Installation of Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP as Archbishop of Liverpool
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Yesterday, on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, Dominican Friars from across the Province flocked to Liverpool to join our brother, +Malcolm McMahon OP, for his installation as the ninth Archbishop of Liverpool. It was a very happy occasion for the Dominican family to celebrate his appointment and offer prayers for him and the Archdiocese of Liverpool as they embark upon a new mission.
Archbishop Malcolm joined the Order of Preachers in 1976, following studies in Engineering and a period working in the transport industry. He studied at Blackfriars, Oxford, and Heythrop College, London before being ordained a priest by Cardinal Basil Hume at St. Dominic’s Church in Haverstock Hill, London, in 1982.
His early ministry as a Dominican Friar took him all over the English Province, including time at Holy Cross Priory, Leicester; St. Dominic’s, Haverstock Hill; and St. Dominic’s, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 1992, he was elected Prior Provincial of the English Province of the Order of Preachers and continued in that office for two terms until 2000.
In that same year, Pope John Paul II appointed him as the ninth Bishop of Nottingham. After 13 years as Bishop of Nottingham, Pope Francis appointed him as Archbishop of Liverpool. In addition to his pastoral responsibilities, Archbishop Malcolm serves as Chair of the Bishops’ Conference Department of Education and Formation, the Catholic Education Service (CES), the Catholic Trust for England and Wales (CATEW). He is also National President of Pax Christi, the International Movement for Peace, and the Ecclesiastical Advisor to the Knights of St. Columba.
Details of the Mass of installation can be found here. They included some elements which reflected Archbishop Malcolm’s Dominican character, such as the “Summae Trinitati” by Lay Dominican, James Macmillan and the communion hymn “Godhead here in hiding”, a translation of Adoro Te Devote by St. Thomas Aquinas.
In his homily, Archbishop Malcolm quoted St. John XXIII: “The secret of everything is to let yourself be carried by the Lord and to carry the Lord.” In St. Joseph we have a wonderful example; he was carried in that he accepted God’s plan for him, and “he literally carried the Lord as guardian teacher and guide of Jesus.” The full text of his homily can be found here.
Please join us in praying for our brother, Archbishop Malcolm, and the Archdiocese of Liverpool in the days and weeks ahead.
