Christ Church Cathedral to Install First Lay and Ecumenical Canons

Clockwise: Dr Mary McAleese, the Revd Lorraine Kennedy–Ritchie, Professor Jim Lucey and Dr David Tuohy SJ.

On Sunday October 1, for the first time, Christ Church Cathedral will admit honorary Lay and Ecumenical Canons to its Chapter. Former President of Ireland, Dr Mary McAleese and Professor Jim Lucey, Medical Director of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin will be installed as Lay Canons. The Revd Lorraine Kennedy–Ritchie, of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and Dr David Tuohy SJ will be installed as Ecumenical Canons.

The installations take place during a Service of Choral Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday October 1 at 3.30 pm. Also during the service, Dublin & Glendalough’s new Youth Ministry Coordinator, Susie Keegan, will be commissioned. All are welcome to attend.

A Bill allowing for the appointment of the honorary Canons was passed at the General Synod of the Church of Ireland in May. The move reflected the desire to honour lay people who had given particular and distinguished service to cathedral or public life. The appointment of the Ecumenical Canons reflects the cathedral’s mission and ministry in the city amid a changing ecumenical culture. Each will serve for five years.

Looking forward to the installation the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, said: “The opportunity afforded to Christ Church Cathedral by the decision of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland is one we value and appreciate. In a small yet significant way I hope that the cathedral will be able to recognise, in the year of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the distinct and unique contributions of a wide range of people associated with public and religious life in Ireland from a wide variety of perspectives”.

The Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, the Very Revd Dermot Dunne, explained the importance of the appointment of Lay Canons. “The role and position of the cathedral in the city acknowledges that the cathedral is much more than just being the ‘mother church’ of the dioceses. It is also the cathedral church of the city of Dublin. The cathedral has a strong outreach to the community of Dublin reflected in its cultural and liturgical life. In creating Lay Canonries the Chapter seeks to recognise the contribution gifted lay people have made to the life of the cathedral and the life of the community,” he said.

Regarding the appointment of Ecumenical Canons, he said: “Given the position of Christ Church in the heart of Dublin, the cathedral provides a tangible and visible ecumenical expression where all traditions of the Christian faith can come together in a space that is neither threatening nor exclusive. This is already happening in the cathedral where ecumenism is expressed in many of our liturgies and gatherings. Having Ecumenical Canons on the Chapter of Christ Church will broaden the ecumenical landscape of both the cathedral and the dioceses”.

Biographies of Lay and Ecumenical Canons

Dr Mary McAleese

Dr Mary McAleese was President of Ireland from 1997 until 2011. She was the first President to come from Northern Ireland. Born in Belfast in 1951, the eldest of nine children she grew up in Ardoyne, a sectarian flashpoint area of the city and experienced first–hand the violence of The Troubles. The theme of her presidency was Building Bridges and her work for peace and reconciliation culminated in the historic state visit to Ireland by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II in May 2011. A barrister and journalist by training she was Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College Dublin, Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies and first female pro–Vice Chancellor at the Queen’s University of Belfast. She also worked as a journalist in Irish radio and television. She was a non–executive director of Channel 4 television, the Royal Group of Hospitals Trust, Northern Ireland Electricity and BBC Northern Ireland. For many years prior to her election as President of Ireland she was involved in social justice campaigning. She was a co–founder of Belfast Women’s Aid, the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform, the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas and Co Chair of the Working Party on Sectarianism set up by the Irish Council of Churches and the Catholic Church. She is the author of “Reconciled being: Love in chaos”(1997), Building Bridges (2011), Collegiality in the Code of Canon Law (2014). She has a Masters degree and Licentiate in Canon Law and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Her area of research is children’s rights in Canon Law. Mary is married to Martin since 1976. They have three adult children and one grandson. Martin gave up his career as a dentist during Mary’s presidency so that he could work full–time on the bridge building work with the Northern Irish Unionist and loyalist community.

