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Appointment of new Chaplain at Queen’s University

Tuesday January 12th 2010

The new Church of Ireland Chaplain and Dean of Residences at Queen’s University, Belfast, will be the Rev Barry Forde.

Barry, who trained and worked in law before his ordination, has been curate in St Patrick’s and St Andrew’s, Coleraine, for the past two and a half years.

The 35-year-old is married to Claire and they have three children, Catherine, 8, Sophie, 5, and baby Michael, born last November.

Barry studied law at Dundee University before training to be a barrister in the Legal Institute, part of Queen’s University, for a year.  He practised law for three years before working for a financial services company.

He studied Theology at Trinity College Dublin and at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. He was ordained a Deacon at Christ Church Cathedral, Lisburn, on June 24 2007, and was ordained a priest in St James’ Church, Belfast, on June 9 2008.

Looking forward to his chaplaincy, Barry said: “It is a tremendous opportunity to be an influence on many young lives at a pivotal time, young people who will go on to shape church and culture for many years to come.”

His said he viewed his new role as a privilege. “It will be very exciting and very challenging with lots of hard work to be done, but there will also be a lot of opportunities.”

These include working with other chaplaincies within the university – Barry is already part of the Church of Ireland Methodist Covenant Council.

He did say he, Claire and the children would be sorry to be leaving Coleraine.  “It became our home very quickly over the past two and a half years and it will feel like leaving family,” he said.

Barry succeeds the Rev Patrick McGlinchey who left the Queen’s Chaplaincy to become Director of Missiology at the Church of Ireland Theological College. The new chaplain will take up his post at Queen’s on April 1 this year.

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