Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ says leaving Raphoe Diocese ‘will be a great sorrow’

Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ has asked for the prayers from parishioners in the Raphoe Diocese as he prepares to take up a new post as Bishop of Down and Connor.

Pope Francis has appointed Bishop McGuckian as the Bishop of Down and Connor, with the Cloughmills native having served in Donegal for the last six-and-a-half years.

He will succeed Archbishop Noel Treanor, who was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union in 2022.

At Mass on Friday at Saint Peter’s Cathedral, Belfast, Bishop Donal McKeown, Bishop of Derry and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Down and Connor, confirmed the news of Bishop McGuckian’s appointment.

“It will be a great sorrow for me to leave so many wonderful friends here in Donegal,” Bishop McGuckian said.

“I have been overwhelmed during the past six years by the kindness and readiness of so many people to take me into their hearts. It has been the greatest privilege of my life to have been your bishop.”

Bishop McGuckian will celebrate Confirmation in parishes in the Raphoe Diocese until the end of February, during which time he will serve as Apostolic Administrator.

A Diocesan Administrator, who will be appointed by the College of Consulters, will oversee the Raphoe Diocese in the interim period until a new Bishop is appointed.

Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ with Bishop Donal McKeown, Bishop of Derry and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Down and Connor. Photos: Peter Thomas

In June 2017, Bishop McGuckian was appointed as the Bishop of Raphoe and he was ordained on August 6, 2017.

He said: “I have loved serving in this diocese because there is a bedrock of faith among you that is a great treasure. It has inspired and encouraged me.

“The people of Raphoe have always been in my daily prayers since I first heard that I was to be your bishop six and a half years ago. Now, I ask that you pray for me as I go to take up the Church's mission in pastures new.”

In 1972, he joined the Jesuit novitiate in Clontarf in Dublin having studied a year of First Arts in Queen’s University, Belfast, where he studied Irish and Scholastic Philosophy.

He was ordained to the priesthood in 1984 and worked in County Kildare before spending time in India and the Philippines.

From 1992-2003, Father Alan served as appointed as Director of the Jesuit Communication Centre in Dublin and from 2012-2017 he worked  closely with the Diocese of Down and Connor in the ‘Living Church’ project.

He said: “My roots are entirely in the Diocese of Down and Connor. Father Gerry Park baptised me and Father 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.”

Archbishop Eamon Martin, who ordained Bishop McGuckian in Letterkenny in 2017, said: “Bishop Alan’s appointment is providential at this time of political renewal in Northern Ireland, and he will no doubt bring many gifts to enable peaceful relationships to grow and flourish in his new diocese.

“Since his appointment as Bishop of Raphoe, Bishop Alan’s strong pastoral instinct has been manifest in his witness to the Gospel and his care for people, religious and clergy.  He will be missed in the Diocese of Raphoe.”