James McLoughlin (9 April 1929 – 25 November 2005) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora, Ireland for twelve years from 1993 to 2005.
He attended the Patrician Brothers primary school in Nuns' Island and St. Mary's College in Galway.
[citation needed] After ordination he was appointed to the teaching staff of St. Mary's College, Galway where he developed interests in basketball and amateur dramatics, and was appointed diocesan secretary in September 1965, bring to that role a reserved dedication to duty, meticulous planning and financial acumen.
After his death one obituary noted that McLouglhin's "quiet demeanour...intimate knowledge of Galway and his being a native son, made him the ideal man to assume responsibility for the diocese when Bishop Eamonn Casey resigned.
In 2003 he was one of the first Irish bishops to announce the clustering of parishes in recognition of the falling number of priests, his diocese having had very few vocations or ordinations in the decade up to 2003.