Give or take a few weeks, I'm the same age as Galway Cathedral. Both of us have aged gracefully, one a bit greyer than the other. To be fair, the Cathedral looks like it has a few years on me, as all such buildings should.
You see, the building does not look like one from 1965…whereas I probably do. To be fair to those who designed it, it looks like a bulk from the ages, a place to be in awe of and not just a johnny-come-lately building.
It has elegance and stature and has woven itself into into the hearts of the city’s residents in the 57 years since it was opened.
So it was apt to hear our new Bishop, Michael Duignan measure himself up against it last Sunday when he stood on the pulpit in its midst and declare that he is the first Bishop of Galway to be younger than the Cathedral. In fact, one of the things that a few people have said to me in the months since he was chosen as Bishop, was the tenderness of his years.
We are not used to being older than our leaders. We are accustomed to age equalling stature equalling power. And our new Bishop is for the first time ever, younger than many of his congregation.
With that comes the freshness of hope, of belief in new ways, of an acknowledgement of the fact that as we know only too well in recent days, that the dark side of the church is never too far back in the recesses of time.
Last Sunday, the installation of the new Bishop was delayed by the traffic that hit the city. There was the installation with its attendance of 1,500; the face-off between Henry Shefflin and Brian Cody; a car enthusiasts’ rally and a few other events to mark the Bank Holiday Sunday.
How different this all was from the decades past when the installation of a new Bishop would bring the place to a standstill, with street parties and lashings of trifle and sandwiches and cake above in St Mary’s and in other ecclesiastical houses around the city.
Last January, I was in Tuam for the installation of its new Archbishop, Francis Duffy, and you would be hard pressed too to know what was happening, so far down the pecking order it had fallen in those sensitive post-lockdown times
These are new times and to be fair, Bishop Duignan acknowledged this in his homily.
"By contrast nowadays, at times, you might be inclined to think that faith in God, or friendship with Jesus or the living out of Christian Wisdom is something that will soon be a thing of the past. For a variety of reasons, many no longer believe the message. Many of our parishes are struggling, on so many levels, to support a vibrant faith community.
"Despite the great work done by generations of priests, religious and lay people now, at times, it feels like we have been out all night without a single catch. We can no longer ignore the fact that much of what the Church has built up in Ireland over the last two centuries is crumbling before our eyes.
"The more and more I see, the more and more I am convinced that much of our infrastructure, our systems, our pastoral practices that were beneficial in the past, now hinder rather than help the life of faith. Here too we stand at a “threshold moment”.
He said that it is clear that in the future, “we will be a smaller faith community, but with the help of God we will be a more faith-filled, vibrant, welcoming, grounded community.”
I wish Bishop Duignan and members of all churches and none, the best of luck in their endeavours. We can all together create a community we can be proud of if we permit dignity, respect, access, equality, hope and practice empathy.
Now, that would be a Galway we can all be proud of.
