John was ordained as priest for the diocese of Dromore by the late Bishop Eugene O’Doherty on 10 June 1973.  Fr McAreavey returned to Maynooth after his ordination and completed a licentiate in Theology in 1974.  He was a post-graduate student of Canon Law at the Gregorian University of Rome from 1974-1978 when he graduated with a doctorate in Canon Law.

From 1978-1979 Fr McAreavey was on the teaching staff of St Colman’s College Newry.  In the latter year he was appointed to the Armagh Regional Marriage Tribunal.  He became head on the death of Fr Mulvenna in 1983 and held this post until 1991.  Meanwhile he had been appointed in 1988 Professor of Canon Law in the Pontifical University of Maynooth.  While there he wrote widely on Church Law, publishing in 1997 The Canon Law of Marriage and the Family.   He had served on the Editorial Board of the Irish Theological Quarterly from 1998.  He is also a member of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Canon Law Society of America.  Since 1994 he has been secretary of the Greenhills Ecumenical Conference Committee. 

Throughout his entire ministry John has been involved in the pastoral care of engaged and married couples.  A fluent Gaelic speaker [indeed a polyglot] he is a member of the committee of Coláiste Bhríde, Rann na Feirste.

Dr John McAreavey was ordained as Bishop of Dromore on 19 September 1999.  Despite his great erudition, Bishop McAreavey is a man of remarkable humility. You might see him any day out walking – one of his favourite leisure pursuits – or dandering over to the Fiveways for the papers.  Stop and have a word.  He’d want you to.

Not yet five years as Bishop, John has distinguished himself at home and abroad, where his services are currently called for in the revision of the Liturgy of the Mass, for one example.  

This writer loves him dearly for he has been a close friend to all our family for thirty years.  May God’s grace go with him as he carries out his strenuous duties and I pray he will serve us as Bishop for several decades to come.

Bishop John McAreavey chose as motto on his coat-of-arms, sicut qui ministrat, which translates ‘as one who serves’.  This is a quotation from Luke where Jesus advises his disciples on the kind of leadership which should be exercised among them.  It was fitting then that he chose Richard Gillard’s The Servant Song in his Rite of Ordination.

Will you let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let me be your servant too.

We are pilgrims on a journey
We are travellers on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ light for you
In the night-time of your fear
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping
When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in Heaven
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together
Of Christ’s love, and agony.

Source:
Written by John McCullagh
www.newryjournal.co.uk
Wednesday, 05 May 2004