Professor Jim Lucey

Professor Jim Lucey is Medical Director of St. Patrick’s Mental Health Services and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin. He graduated MB, BAO, BCh (LRCPSI) in 1983, MD (Dublin) in 1993, and PhD (London) in 1999. His primary clinical and research interest is in the psychological and biological treatment of Anxiety Disorders. His MD at Trinity College examined Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) using neuroendocrinological techniques, and this was followed by a Wellcome Trust Junior Fellowship to study SPECT functional neuroimaging in Panic Disorder, PTSD and OCD at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London. For more than 30 years he has been working with adults with a range of mental health problems, specialising in the assessment, diagnosis and management of OCD and other anxiety disorders. For the past 10 years he has been medical director of Ireland’s oldest and largest independent mental–health provider. During this time Professor Lucey has been clinical lead of an executive team that has radically modernised all of St. Patrick’s services as well as successfully introducing new children’s services and community clinics. He is a public speaker, writer and broadcaster whose interests include health service management, advocacy, teaching and broadcasting about mental health. He is a member of the current board of the Mental Health Commission, a member of the Health Committee of the Medical Council of Ireland and a Governor of St Vincent’s Hospital, Fairview. His book ‘In My Room‘ was an Irish Times bestseller and his recent publication ‘The Life Well Lived’ is published by Penguin Transworld Books. He features regularly on Today with Sean O’Rourke on RTE Radio 1.

The Revd Lorraine Kennedy–Ritchie

The Revd Lorraine Kennedy–Ritchie was born and raised in Johannesburg South Africa. After graduation from High School she spent four years touring the length and breadth of RSA, living in wealthy estates and impoverished townships alike, experiencing for the first time the reality of her country and its deep struggle. It was during this time of being part of church communities in all its richness and brokenness that she felt strongly drawn to serving within church community. She studied at a Theological college in Johannesburg and got the opportunity to do a Masters degree in what is now the University of Johannesburg. At the change of the century her husband was recruited to work in Dublin, and they moved to Ireland with little to no knowledge of the place that would become home. They lived in Lucan, Maynooth and now Clontarf. During the first year they found a church community that gave them kindness and care when they were strangers and Lorraine, in particular, felt deep loneliness. What she was drawn to in her travels around churches in RSA became a practical reality for her. Seventeen years later she has the great privilege of being a part of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland ministry in Dublin. She serves Clontarf & Scots Presbyterian.

Dr David Tuohy

Dr David Tuohy was raised in Galway. He joined the Jesuits in 1967 and most of his ministry has been in education. He spent 10 years as a secondary school teacher before moving to the university where he was in charge of Leadership and Management courses in education in both UCD and in NUI, Galway. He left the university in 2003 and set up a consultancy in leadership and organisation development, with projects in the UK, the US, Australia, Zambia and working with refugee education in Uganda, Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia. In 2011 he was involved with the Church of Ireland primary schools, producing a report, “Who is Coming to our Schools?” with Dr Anne Lodge and Dr Ken Fennelly for the Forum on Patronage. In 2015, he was again involved in a report with Dr Anne Lodge, “Small Schools, Value for Learning”. He was also on the Review Committee for the Church of Ireland Theological Commission in 2016. In 2014, David was invited to facilitate the diocesan response to its Vision and Mission survey. Working with the Archbishop and a number of committees of lay and clergy, this gave rise to the Come&C meeting in High School in 2015 from which emerged a number of key initiatives – the Five Marks of Mission Challenge, the Camino of Glendalough, links between parishes for Songs of Praise events and renewed links with the Anglican dioceses of Spain, Portugal and Jerusalem.

Biography of Diocesan Youth Ministry Coordinator

Susie Keegan

Susie Keegan took up the role as Dublin & Glendalough Youth Ministry Development Officer in August. She had volunteered as a parish youth worker and assisted with 3 Rock Youth (which preceded Dublin & Glendalough Youth Council in overseeing youth ministry) before being a lay member of the Church of Ireland Chaplaincy Team, based at DIT Aungier Street. Her role is focused on enabling young people to grow in their Christian faith within their local parish context by supporting those working with youth as well as seeking new developments.