Last November at an electoral college in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, the Ven Kenneth Clarke was elected Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh, in succession to the Rt Rev Michael Mayes, who is now Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe. On Thursday, in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, Archdeacon Clarke will be consecrated a bishop and he will be enthroned in St Fethlimidh's Cathedral, Kilmore on February 18th and in St Mary's Cathedral, Sligo, on February 25th.
The new bishop was ordained in 1972 and, after curacies in Magheralin and Dundonald, he worked with the Anglican Church in Chile as a missionary for the South American Missionary Society (SAMS). On his return in 1981 he was appointed to Crinken, a trustee church in Co Dublin, and in 1986 became rector of Coleraine. Under his leadership, Coleraine has developed into the numerically largest parish in the Church of Ireland, and the church has been completely restored. Since 1998 he has, in addition to his parochial responsibilities, been Archdeacon of Dalriada while also retaining his interest in South America as chairman of SAMS (Ireland).
Bishop Clarke will bring an impressive range of skills and much valuable experience to his new ministry, and the times ahead promise to be exciting for the people of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh.
Tomorrow morning RTE will broadcast parish communion from St Ann's Church, Dawson Street, Dublin, where the rector is Canon Adrian Empey. The Dean of Ross, the Very Rev Christopher Peters, will preach the last of the current series of chapter sermons in St Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork, while in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, the preacher at the Sung Eucharist will be the Rev Dr Bert Tosh, head of religious broadcasting in BBC Northern Ireland. The Bishop of Cashel and Ossory will visit Templemore. In Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, the Girls' Choir will sing evensong, when new choristers will be admitted.
As part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the Rev Dr Johnston McMaster, a Methodist with the Irish School of Ecumenics (ISE) in Belfast, will preach tomorrow in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, while the founding father of the ISE, Father Michael Hurley SJ, will preach in Waterford Cathedral. On Monday the Chaplain of Trinity College, Dublin, Dr Alan McCormack, will be a speaker at the Greenhills ecumenical conference, and on Thursday the Bishop of Meath and Kildare will speak at an ecumenical gathering in Kylemore Abbey. The Primus of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, the Most Rev Bruce Cameron, will preach at united services in St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast, on Tuesday and St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, on Wednesday.
The Standing Committee of the General Synod will meet in Church of Ireland House, Dublin, on Tuesday, and the bishops will meet on Wednesday.
On Tuesday the European Cathedrals Conference will open in Dublin. The conference has as its theme "The Cathedral as a Place of Unity". It will be based in Christ Church Cathedral but there will also be sessions in St Patrick's and St Mary's Pro-Cathedral. The Dean of Christ Church, the Dean of St Patrick's and the administrator of St Mary's will speak, as will the administrator of St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast. There will be contributions also from the Bishop of Meath and Kildare and from Canon Kenneth Kearon, director of the Irish School of Ecumenics. The involvement of Mark Duley and Andrew Johnstone will emphasise the important part music plays in cathedral life.