A new Bishop for Down and Connor who was formally appointed by Pope Francis on Friday morning has expressed his hope that Stormont’s return will help the vulnerable.
Bishop Alan McGuckian, who had been serving as Bishop for the Raphoe Diocese, announced his new role following a celebratory mass at St Peter’s Cathedral in Belfast.
He is taking over from Donal McKeown, the Bishop of Derry who was also serving as the Apostolic Administrator for Down and Connor.
Born in Cloughmills and the youngest of six children, Bishop McGuckian said he was delighted to be welcomed back to Down and Connor after many years away.
His appointment follows a call for more lay people in the diocese to become active in church life due to falling numbers of priests.
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“Today I send my very best wishes to the other Church leaders in this part of the country,” he said.
“It is a source of encouragement to all of us that there is movement towards the re-establishment of the institutions of government here in Northern Ireland.
“Their absence in recent months has been a serious democratic deficit.
“I encourage everyone to do all in their power to ensure that we have ongoing and stable government here that works hard for the good of everyone and especially the most vulnerable.
“In addition, we Christians need to pray earnestly for our politicians. It is the grace of God in answer to people’s prayers that has led us out of the horror of past violence to where we are today.”
As a Jesuit priest, he said his vow of poverty would continue to guide him in his new role.
“There is so much poverty in (the) community – it is my intention to be close to the poor,” he said.
“That may be the poor in heart, lonely, isolated – I want us to be a Church that builds communities. “There are other poverties too – the workers seeking a just wage, young people without jobs or opportunities and families trying their best to make ends meet. We need to be a Church that is in solidarity with the poor and seeking justice for the poor.”
Having attended St MacNissi’s College, Garron Tower, he studied at Queen’s University Belfast in the early 1970s before joining the Jesuit novitiate in Clontarf, Dublin.
An interest in languages saw him complete an undergraduate degree in Latin and Spanish from University College Dublin, followed by a masters in Irish translation from Queen’s.
His training for the priesthood also involved the study of philosophy in the Milltown Institute in Dublin and theology in the Toronto School of Theology in the early 1980s.
Ordained to the priesthood in June 1984, he worked as a secondary school teacher in Clongoes Wood College, Co Kildare, for four years.
A six-month period of spiritual renewal followed in southern India as well as an experience of serving in a shanty town in the Quezon City of the Philippines, before taking his final profession as a Jesuit in February, 1997.
His commitment to the Irish language continued throughout his career, including the translation of a biography of St Ignatius Loyola from Spanish to Irish.
By 2011, he collaborated with Philip Orr in writing the drama 1912; one hundred years on, which marked the centenary of the Home Rule Bill being accepted by the House of Commons and the signing of the Ulster Covenant.
Between 2012 to 2017, he had worked closely with the Diocese of Down and Connor for the Living Church project, which gathered the hopes and fears of priests, religious and lay faithful across the diocese.
While living in Belfast, Bishop McGuckian had served as chaplain to many of the Gaelscoileanna (Irish-language medium schools) in the Diocese of Down and Connor.
He had also spent a few years as chaplain in the University of Ulster at Jordanstown and Belfast.
By June 2017, Pope Francis appointed Bishop McGuckian as Bishop of Raphoe in Donegal where he has served up until now.
“It is amazing to me that I am here in Belfast this morning in these circumstances,” he added on Friday.
“When I left Queen’s University in 1972 to join the Jesuits, I felt certain that I would never have the opportunity to live here again.
“Then, God’s providence intervened. My superiors sent me to live in Belfast from 2005 to 2017.”
He continued: “My roots are entirely in the Diocese of Down and Connor. Fr Gerry Park baptised me and Fr Vincent McKinley gave me my first Holy Communion in Cloughmills.
“Bishop Philbin confirmed me in Dunloy. This is where I come from and I am humbled and privileged that, after all my wanderings, the bishop of Rome has chosen to send me home.
Calling it “a terrible wrench” to leave the priests and people of Raphoe, he called it “a bittersweet source of pride” that Donegal had a pro-life majority in the Irish abortion referendum.
“Donegal people took me into their hearts and have inspired me and I will miss them greatly,” he said.
Welcoming his appointment was the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, the Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin.
“I had the great honour of ordaining Bishop Alan in Letterkenny back in August 2017; and today I offer him my ongoing prayerful support as he undertakes the significant new pastoral responsibility of shepherding the People of God in Ireland’s second largest diocese,” he said.
Calling the appointment “providential” at a time of political renewal in Northern Ireland, he said Bishop McGuckian would help “peaceful relationships to grow and flourish in his new diocese”.
He added that as part of an international group of bishops who visit the Holy Land every year, his message of peace and solidarity was “an essential message needed now more than ever in our world.”
He also thanked Donal McKeown for accepting the “onerous responsibility” of Apostolic Administrator for Down And Connor alongside his responsibilities in Derry.
During Friday’s service, Bishop McKeown told parishioners: “He is no stranger. He is now coming back to his native soil – the diocese where he was born and went to school and the diocesan family where he served as part of the Jesuit community in Belfast for 12 years.
“While in Belfast, he worked as chaplain to Ulster University and as director of the Living Church Office of this diocese.”
He added: “Bishop Alan, thank you for accepting the call of Pope Francis to lead this local church. God bless you as you prepare to take over in the course of the next number of weeks.”
Adding his well-wishes was Archbishop Noel Treanor, who left his post as Bishop of Down and Connor a year ago to become the Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union.
“I send my prayerful good wishes and heartiest congratulations to Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ on his appointment to the See of Down and Connor. A native of Cloughmills, and a son of the diocese, his appointment is a homecoming for him,” he said. “It was my great pleasure to come to know him when he served as a member of the Jesuit team in Belfast. At that time, he graciously agreed to lead the Diocesan Living Church Team,” he said.
“His further experience as Bishop of Raphoe will enable him to hit the ground running, to take up the baton and advance with so many women and men volunteers for the pastoral initiatives and projects in hand.
“In him they will find a creative, generous and wise shepherd, as will all with whom the diocese cooperates for the common good in public institutions and services.”
