The Irish Church saw its first Jesuit bishop receive his mitre at the Cathedral of Saints Eunan and Columba in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, on Sunday (6 August).
Attending the ceremony for the episcopal ordination of 64-year-old Fr Alan McGuckian were 1,000 family, friends and church representatives as well as civic leaders. The Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, thanked Bishop McGuckian’s “families of faith” who had helped nurture and sustain his vocation, including his extended family and the Jesuit community.
The ordination Mass was concelebrated by Bishop McGuckian’s two brothers, Fr Bernard McGuckian and Fr Michael McGuckian, who are also Jesuits.
Archbishop Martin urged the new bishop, who hails from Cloughmills in Co Antrim, to proclaim the Church’s message at all times, whether it is welcome or unwelcome and not to be afraid to “correct error with unfailing patience and sound teaching”.
Asked if he intended to speak up for the Church’s position on abortion ahead of next year’s referendum on the Eighth Amendment, Bishop McGuckian said the Church had an “utterly compelling vision about life from the very beginning to the very end that stands on its own. It is our job as bishops to share that with everybody on all sides.”
Speaking to the Tablet before his ordination, Bishop McGuckian said it is not a natural part of the Jesuit charism to be a bishop. Instead, Jesuits should be "supporters of the pope, the bishops and the Church". However the charism also emphasised discernment of spirit, "human beings thereby being able, with some level of effort, to discern what the spirit of God is doing in their lives".
Confronted with a disconnected younger generation, many of whom see the Church as irrelevant, Bishop McGuckian said the Church needs to be patient with young people and "young people need to be patient with us. If we develop that patience we will all grow to be in touch with this wisdom and energy that is deeper.”
As director of the Jesuit Communications Centre in the 1990s, the native Irish speaker was editor of two Irish language publications and set up several successful websites, including sacredspace.ie and catholicireland.net. In recent years he has been a key player in the Living Church project of the Down and Connor diocese. His episcopal motto is: Et velle et perficere (Philippians 2:13): God puts both the desire and the action into you.
PICTURE: Fr Alan McGuckian ©YouTube
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