105th Archbishop

The Earl of Belmont wishes the new Lord Archbishop-elect of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Metropolitan well.

The Most Reverend Richard Lionel Clarke, Lord Bishop of Meath & Kildare, premier bishop of the Church of Ireland (hence the prefix Most Reverend), succeeds the Right Reverend Alan Harper OBE, who has retired as Primate.

Dr Clarke, a widowed father of two from Dublin, is the 105th in the succession of abbots, bishops and archbishops of Armagh since St Patrick.

The Bishop said:

“I look forward to fresh challenges and joys, along with new friendships and discoveries, in the phase of ministry in the Gospel that now lies ahead, both in the Diocese of Armagh and within the wider fellowship of the Church of Ireland and beyond.”

His election will take effect from December 15th this year when he will be enthroned at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh.

Dr Clarke said:

“I truly feel neither worthy of the heritage into which I am to enter, nor adequate for the tasks that lie ahead. The God of Christian belief is, however, a God of grace rather than a God who looks for human self-sufficiency. All I can pledge is that I will give this task the very best of which I am capable and the prayer of all of us must be that God in his grace will enable some good to come from this.”

Dr Clarke said one of the main challenges confronting him and the church’s 480,000 members would be secularism:

“That to me is the danger, to think that religious faith is an add on and the normal default is to be without faith,” he said.

Dr Clarke was educated at Trinity College Dublin and King’s College London.

He began as a curate at Holywood, County Down; worked in Dublin, as dean in residence at Trinity; Dean of Cork; and Perth in Scotland.