Limerick’s link to the moon through an obscure old law

WHAT WAS once “one small step for man” has become one big parish for a Limerick man, with a Corbally native holding the title of Bishop of the Moon thanks to a strange set of circumstances.

It may sound as if it is a sketch worthy of Fr Ted, but the truth is often stranger than fiction and an obscure law from over 100 years ago means that Bishop John Gerard Noonan can count the Moon as part of his diocese.

The rule in question was set out in the 1917 Code of Canon Law and it states that any newly-discovered land falls under the diocese that the expedition set out from.

Given that the Apollo 11 mission, which first landed humans on the Moon, launched from Orlando, Florida in the United States, the Moon now falls under the jurisdiction of Orlando and Bishop Noonan.

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Bishop Noonan wasn’t the first to hold the title. The first to do so was Bishop William Donald Borders, who found himself Bishop of the Moon in 1969, an event that even Pope Paul VI was reportedly surprised by at the time.

Given that the surface of the Moon is 38 million square km, which is a long way to travel to say Mass, the diocese is one of the larger ones under the church's domain, as well as one of the furthest away from Rome, 384,400 km away to be exact.

Corbally-born Bishop Noonan, who has relatives in Abbeyfeale, has not made any trips to the Moon, on behalf of the church or otherwise, and is unlikely to be giving sermons there anytime soon - but his life has still been one of adventure.

At the age of 18, he left Ireland to go to New York. He would later relocate to Miami where his calling to the priesthood led him to St John Vianney College Seminary.

He would be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Miami, and after dedicating many years in service of the church, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of Orlando on October 23, 2010.