Belfast Cathedral hosts Conference of Irish Deans

Thursday September 12th 2024

The Rev Karen Campbell, ICC, standing, gave a presentation to the Irish Deans’ Conference on the morning of September 10. She is pictured with the deans who attended in the Belfast Cathedral Board Room where the meetings were held.

A host of deans descended on Belfast Cathedral on Monday and Tuesday, September 9 and 10, for the 2024 Irish Deans’ Conference.

They included the Very Rev Dr Sarah Rowland Jones, Dean of St Davids Cathedral, Wales, who gave a talk following the Conference Dinner on the Monday night.

The deans were welcomed by the Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev Stephen Forde, and the conference began with a Service of Holy Communion in the Cathedral’s Chapel of Unity, before lunch was served on Monday.

The opening session that afternoon included talks by Mr Trevor Douglas, Belfast Cathedral General Manager, and Andrew Bass of the Benefact Trust on the topic ‘Growing Cathedrals.’ There was also a tour of Belfast Cathedral and some free time for the guests to enjoy before attending Choral Evensong with the Choir of Belfast Cathedral.

Pictured after the Monday evening Irish Deans’ Conference dinner are: Back from left – Deans Bruce Hayes, Shane Forster, Nigel Dunne, Niall Sloan. Front, from left – Stephen Forde, Isobel Jackson, Diane Matchett, Liz Fitzgerald, Dr Sarah Rowland Jones and Nigel Crossey.

The Conference Dinner was held in the Ramada Hotel, and afterwards the Dean of St Davids spoke on the subject ‘From the Foreign Office to St Davids – a Personal Odyssey to a Place of Pilgrimage.’

Tuesday morning began with Morning Prayers in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit in St Anne’s, followed by a presentation by Connor Diocesan Communications Officer Karen Bushby on the topic ‘Communicating Cathedrals.’

The deans then heard the Rev Karen Campbell, Good Relations Officer with the Irish Council of Churches, speaking on ‘From Grand Rapids to Grand Designs, High Liturgy and Multi Culturalism for a Cathedral context.’

Before lunch on the Tuesday, there was a visit to the Belfast Whiskey Museum in nearby Hill Street, and for those deans who wished to take up the opportunity, there was an optional visit to Titanic Museum on the Tuesday afternoon.

Joining Dean Forde and Dr Sarah Rowland Jones for the conference were Dean Nigel Crossey, Kilmore; Dean Nigel Dunne, Cork; Dean Dermot Dunne, Christ Church, Dublin; Dean Liz Fitzgerald, Raphoe; Dean Shane Forster, Armagh; Dean Kenny Hall, Clogher; Dean Isobel Jackson, Kildare; Dean Diane Matchett, Tuam; Dean Paul Mooney, Ferns; Dean Bruce Hayes, Wateford and Dean Niall Sloan, Limerick.