McFeely became a bishop as the
Second Vatican Council closed and so he put into effect the liturgical and other conciliar reforms in his diocese. He also "put diocesan finances on a sound basis, replacing funeral offerings with the envelope system, and he took in hand the creation of a diocesan archive". In constructing several new churches in his diocese McFeely often commissioned internationally acclaimed architect
Liam McCormick especially at Milford, Burt and Creeslough. In the early 1970s he persuaded the
Capuchin Order not to leave Ards Friary, adjacent to
Ards Forest Park but to re-purpose their previous novitiate into a pastoral centre and make more use of the extensive grounds. In 2011 it was revealed that Bishop McFeely had allowed a notorious paedophile priest - Father Patrick Maguire - to get away with abusing a young boy – before finally taking action against him. ==References==