Tag Archives: Galway Cathedral

MAY 1 saw the historic installation of Bishop Michael Duignan at Galway Cathedral, formalising his status as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and the Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora. Bishop Duignan will to minister as Bishop of Clonfert.  The Roscommon native is the first Irish church leader to administer two Catholic dioceses. His dual-role, which was announced in February, was ratified on Sunday May 1. The ceremony was attended by Papal Nuncio Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo Martin and Cardinal Seán Brady. In another first, the ceremony was live streamed on YouTube. On the eve of the installation, a Vigil of Prayer in thanksgiving for the ministry of Bishop Brendan Kelly, who now retires, was held at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Oranmore. Because Bishop Michael Duignan was already a bishop, he was installed rather than ordained and he was principal celebrant, along with the Papal Nuncio, and homilist at Sunday’s ceremony.  Representatives of each of the parishes in the …

President Michael D Higgins is to attend the Irish Kidney Association’s 29th Annual Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving at Galway Cathedral, on Saturday at 12.30pm to honour organ donors and their families. Following this event at a packed cathedral, the President will be the guest of honour at the Circle of Life national commemorative garden for organ donors in nearby Quincentennial Park, Salthill. Here songs, music, dance and poem recitals will be performed by people touched by organ donation. The Circle of Life, scheduled to begin at 2pm, is being organised by Martina and Denis Goggin, parents of organ donor, Éamonn and founders of the Strangeboat Donor Foundation. The inaugural Service in 1986 had an attendance of 300 people and since then the numbers have increased annually and, in recent years, over 2,000 people have attended from all over Ireland. The decision to hold the service in Galway is to provide those present, who attend the annual service, the opportunity …