with his predecessors including Bishop Kieran O'Reilly of Killaloe and Bishop Patrick J Harrington of Lodwar, Kenya.
Fr O'Driscoll served in Ekiti diocese, Nigeria for a number of years before being appointed as the Rector of the SMA House in Maynooth, and then elected to the Irish Provincial Council in 1995. He was first elected as Provincial Leader in 2001 and re-elected in 2007, with his term due to expire in July this year.
As a consequence of Fr O'Driscoll’s election as Superior General the Irish Province will now be led by Fr John Dunne, from Mitchelstown, Co. Cork assisted by the new Vice-Provincial Leader, Fr Damian Bresnahan, from Omagh, Co. Tyrone.