THERE HAS been angry reaction to an initiative by the Dean of Dublin’s St Patrick’s Cathedral, Robert MacCarthy, to establish it as “a national cathedral not merely for the Church of Ireland but for all Irish Christians”.
He did so in a letter to all seven candidates for the presidency during the recent election campaign, seeking their support for his proposal.
In a letter to The Irish Times, a member of the cathedral chapter, Canon Michael Kennedy, has pointed out that Dean MacCarthy's proposal had been made "without any consultation with the 27 other members of the chapter among whom he has the status of first among equals".
The church constitution stated that the dean is “immediate ordinary of the cathedral for the purposes of directing the clergy and official and ordering the services”.
It noted that “all other matters relating to the cathedral and not otherwise provided for shall be determined in chapter”, Canon Kennedy said.
He said that “far-reaching change in the nature of St Patrick’s” could not be made without legislation by the Church of Ireland’s general synod.
The synod’s “standing committee, so far as I am aware, has not been notified of any proposed alterations to any of the statutes relating to the cathedral”.
Also in a letter to this newspaper, Alan Graham, a member of the board at St Patrick’s, said “our confused dean is at it again . . . St Patrick’s is the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland and does not belong to the dean”.
He continued: “Needless to add, he [Dean MacCarthy] consulted neither the chapter nor the board.”
Mr Graham concluded: “It is generally felt, both in the cathedral community and the Church of Ireland, that the sooner he resigns, the better.”
