THE new Church of Ireland Bishop elect of Meath and Kildare is the Most Rev Bichard Clarke, Dean of Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork. He replaces the Most Rev Walton Empey, recently elected Archbishop of Dublin. Dr Clarke was elected yesterday by an electoral college of 12 lay and 12 clerical members presided over by Archbishop Empey. He will be consecrated as Bishop later in the summer.
Dr Clarke was born in 1949 in Dublin, where his father was a rector in Drumcondra. He was educated at Wesley College, Trinity College and King's College, London, and in 1990 he received a Ph.D. from Trinity.
He worked for a year in Iran, and as a curate in Hollywood Co Down, before returning to Dublin in 1977. He moved to Bandon, Co Cork, in 1984 and to St Fin Barre's in 1993.