Baptised and Sent
3rd March 2026
Baptised and Sent
Pastoral Letter from Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ
February 2026
When Angelo Roncalli was elected Pope John XXIII in 1958, someone congratulated him: "This is surely the greatest day of your life!" His response was immediate. Nothing in his life, he said, could equal the day his parents carried him as a baby to be baptised in the village church of Sotto il Monte. That is how it is with all of us. Our baptism makes each of us a child of God—a reality so exalted we "scarce can take it in."
The season of Lent invites us to rediscover this truth. Over forty days, the Church asks us to remember who we are as God's children and how we can live out this identity. We do this as we prepare to renew our baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil.
Pope John XXIII never forgot what baptism meant. He called the Second Vatican Council to help the whole Church remember that we, the baptised, are the People of God. It recognised the laity as co-responsible with clergy in Christ's mission. It opened the liturgy as an encounter with God for all the baptised. Roncalli's legacy remains this: the beauty of our baptismal calling.
As part of the Synodal Pathway of the Irish church, we are asked to reclaim the power and importance of our baptism. After much listening in recent years, our synodal pathway has identified seven priorities to be considered in light of our baptism. During this Lenten season, we will explore the first three priorities together, preparing our hearts for Easter.
When we gather at Easter to renew our baptismal promises, I pray that all of us, throughout the diocese, will do so with hearts on fire. The world needs our witness. It needs each one of us to live out the call of our Baptism. Our Christian witness — lived authentically and joyfully — is the gift the world is waiting for.
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