Seventeen Adults Fully Received into the Church at Easter Vigil 2025
There were joyful scenes at Galway Cathedral on Saturday night as seventeen adults were received into the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil, marking the fruit of months of preparation through the joint Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora and the Diocese of Clonfert new RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) programme.
The liturgy began in silence and darkness. A single flame - Christ’s light - was carried into the Cathedral. Candle by candle, light passed through the congregation as Bishop Michael sang Lumen Christi. The Scriptures told the story of a God who creates, rescues, and stays close. “Why look for the living among the dead?” the Gospel asked. “He is not here. He is risen.”
In his homily, Bishop Michael reminded the congregation that the Resurrection is not a metaphor. “Christ is risen!” he proclaimed. “He is risen indeed!” came the response. That truth, he said, is not locked in the past. “Tonight, we will hear with our own ears and witness with our own eyes how the Risen Christ continues to touch searching human hearts.”
Addressing the seventeen new members of the Catholic church, Bishop Michael said: “God has touched your hearts. You are now his - our brothers and sisters in faith.” And as they came forward to receive Communion for the first time, he called it “the first of a lifetime of sitting and feasting and being spiritually nourished.” In his final remarks Bishop Michael congratulated those who had been baptised. He reminded them that “we are family now”. He urged those present to pray for those who had just begin their journey in life as Christians.
There was a palpable sense of joy as the ancient Easter greeting echoed through the Cathedral:
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!