Bishop of Down and Connor is interviewed on the ‘Conversations’ You Tube channel for the St Patrick Centre
In this special year of the St Patrick Centre in Downpatrick as it celebrates its 25th anniversary, the Bishop of Down and Connor diocese, the Very Rev Alan McGuckian SJ, gave a personal interview with journalst and broadcaster Martin O’Brien.
Bishop McGuckian was installed by Pope Francis on 14th April 2024 and is the 33rd bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese, which covers County Down and Belfast. He is a member of the Jesuit order (Society of Jesus, SJ)). He served as Bishop of Raphoe from 2017–2024 writes Jim Masson ©).
Martin O’Brien opened the conversation welcoming the bishop who said: “I am originally from County Antrim close to Slemish. My parents were very devout Catholics. They were business people. My father was a pig farmer.
“As a family we said the rosary every day, and if we went for a run in the car to Ballymena, we said the rosary in the car.
“My father employed 60 people in the pig business and around 250 in the shirt factory he ran. He was quite a significant employer back then. My parents found this to be part of their civic commitment in providing work and prosperity for local people.
“It was a question of the best person got the job. I remember our foreman. He was an Orangeman. The pig farm was one of the biggest in Europe.
“I had a sister who served as a novice with the sisters in Monaghan, and two brothers who became Jesuit priests.
“By my 5th year in secondary school I resisted the drive to become a priest. I just felt that I didn’t want this and I fought it for three years.”
But Bishop Alan had the calling and after a year at Queen’s University decided to join the Jesuits in 1972. The training he remembers was slow, the first year being spent a lot in prayer. He said that you got to know yourself and God at this stage, by the grace of God, and it was a sacrifice giving up the usual things a young man did such as having a family. “But I was prepared for it”, he said as he addressed this turning point in his life.
“People asked me why I wanted to be a Jesuit. The human and the divine are both respected. God works through our human experience. And finding God in my experience was something rooted in the spiritual.
“I was driven earlier on and I might not have thrived as a Jesuit if I did not have a grounding in my own humanity and experience.
“My first 30 days was in a silent retreat. You address your own madness and you speak to God.”
Martin O’Brien noted that the training Bishop McGuckian went through lasted 12 years from the initial novitiate stage.
Bishop McGuckian said: “It’s broken up in phases, you spend two years taking your vows. I then went to University College Dublin and took a degree in the arts so I could be a teacher. Then I studied philosophy.
“And then I attended a boarding school teaching as a Jesuit priest.
‘Jesuits are often more ready to communicate but in 1971 I was quite shy.”
Martin O’Brien touched on the special relationship Jesuits have with the Pope.
Bishop McGuickian said: “Yes. The Jesuits were quite a small group, but they had big egos. They were very obedient to the pope. They almost died off in Europe as a group by 1773 , but it was their influence in Russia that kept the flame burning which then spread back into Europe and beyond.”
The discussion moved on and touched on Vatican Two. Pope John XX111 spoke powerfully of the role of the laity around the Church working profoundly with the clergy.
The Bishop said: “The clerical abuse that we have seen is a shame impacting on the caring and spirit of God and the Church and in the laity.” It was Pope John in 1962 who opened the Vatican Council heralding a new direction for the Church which emphasised working more closely in communities.
“Since I returned to the Down and Connor dioscese I have made some changes. Currently there are 6-8 young men now coming forward to the priesthood. I can see the fruits of the changes coming through now after these years.
“People have to take responsibility for things within their sphere of influence in their communities.
“And we cannot set aside the sacramental nature of Catholicism. This is important. Christianity and the world would be in a terrible state if we did not adhere to these principles.
“Christianity has held Europe together for centuries. The Church is changing. We now have laity helping out with funerals and in other areas.”
Martin O’Brien touched on the Irish language, asking Bishop McGuickian how it could be ‘contentious’. The Bishop replied: “For many people the Irish language is being used more. It is basically about respect for all and human justice.
“The debate over the Irish language and Irish unity is similar to the discussion over Brexit. A discussion on an Irish referendum for unity would just be like Brexit leaving a number of problems and unresolved issues.
“So as Christians we have a duty to have a conversation about Irish unity and the implications. There is great co-operation at the Church level among bishops. The real challenge is at grassroots level.”
Bishop McGuckian responded to Martin O’Brien’s question, asking “Is might right ?”. The Bishop replied: “Everyone’s views need to be considered… our Christian view has given the world these decent values. And we have a duty to exercise these values.”
You can see the full interview on ‘Conversations’ on the St Patrick’s Centre at:
TONIGHT AT 7.30pm, Health Minister and UUP Strangford MLA Mike Nesbitt will be taking to the stage to be interviewed by Martin O’Brien which will be another very interesting ‘Conversation.’
