Bishop Michael Duignan will be installed as the new Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora in a ceremony to be held at the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and Saint Nicholas on Sunday. He will also continue to minister as Bishop of Clonfert.
Since Bishop Duignan is already a bishop, he will be installed rather than ordained at Sunday’s ceremony. The installation liturgy will take place during Mass for the Third Sunday of Easter. He will be the principal celebrant and will also preach the homily. His Excellency, Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, Papal Nuncio to Ireland and Bishop Brendan Kelly will be the principal concelebrants. Bishop Martin Drennan, bishop emeritus, will be in attendance.
The Mass will be livestreamed on https://www.galwaycathedral.ie/webcam Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Michael Crotty, Papal Nuncio to Burkina Fasso and Niger (a classmate of Bishop Duignan in Rome ), Bishops of the Western Province and members of the Irish hierarchy together with priests from both Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora and from Clonfert will also concelebrate. Master of Ceremonies is recently ordained Fr. John Gerard Acton who is based at the Cathedral.
Every parish in both of Bishop Michael’s dioceses, as well as Catholic Schools and diocesan bodies and organizations will be represented and Bishop Michael’s family will also participate.
Ministers from the Church of Ireland, the Methodist and the Presbyterian churches and religious leaders from the Galway Islamic community and other faith traditions will be present to represent their faith-communities.
Music, under the direction of Mr Ray O’ Donnell, will be by the Cathedral Choir. They will be joined by members of the Loughrea Cathedral Choir under the direction of Ms Elizabeth Keane. Mr. Michael Vignoles will play uilleann pipes.
A post-communion reflection will be led by Mr. Paul Keogh.
West door greeting
At the opening of the liturgy, Bishop Michael will be greeted at the west door of Galway Cathedral by Msgr Peter Rabbitte, Parish Priest of the Cathedral Parish, accompanied by Dean Michael McLoughlin and the Diocesan Chapter, together with Ms Norita Forde and representatives of the Diocesan Deaneries.
Dean McLouglin will present Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter of Appointment which will be read by the Chancellor of the Diocese, Canon Ian O’Neill. As an expression of apostolic succession from a bishop to his successor, Bishop Kelly will invite Bishop Duignan to take his place on the Bishop’s Chair in the sanctuary. There he will then be given the Book of the Gospels by Deacon Frank McGuinness.
Ms. Louise Rooney, a member of the Diocesan Synodal Pathway Committee will then present Bishop Duignan with the crozier. This is a symbol of his role as shepherd - walking, dialoguing and discerning the voice of the Lord, together with the priests and people of the Diocese. The crozier used at this liturgy was that used by the bishop at Bishop Michael’s own Confirmation in 1982, at his ordination as priest in 1994 and at his ordination as bishop in 2019.
Bishop Michael will then be greeted by the bishops, priests, religious and those representing the various religious traditions present, as well as by the people of God from across his new diocese
After Holy Communion Bishop Michael will spend some time in prayer before the image of Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted which will especially come from the Cathedral of St Brendan in Loughrea.
The original hangs in the Hungarian Diocese of Gyor, a gift, in penal times, of Fr. Walter Lynch a Galway priest who later became Bishop of Clonfert. On St Patrick’s Day 1697, it is said to have shed tears of blood. All will be invited to place the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh, and Kilfenora and the Diocese of Clonfert under the care of Our Lady.
Vigil
On the previous evening, Saturday 30th April 30, a Vigil of Prayer, to give thanks for the ministry of Bishop Brendan Kelly, who now retires, and to ask God’s blessing on Bishop Michael, will in Church of the Immaculate Conception, Oranmore H91 XC61, from 8.30pm to 9.30pm.
The Vigil will led by Ms. Cilla Farrell. Bishop Kelly and Bishop Duignan will be in attendance. While the liturgy will have a particular youth focus, everyone is welcome to join at any time.
The Latin term in persona episcopi literally means “in the person of the bishop” and is used by the Catholic Church to designate the union of two or more dioceses, under one bishop. In fact, the determining factor in this case is that both dioceses are pastorally governed by a sole bishop.
The diocesan structures and institutions (cathedral churches, cathedral chapters, curial offices and officials, college of consultors, presbyteral council, diocesan pastoral councils, etc ), diocesan goods and juridical competences in Canon Law and Civil Law of each of the respective dioceses are left unaltered. In other words, the only change is that, instead of each diocese having its own respective bishop, one sole bishop exercises the pastoral governance of both dioceses equally, according to the spiritual and pastoral needs of the one and the other
Each diocese maintains its identity and handles its own cultural heritage as it deems fit. Each keeps its own personnel or can share with other dioceses; priests will not normally be asked to minister beyond their own diocese unless by a special request or mandate. Each diocese will handle its financial administration independently and will make its own pastoral decisions as usual. Of course, the mutual cooperation between both dioceses, as has been hitherto the case, is not excluded.
In fact, constant consultation, support and sharing of expertise ought to be encouraged. This form of union under one bishop is not an amalgamation and does not supress any of the two dioceses. It respects the autonomy and allows for the functionality of the individual jurisdictions.
A native of Athlone, Co Roscommon, Bishop Michael was born on 15 July 1970. He is the eldest of six children and attended Cloonakilla National School, Bealnamulla and Saint Aloysius College, Athlone.
He studied for the Priesthood at St Patrick’s Missionary Society in Kiltegan, Co Wicklow and at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome. He was ordained to the Priesthood for the Diocese of Elphin on 17 July 1994. Returning to Rome to complete postgraduate studies, he then served at the Cathedral Parish, Sligo and as Chaplain to the Institute of Technology, Sligo.
Rome experience
Subsequently, he completed Doctoral Studies in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He returned to Ireland in 2001 to take up the position of Curate in the Parish of Ahamlish and Innismurray in north Sligo and was appointed Diocesan Secretary before taking up the position of Lecturer in Religious Education and Theology at Saint Angela’s College, Sligo and later Head of Religious Education and Chaplaincy Programmes.
In 2014, he was appointed Chancellor of the Diocese of Elphin and Episcopal Vicar for Education and Formation. Bishop Michael was also National Director of the Permanent Diaconate and National Co- ordinator of Formation for the Permanent Diaconate. He has been involved over the years in numerous adult faith formation programmes, training programmes for ministry, formation of catechists, youth ministry programmes and formation of school chaplains and teachers of religious education.
He sat on the Theological Commission for the cause for canonisation of the Servant of God Edward Flanagan and was Chair of the organising committee for the visit of Pope Francis to Knock Shrine in 2018. He served for many years as Chairperson of the Board of Management of the College of the Immaculate Conception, Summerhill, Sligo.
On the 16 July 2019, Bishop Michael was named by Pope Francis as Bishop of Clonfert succeeding Bishop John Kirby. He was ordained at Saint Brendan’s Cathedral in Loughrea on 13 October 2019 and took as his episcopal motto “Respicite ad eum et illuminamini”. (Psalm 34 ) “Look towards Him and be radiant”.
As a part the Episcopal Conference, he is a member of the Commission for Pastoral Care; Chair of the Council for Immigrants; Member of the Council for Pastoral Renewal and Adult Faith Development; Member of the Council for Finance and General Purposes and member of the National Training Authority for the Permanent Diaconate in Ireland.
