After his ordination in 1978, Farrell served as a chaplain and university teacher for several years in Mexico and worked in the United States from 1984 to 2016. He was an auxiliary bishop of Archdiocese of Washington in Washington D.C. from 2002 to 2007 and bishop of the Diocese of Dallas in Texas from 2007 to 2017.
In the early 1980s, Farrell left the Legionaries to be incardinated in the Archdiocese of Washington. In 1984, Farrell was assigned as an associate pastor at St. Peter's Parish in Olney, Maryland. He also served at St. Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda, Maryland, and at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Washington, D.C. In 1985, Farrell was appointed director of the archdiocesan Spanish Catholic Center.[6]
Farrell became acting director of Catholic Charities in the archdiocese in 1988, and served as secretary of finance from 1989 to 2001. The Vatican raised him to the rank of monsignor in 1995. In 2001, Farrell was named vicar general for the archdiocese and pastor of Annunciation Parish in Washington.[6]
Farrell was appointed bishop of Dallas by Pope Benedict XVI on March 6, 2007, replacing Bishop Charles Grahmann. Farrell was installed on May 1, 2007.[8]
Farrell was the 2009 chair of the USCCB Committee on National Collections. His brother Brian Farrell is the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Kevin Farrell commented on his brother in 2015: "I'm younger, but I became bishop first, 12 months earlier. And we still have a little sibling rivalry."[10]
In June 2019, Farrell admitted receiving a $29,000 gift from Bishop Michael J. Bransfield to refurbish his Rome apartment. A 2018 apostolic visitation to the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia revealed that he had been using diocesan funds for these gifts and his own personal spending. Farrell returned the $29,000 to the diocese; Bransfield was removed from office in July 2019.[19]
On September 29, 2020, Francis appointed Farrell as president of the Commission for Confidential Matters, a new office in the Roman Curia.[23] According to the church's apostolic constitution, Praedicate Evangelium, the commission is responsible "1. to authorize any legal, economic or financial act that for the greater good of the Church or of persons must be kept confidential and removed from the examination and supervision of the competent entities; 2. to monitor contracts of the Holy See which by law demand confidentiality and to exercise vigilance over them."[24]
On June 7, 2022, Francis appointed Farrell as chair of the Pontifical Committee for Investments.[25] According to Praedicate Evangelium, the committee is responsible for "guaranteeing the ethical nature of the Holy See’s equity investments in accordance with the Church’s social doctrine and, at the same time, monitoring their profitability, propriety and degree of risk.[26]
After McCarrick was laicized in 2018 for credible allegations of sexual abuse against a minor, further reports of accusations and legal settlements emerged, dating back years. These revelations led to public questions about whether bishops and clerics closely associated with McCarrick, including Farrell, had been aware of these accusations and settlements.
McCarrick had asked the Vatican to appoint Farrell as auxiliary bishop in Washington. Over the next six years, Farrell served as vicar general there. During this time, he shared a four-bedroom apartment with McCarrick and two priest secretaries.[28][29][30][31]
Journalist Michael Winters termed McCarrick as Farrell's "mentor in the episcopacy."[32]
According Farrell's website when he was bishop of Dallas, the lion rampant on his coat of arms "honors" McCarrick and the yellow and red coloring at the top right of his coat of arms is also derived from that of McCarrick.[33]
In September 2015, the Vatican announced that the World Meeting of Families (WMOF) would be held in Phoenix ParkinDublin, Ireland, in 2018.[34] In August 2016, Francis appointed Farrell as head of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. As a result, Farrell took charge of the 2018 WMOF. Farrell said that Francis' visit to Ireland would be "inspirational" and "counter negativity" towards the Irish church.[35] On August 18, 2018, former Irish President Mary McAleese, a critic of the WMOF, said that meeting organizers had not invited her or her family to any of the WMOF events, saying:
It's always been essentially a right wing rally... and it was designed for that purpose, to rally people to get them motivated to fight against the tide of same sex marriage, rights for gays, abortion rights, contraceptive rights."[36]
On August 16, 2018, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, scheduled to lead a "pioneering session on child safeguarding", withdrew from the WMOF.[37] On August 18, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, due to address the conference, also pulled out.[38] Although organizers claimed to have sold over 500,000 tickets to WMOF, the Office of Public Works in Ireland confirmed that the attendance was only 152,000.[39][40]
In February 2018, Farrell banned McAleese, a supporter of women's ordination and same-sex marriage, from speaking at a Vatican conference on Women in the Catholic Church.[41] McAleese sought an explanation for her exclusion from Francis through a canon law process, but received no response.[citation needed]
On March 18, 2021, Farrell defended a ban by Francis on the blessing of same-sex unions by priests. Farrell stated that a priestly blessing was a sacramental action related to marriage, which could only be between a man and a woman.[42]
^"Resignations and Appointments" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. June 10, 2017. Archived from the original on September 16, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
^"Resignations and Appointments" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. February 14, 2019. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
^Dreher, Rod (July 23, 2018). "What Did The Cardinals Know?". The American Conservative. Archived from the original on July 30, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
