Latest News from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross

Arising from a meeting of a Board of Nomination for the Templebreedy Group of Parishes – Crosshaven and Nohoval, County Cork – the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton, is pleased to announce that he has appointed the Reverend James Power, as Incumbent to the parish.

Bishop Colton said:

The Reverend James Power, together with his wife Fiona, are already well known in parts of Cork, Cloyne and Ross as they have been coming for many years to stay at their holiday home on the Beara Peninsula. James has had permission to officiate in the Diocese and has been a great help taking Services in the west of the Diocese. During their visits they have been active in local parish and community life.

I am delighted that he and Fiona are now going to move to Cork, Cloyne and Ross full-time and that James will assume the incumbency of Templebreedy Group of Parishes. James is very highly regarded for his ministry both as Chaplain at Harrow School, and as vicar of St Mary, Harrow on the Hill, as well as for his pastoral and active engagement in civic and community life. We all look forward to welcoming him to the Diocese in this new role in ministry.

James was born and brought up in South Wales attending the Cathedral School, Llandaff and Monmouth School before reading Chemistry at the University of Nottingham and Theology at the University of Leeds and King’s College, London. Baptised, confirmed and ordained in Llandaff Cathedral, he served in the parish of Cadoxton-juxta-Barry (the home of the tv programme Gavin & Stacey!) on the South Wales Coast before becoming Chaplain to Harrow School in 1989; since 2015 he has combined that role with being Vicar of the Church of St Mary, Harrow on the Hill in the Diocese of London.

His interest in education has seen him chair the School Chaplains’ Conference in the UK and he has served on a variety of boards of school governors in both the primary and secondary sectors, currently chairing the board for Haberdashers’ Borough Academy in Southwark. He was chair of trustees at Harrow Club W10 which played a major role in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower disaster. He served as Chaplain to the Lord Mayor of the City of London 2019-2021 and he has been Master of the Haberdashers Company, one of the livery companies of the City of London. He is currently a trustee of Firm Foundation, a charity involved in working with the homeless.

His wife Fiona and he have a home on the Beara Peninsula and they have been regular visitors to West Cork for 20 years. Over that time he has assisted in the Kilmocomogue, Ross and Abbeystrewry Unions of parishes and he has Permission to Officiate in the Diocese.

James’ interests include art, theatre, riding (occasionally) and walking in the Welsh and Irish mountains. Fiona and he have two adult children, Huw and Kitty.

Reacting to his appointment, James said:

I am delighted and honoured to have been invited by the Board of Nomination and Bishop Paul to take up the position of Incumbent in the Templebreedy Group of parishes to serve the people of Crosshaven and Nohoval. Fiona and I have been long-term visitors to West Cork with a home on the Beara Peninsula and we have sensed a call to deepen our engagement with the Diocese for some time. The desire of the Parishes of Templebreedy “that all who worship with us are able to explore, express and live out their faith in God the Holy Trinity in an open and inclusive way” resonates with my approach to ministry, recognising that the “gathered community” (i.e. the congregation) deserves supporting in its wider, daily Christian witness and that the Church exists for the whole community. I am hugely excited at the prospect of advancing that vision.

The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton, has announced that he has appointed the Reverend Clodagh Yambasu to be the next rector of Fermoy Union of Parishes.

The Reverend Clodagh Yambasu currently serves in Fivemiletown on the border between Counties Fermanagh and Tyrone. Her transfer to ministry in the Church of Ireland early in 2024 is possible because of the Covenant which the Church of Ireland and the Methodist Church in Ireland agreed in 2001, and as a result of amendments the Church of Ireland made to its Canons in 2014.

Bishop Colton said

As it happens, I was chairing the meeting of the General Synod in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on 8th and 10th May 2014 when Canon 10A was passed and greeted with a standing ovation. That Covenant and that new Canon, which had been worked on for many years by many people in both churches, made an appointment like this possible. I am very grateful also to Clodagh’s current colleagues in the Methodist Church who have been so supportive of her and us at this time.

I am pleased, therefore, to make this announcement and to appoint the Reverend Clodagh Yambasu as incumbent of Fermoy Union. She brings a wealth of life experience, many gifts, strong faith and a pastoral instinct to this pioneering step of discipleship. We all assure her of a warm and supportive welcome in her ministry with and alongside us here We will be greatly enriched by her partnership in the Gospel with us in Cork, Cloyne and Ross.

Clodagh’s parents were both from farming families. Her father Edwin McCormack, from Longford was deputy principal of Longford Vocational School. And, as often happens, there’s a Cork connection, Clodagh’s mother was Nancy Giles from Bandon. Clodagh still has first cousins in Cork.

Clodagh studied Irish and French at University College Dublin and for four years taught at Desertserges National School in Enniskean before sensing a call to ordained ministry. She spent a year on the Youth Evangelism Team. Soon after arriving in Belfast, she met her husband, the Reverend Dr Sahr Yambasu who is from Sierra Leone, West Africa. Sahr served as President of the Methodist Church in Ireland in from 2021 to 2022. He is the Minister of Saint Patrick’s Methodist Church, Waterford. While studying for ministry in Belfast, Clodagh also did a placement in Cote d’Ivoire. She and Sahr have three adult children: Abbie, Fayia and Sahr.

Clodagh was ordained in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1992. Clodagh takes up the story of her journey:

After Sahr (junior) was born, we went to live in Sierra Leone. I did a little church work and taught New Testament Greek. The existing rebel war got so serious we had to leave in 1995. Since Sierra Leone was devastated. We could not return.

Clodagh has ministered alongside Sahr in Wicklow, Arklow, Avoca and Galway, but alone in Bray, Birr, Athlone, Tullamore, Portlaoise, Athy, and Mountmellick, in addition to Fivemiletown where she is now.

Speaking about her move in late January 2024, Clodagh says:

I look forward very much to getting to know everyone and to seeing that the Lord will do in and through us all.