Cork to Honour Bishop Paul Colton for his Spirit of Inclusiveness for all in Cork Society with the ‘Spirit of Cork Award 2017’

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Latest News and Photos from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross

Cork Civic Trust as organisers of The Spirit of Cork Award has announced that it will bestow the 2017 award on Dr Paul Colton, the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.

The Chairman of Cork Civic Trust, Michael Mulcahy, said:

“Cork Civic Trust, as hosts of The Spirit of Cork Award 2017, is very pleased to confirm that Dr Paul Colton is to be its recipient for the 2017 award. Through Spirit of Cork, our city and county has the opportunity to honour and recognise people who have made a real difference to Cork and her people. Spirit of Cork is an honour and recognition for people that we are proud to be part of our Cork family. Be they in Cork or in any part of the world where Cork is recognised, we wish to acknowledge them and their exceptional contribution to Cork. The Board of Cork Civic Trust has decided that Bishop Paul is a worthy recipient of this acknowledgment and has decided this for the following reasons –

  • To honour him as Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross for the 18 years that he has served in Cork
  • To recognise his outstanding leadership of people
  • To recognise the affection that the people have for him as a person and Church leader
  • To recognise his inclusiveness for all in our society
  • To recognise his ability to speak out and be heard in Civic, Church and State matters

This is only the third time that this award will have been presented.  The inaugural recipient was Dr Edward Kiely of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, and in 2015 Cork man and leading sports broadcaster and businessman, the late Bill O’ Herlihy was the recipient. We believe that Bishop Paul is an excellent choice for The Spirit of Cork Award 2017 and we look forward to presenting it to him at a formal Civic Dinner in December.”

Michael Mulcahy, Chairman of the Cork Civic Trust with Bishop Paul Colton.

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Lay Assistants at the Eucharist Trained and Commissioned in Cork, Cloyne and Ross

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Latest News and Photos from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross

More than 300 lay people received training recently in Cork, Cloyne and Ross and, at Services during Easter, were commissioned in their parishes to assist with the distribution of Holy Communion.  At a short ceremony during Sunday Service in each parish they committed themselves to this ministry before they were commissioned by the local clergy. They were then presented with their certificates from the Bishop, the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton. Commissioned lay assistants serve for three years.

Here is a selection of photos from around the Diocese:

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Annual IDAHOT Day Service in St Anne’s Church, Shandon, Cork

Posted on May 21, 2017 by Latest News and Photos from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross

The annual IDAHOT Service took place in St Anne’s Church, Shandon, Cork on Sunday, 21st May.  The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT) is on 17th May, and the Service in Shandon is on a Sunday near that date coinciding with Cork LGBT Awareness Week.

The Rev. Paula Geary was the celebrant and the soloist was Amanda Neri. The Rev. Elaine Murray, Rector of Carrigaline Union, preached on the IDAHOT theme for 2017  ‘Love makes a Family’ saying that the time had come for us to reclaim ‘Family Values’ in its most loving and inclusive way, pointing out that legal and social recognition and acceptance of Rainbow families was a human rights issue, not something that was open to interpretation because of any religious views. She said that the Gospel was clear;  ‘we are to be all about love, and if in our parish families we want to model God’s love in our world , then we must not exclude anyone’.

Following the IDAHOT Service in St Anne’s Church, Shandon, Cork were the Reverend Paula Geary (right) who presided at the Service, and the guest preacher, the Reverend Elaine Murray, Rector of Carrigaline Union of Parishes.

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Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers meet in Rome

Posted on May 13, 2017 by Latest News and Photos from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross

Members of the Colloquium of Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers held a reunion in Rome on Wednesday evening 10th May.  The Bishop of Cork, Dr Paul Colton, and the Reverend Stephen Farrell, Rector of Zion Parish, Rathgar, travelled from Ireland to participate in the gathering which was held at the Venerable English College.

Photographed in the garden of the Venerable English College were (fromt l-r): the Very Rev. Francis Bradley (Diocese of Raphoe), Professor James Conn, S.J. (Boston College), the Reverend Stephen Farrell (Registrar, Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough), the Rev. Justin Wachs (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), Ms Charlotte Miles (PhD Candidate, Cardiff University, School of Law and Politics), Dr Eithne d’Auria, the Rev. Kevin Gillespie (Congregation for the Clergy), Professor Norman Doe (Director, Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University), the Rev. Fintan Gavin (Assistant Chancellor, Diocese of Dublin), and Dr Paul Colton (Honorary Research Fellow, School of Law and Politics, Cardiff University). Back (l-r): Professor Mark Hill, QC (Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University), Sion Awen Hughes Carew (Church of England Legal Office), the Reverend Adnrew Co.e (Catholic Church in England and Wales), the Rev. Russell Dewhurst (Church of England), Father Luke Beckett, OSB (Ampleforth Abbey), Stephen Slack (Chief Solicitor, Church of England Legal Office), and Father Aidan McGrath, OFM.

The Colloquium was established in Rome in 1999, and was an initiative of the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff University, and Duquesne Law School, Pittsburgh, USA. That 1999 meeting is believed to have been the first of its type.

The final meeting of the Colloquium was held in Dublin in 2016.  Over its years of meeting the aim of the Colloquium was to contribute to greater ecumenical understanding between Anglicans and Roman Catholics from the perspective of canon law as a form of applied ecclesiology. The Colloquium explored ways in which the respective laws of each communion either facilitate or inhibit unity.

On the occasion of the reunion this week, the participants heard six papers about bishops: the election of bishops, the functions of bishops, and the discipline of bishops.  Afterwards the members celebrated the reunion at dinner together.

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Bishop of Cork, Dr Paul Colton, meets Pope Francis

Posted on May 12, 2017 by Latest News and Photos from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross

In Rome, on Wednesday 10th May 2017, at the conclusion of the General Papal Audience, the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton, had the honour of being presented to His Holiness Pope Francis.

Bishop Colton said:

It was an immense honour to attend the General Papal Audience on Wednesday 10th May. To say that I was surprised to be given a seat at the front, with 5 bishops also visiting from other churches (from the U.S.A., Scotland, Russia and Assyria), and to be presented to and to speak with His Holiness Pope Francis, would be an understatement. In the course of our brief conversation I brought him greetings from Cork, Cloyne and Ross. I also said to him I hope that, if he comes to Ireland, he will come to Cork! I am very grateful to Bishop John Buckley and his office, particularly Dr Tom Deenihan, for arranging to make all this possible.

Photograph © L’Osservatore Romano

Bishop  Colton was in Rome to attend a reunion, later that day at the Venerable English College, of the Colloquium of Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers.  Anglican participants in the reunion who attended the General Audience on Wednesday morning were: Professor Norman Doe (Director of the Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University), Professor Mark Hill, Q.C. (Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University), Stephen Slack and Sion Hughes Carew (both of the Church of England legal office), the Reverend Russell Dewhurst, the Reverend Stephen Farrell, and Archdeacon Jane Steen.

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