He was recalled to the Diocese of Clogher in 1980, where he received his first diocesan assignment as assistant in the cathedral parish of Monaghan and Rackwallace, with responsibility for the local Catholic marriage advisory council.[1]
Treanor returned to Rome in 1981 to complete further studies, while also serving as Prefect of Studies at the Pontifical Irish College. He subsequently returned to Ireland in 1985, when he was appointed diocesan director of adult education and organised a diocesan assembly of clergy held in 1986 to promote pastoral renewal within the diocese. Treanor was next appointed curate in Enniskillen, where he also served as chaplain to the local general hospital and a confessor at the nearby St Patrick's Purgatory.[1]
He was sent to Brussels in 1989, to work with COMECE. While deeply involved in the expanding endeavour of COMECE to project Christian values into the European process, Treanor continued to engage in pastoral work through contact with the local English-speaking community. He also published and lectured widely on European construction issues, the Church and Europe, and Church-State matters.[1]
Ahead of a referendum in the Republic of Ireland on the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon in October 2009, he advocated for a Yes vote, saying that Roman Catholics could vote in favour of the treaty in good conscience. Treanor cited his experience with COMECE in assuring an Oireachtas committee that ratification of the treaty would not affect Irish sovereignty over issues such as abortion and military neutrality.[7]
He described the findings of the Murphy Report, published in November 2009, as "horrific", and expressed his confidence that the Diocese of Down and Connor had rid itself of all abusing priests.[8]
Speaking at a press conference in August 2010, where previously undisclosed documents from diocesan archives relating to the Ballymurphy massacre were made public for the first time, Treanor expressed his support for an international, independent inquiry into the events of the massacre, adding:[9]
As with Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed were actively besmirched and the evidence of the available eyewitnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on August 9th–11th, 1971, would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.
At the diocesan congress in 2013, he launched a review into ensuring that diocesan pastoral activities matched current resources, initiating a review of pastoral structures which drew upon the results of a census held in 2011. New pastoral communities were drafted and presented to clergy in three meetings and subsequently to the lay faithful, with a regular practice rate of 20% across the diocese significantly influencing future structures, leading to increased sharing of personnel, skills and finances.[10]
^"Rinunce e Nomine, 28.02.2008" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 22 February 2008. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
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