Alan McGuckian installed as new Down and Connor Bishop
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Politicians should be "generous and bold" to make the power-sharing institutions work for the good of all, the new Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor has said.
Alan McGuckian was speaking at an installation ceremony in St Peter's Cathedral in west Belfast on Sunday.
He was appointed as the Bishop of Down and Connor by Pope Francis in February.
It is the second largest diocese on the island of Ireland, stretching from the North Coast to Kilkeel, County Down.
The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin and the Pope's ambassador to Ireland, Archbishop Luis Montemayor, took part in the ceremony.
Two of the bishop's brothers, who are also priests, were also involved in the Mass.
In his homily, Bishop Alan McGuckian said that the diocese is "very specifically seeking to chart a pathway to the future".
"Much good work has been done to prepare us for that," he added.
Who is Bishop Alan McGuckian?
Bishop Alan McGuckian was born in Cloughmills, County Antrim in 1953 and is the youngest of six children.
He attended Queen's University Belfast in 1971 where he studied Irish and Scholastic Philosophy.
In October 1972, he joined the Jesuit novitiate in Clontarf in Dublin and was ordained into the priesthood in 1984.
In Belfast, he served as a chaplain within the Diocese of Down and Connor, as well as chaplain in the University of Ulster at Jordanstown and Belfast.
He became director of the Living Church project in 2011, where he facilitated a pastoral programme of discernment and renewal within the diocese.
In June 2017, the Pope appointed him as the new Bishop of Raphoe in County Donegal.
During his term, he served as a member of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference.
He also supported the community in Creeslough, County Donegal after an explosion in the village's petrol station killed 10 people.
