Homily of Bishop Michael Duignan at his Installation as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora

Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven & Saint Nicholas, Galway

Homily

On the cover of your booklets, you will see that we have gathered here this afternoon for my “Installation” as Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora.  Some weeks ago, when I used the word “Installation” in conversation with my mother she simply replied: “could they not have got a better word for it? Installing something … that sounds like getting a new washing machine or a fridge freezer.”  While the word Installation is rightly used to describe the technical and canonical aspects of today’s ceremony another less common but perhaps a more personal description is simply the “Reception of the New Bishop” or even the “Welcome of the New Bishop”. 

A “Threshold Moment”

It is customary that this ceremony of reception or welcome takes place in the Cathedral Church – which takes its name from the Latin word “Cathedra” or “Chair” – that place where the bishop sits, the mother Church of a diocese.  What a striking and majestic Cathedral we have here on the banks of the Corrib in the heart of the City.  It has surely lived up to Bishop Browne’s dream that it would be “solid, dignified and worthy of Galway”.  It stands as a testimony to the faith of the people of this locality and a visible daily reminder to raise our minds and hearts towards God.

I am conscious of the passing of the years since it was built and the fact that I am the first Bishop of Galway to be born after it was consecrated in 1965.  Today’s reception and welcome began at the great west door.  As I crossed over its threshold, I could not but think that this is in a very real sense a “threshold moment” – a graced moment of transition from the past to the present to the future.

Click on link for the full homily, courtesy of the Irish Bishops Conference website:

https://www.catholicbishops.ie/2022/05/01/homily-of-bishop-michael-duignan-at-his-installation-as-bishop-of-galway-and-kilmacduagh-and-apostolic-administrator-of-kilfenora/

 

Similar Posts

‘You are the light of the world” – norms for the universal church dealing with abuse and the cover up of abuse

Blog
1 Comment

Pope Francis has issued new norms for the universal church outlining how allegations of abuse have to be dealt with.
It has received extensive coverage in Vatican News.

Michael Sean Winters also writes in the National Catholic Reporter of the latest directive of Pope Francis that “establishes new laws for the universal church regarding both the scourge of abuse and the equally abhorrent covering up of such abuse.”
“If you are ordained, or belong to a religious order, you are now a mandatory reporter of abuse. You can’t ignore it.”

Join the Discussion

Keep the following in mind when writing a comment

  • Your comment must include your full name, and email. (email will not be published). You may be contacted by email, and it is possible you might be requested to supply your postal address to verify your identity.
  • Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger. Comments containing vulgarities, personalised insults, slanders or accusations shall be deleted.
  • Keep to the point. Deliberate digressions don't aid the discussion.
  • Including multiple links or coding in your comment will increase the chances of it being automati cally marked as spam.
  • Posts that are merely links to other sites or lengthy quotes may not be published.
  • Brevity. Like homilies keep you comments as short as possible; continued repetitions of a point over various threads will not be published.
  • The decision to publish or not publish a comment is made by the site editor. It will not be possible to reply individually to those whose comments are not published.