Archbishop of Tuam Francis Duffy is to be installed as Bishop of Killala tomorrow.
Archbishop Duffy takes over from Bishop John Fleming with the two dioceses being combined following Bishop Fleming's retirement in 2024 after 22 years of service.
Bishop Fleming will concelebrate the ceremony at 3pm in St. Muredach’s Cathedral, Ballina alongside Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop Luis Mariano Montemayor and Archbishop Eamon Martin
Members of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, clergy from the Killala and Tuam dioceses, family and friends of Archbishop Duffy, and representatives of other Christian denominations will attend.
Civic leaders, public representatives, teachers, students and lay delegates from across the diocese will also be present while music will be provided by the St Muredach’s Cathedral choir.
Lay representatives, as well as teachers and students from local schools, will also attend, along with representatives of other Christian denominations, civic leaders and local and national public representatives.
Cavan native Archbishop Duffy was installed as Archbishop of Tuam in January 2022 with the crowd restricted in numbers due to Covid-19
However tomorrow's installation is expected to be attended by hundreds of people will be livestreamed on churchtv.ie/ballina
The Church says the movement towards the amalgamation of dioceses in Ireland is to better meet needs of the people in each diocese.
Other dioceses in the West are also at this stage including Galway and Clonfert, as well as Elphin and Achonry.
This means that instead of having six Bishops in the West of Ireland there will be three.
