The new Church of Ireland Bishop of the United Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, the Right Rev Paul Colton, has been formally installed. The Service of Enthronement was held at St Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork on Saturday.
The new bishop - at 39 years of age the youngest to be appointed in Cork - was educated in the city and is a law graduate of UCC. He is married with two sons.
In keeping with ancient tradition, he knocked on the great door of the cathedral, seeking admission with his pastoral staff. When the doors were opened he was greeted by the Canons of the Cathedral and the Dean of Cork, the Very Rev Michael Jackson, who conducted the service of installation. The Catholic Bishop of Cork and Ross, Bishop John Buckley, led the ecumenical representatives of other church bodies in Cork. The new bishop was also welcomed by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Mr Joe O'Flynn, and the chairman of Cork County Council, Mr Kevin Murphy, as well as other members of both local authorities.
In his inaugural sermon Bishop Colton said he was profoundly conscious of the inheritance he was taking up. "I think of the bishops I knew like Bishop Gordon Perdue, who confirmed me, Bishop Samuel Poyntz, who commissioned me as reader and then sponsored me for ordination, and Bishop Roy Warke, who has held in faithful stewardship what is now passed to me. I am conscious of this trust.
"Many of you sitting here today nurtured me. I spent my formative years in this city. Needless to say, life experiences being what they are, I am not entirely the same person who left here 20 years ago . . . " he said.
Bishop Colton called for a new openness between the churches and said that a Christianity that ignored the devastating realities of the war in the Balkans and that failed to show compassion for the weakest and most vulnerable in society was only worthy itself of being ignored.
"A Christianity that is unconcerned with the politics of our country, with the economics of Europe, with the impingement of our human development on the delicate ecology that has been entrusted to us, with the injustices perpetrated by the stability of established systems on the world's poorest countries - such a Christianity will inevitably itself be of no concern to real people in life-challenging situations. So, I believe as Christians we are called to a new and open dialogue with a changing Ireland.
"Indeed, this model of open dialogue is one which all institutions of our society could readily espouse: a dialogue that centres on people, who and what they are, what they care about, what matters to them and burdens them, what they have to offer and how they want to be embraced, encouraged and empowered," he said.
Following the formal installation, the Sisters of Mercy, adjoining St Fin Barre's Cathedral, opened their premises at St Marie's of the Isle National School to welcome the new bishop and his guests at an informal reception.
Bishop Colton said he had been overwhelmed by the welcome from the people of Cork and had never experienced anything like it.