Larne Rector appointed Archdeacon of Dalriada

Friday August 18th 2006

Rev Stephen Forde, Rector of Larne and Inver with Glynn and Raloo, has accepted an invitation from the Church of Ireland Bishop of Connor the Rt Rev Alan Harper to become Archdeacon of Dalriada.

A native of Rathfriland in Co Down, Rev Forde later lived in Downpatrick and attended Campbell College in Belfast. He gained a degree in architecture at Edinburgh University before training in theology at the Church of Ireland Theology College, Dublin.

Rev Forde was ordained in 1986 and was curate at St Mary’s, Crumlin Road, Belfast, until 1989 when he was appointed Chaplain, or Dean of Residence, at Queen’s University.

In 1995 he was made Rector of Booterstown and Mount Merrion in the Diocese of Dublin, and during this time was Chaplain to UCD and Chaplain to Blackrock Clinic.

He returned to Connor in 1999 as Rector of Larne and Inver with Glynn and Raloo, and was appointed Carrickfergus Rural Dean in 2001.

Although the Carrickfergus Rural Deanery is not currently in Dalriada proposed changes mean it should eventually become part of Dalriada.

Rev Forde met his Scottish wife Fiona when at university in Edinburgh, and the couple have three children. Rachel, 19, is studying audiology at Manchester University; Amy, 16, has just finished her GCSEs at Larne Grammar School, and Michael, 14, is also at Larne Grammar.

Rev Forde succeeds the Very Rev Patrick Rooke, now Dean of Armagh, as Archdeacon of Dalriada.

He will be installed as Archdeacon in the Chapter of St Saviour, Connor, later in the year.