Alan McGuckian

Born in 1953 in Cloughmills, County Antrim, in the Diocese of Down and Connor, he is the youngest son of Brian McGuckian and Pauline (née McKenna). His father was a successful pig farmer who, with his brothers, went on to develop the world's biggest pig farm.[3]

Two of his older brothers, Fathers Bernard and Michael, are also Jesuit priests, while yet another brother, John B., is one of Ireland's most successful businessmen.[4] His two much-loved sisters have both died, Paula Haughey (2013) and Mary Dynan (2018). McGuckian went to The Queen's University of Belfast in 1971 to study Irish and philosophy, where he was a near contemporary of Donal McKeown, Bishop of Derry, with whom he shared North Antrim roots and an education at St MacNissi's College, Garron Tower.

After one year in Belfast, he joined the Jesuit novitiate (Manresa House) in Clontarf in Dublin, continuing his university education in University College, Dublin (U.C.D.), specifically for a degree in Spanish and Latin. He graduated in 1977 and progressed to study Philosophy in the Jesuit Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy and then Theology in the Toronto School of Theology (the Jesuit Regis College, University of Toronto), qualifying with a M.Div and STL.

He was ordained to the priesthood in 1984 and spent a short time teaching in Clongowes Wood College.

In 1992 he was appointed Director of the Jesuit Communications Centre and in that role one of his notable successes was the development of the website www.sacredspace.ie, which harnessed new technology to offer people computer resources to develop a life of prayer.[5][6]

From 2011 to 2017 he worked fulltime in the Living Church office of the Diocese of Down and Connor, helping renew pastoral life across the diocese.[7]

He is a gifted preacher and noted ecumenist. In 2012, he co-authored a play, '1912 – A Hundred Years On', with the highly esteemed Irish Presbyterian historian Philip Orr which looked at experience of the Ulster Covenant and the wider Home Rule movement from both nationalist and unionist perspective.[8][9] His love of languages has continued throughout his life and he has been an annual visitor to the Donegal Gaeltacht, Bishop McGuckian also gained a Masters in Irish Translation from Queen's University, Belfast.[10] He is the author of Finding God in the Mess: Meditations for Mindful Living, published in 2017.[11]

In 2019, he said having a home is as fundamental as the right to life and education and that the Government must be “pushed” to enshrine housing in the constitution.[12]

In March 2020, he urged people to "live at depth" following the outbreak of COVID-19.[13] In April 2020, he announced that Requiem Masses would be said behind closed doors as the pandemic continued.[14]

On 9 June 2017, it was announced that he had been appointed Bishop of Raphoe.[15][16] On 6 August 2017, he was consecrated a bishop by His Grace The Most Rev. Dr Eamon Martin, Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh.[2][17]