Each year, the newly elected Lord Mayor of Cork makes a courtesy visit to the Bishop of Cork, the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton, at The Palace, Bishop Street, Cork.  Welcoming the recently elected Lord Mayor of Cork, Councillor Chris O’Leary, on Monday, 24th August, Bishop Colton remarked, ‘You’re my seventeenth Lord Mayor!’

The spires of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral are the backdrop for the annual courtesy visit of the Lord Mayor of Cork to the Bishop’s Palace were (l-r) The Lady Mayoress, Angela O’Leary, the Lord Mayor, Councillor Chris O’Leary, the Bishop of Cork, Mrs Susan Colton, and Ann Doherty, CEO of Cork City Council.

With the Lord Mayor were The Lady Mayoress, Angela O’Leary and the CEO of Cork City Council, Ann Doherty, first female CEO of the City Council, who was accompanying the Lord Mayor for the first time on his courtesy visit to the Bishop.  Having signed the visitors’ book, the group then adjourned for afternoon tea with the Bishop and Mrs Susan Colton.  The Bishop and Lord Mayor soon discovered that they shared a common background and interest in the scouting movement.  An hour and a half of lively conversations followed about shared interests in civic and ecclesiastical matters, including pastoral and social issues of common concern to the Church of Ireland and city of Cork alike.

Councillor Chris O’Leary, Lord Mayor of Cork and Dr Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork

The Lord Mayor signs the visitors’ book

l-r the Lady Mayoress (signing the visitors’ book), the Lord Mayor of Cork, the Bishop and Mrs Susan Colton, and Ann Doherty, CEO of Cork City Council

Ann Doherty, CEO of Cork City Council, signs the visitors’ book on the occasion of the Lord Mayor’s annual courtesy visit to the Bishop.