Disestablishment and the Church of Ireland Lecture series

As part of the 150th anniversary of the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, Christ Church Cathedral (Dublin) is hosting a lunchtime lectures series detailing perspectives after the disestablishment relating to topics such as government, history, the Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland churches. All presentations begin at 1.10pm in the Music Room. The line-up of speakers is quite impressive.

The first presentation takes place on Friday 10th January by Mary E. Daly, professor emerita of Modern Irish History at UCD. One of the leading scholars in the field of modern Irish history, Professor Daly also served as the first female president of the Royal Irish Academy between 2014 and 2017. Among her many publications is an edited volume with K. Theodore Hoppen on Gladstone: Ireland and Beyond (Four Courts Press, 2011), making her the ideal person to give a governmental perspective on the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland since Gladstone was largely the architect of the considerable legislation.

On Friday 17th January, Professor Alan Ford, professor emeritus of Theology at the University of Nottingham (and recently elected Honorary Secretary of COIHS), will give a paper focusing on a historical perspective on Disestablishment. An early-modernist by trade, Professor Ford’s interests has moved to the modern period, particularly the impact of disestablishment on the Church of Ireland.

Dr Colin Barr is Senior Lecturer in the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh will examine the perspective of the Roman Catholic church. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His book Ireland’s Empire: The Roman Catholic Church in the English-speaking world, 1829-1914, will soon be published by Cambridge University Press. You can hear Dr Barr’s paper on Friday 24th January.

The final lunchtime lecture will be delivered by the Right Reverend Richard Clarke, outgoing archbishop of Armagh, on Friday 31 January. Dr Clarke’s doctoral thesis was on the disestablishment revision of the Book of Common Prayer in the 1870s making him the perfect speaker to conclude the series.

All members of the public are welcome to attend and admission is free.