Paul Colton

Last updated

The Right Reverend

Paul Colton
Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross
Church Church of Ireland
Diocese Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross
In office1999 to present
Predecessor Robert Warke
Orders
Ordination1984
Consecration25 March 1999
Personal details
Born
William Paul Colton

(1960-03-13) 13 March 1960 (age 62)
NationalityIrish
Denomination Anglicanism

William Paul Colton (born 13 March 1960), known as Paul Colton, is an Irish Anglican bishop. Since 1999, he has served as Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross in the Church of Ireland.

Contents

Biography

Paul Colton attended St Luke's National School, Douglas, Cork, Cork Grammar School and Ashton Comprehensive School, Cork, before being awarded a scholarship to the Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where he completed the International Baccalaureate in 1978. [1] He studied law at University College, Cork (part of the National University of Ireland) and was the first graduate of the university to be elected to a bishopric in the Church of Ireland. [2] He studied theology at Trinity College Dublin. In 1987 he completed the degree of Master in Philosophy (ecumenics) at Trinity College, Dublin, and a Master of Laws at Cardiff University in 2006. His LLM thesis was on the subject of legal definitions of church membership. In 2013 he completed, and was conferred with, a PhD in law also at Cardiff University. His academic areas of interest are: church law, the law of the Church of Ireland, law within Anglicanism, the interface between the laws of religious communities and the laws of States (particularly in Ireland and Europe), human rights, education law, and charity law. In 2014 he was appointed as an honorary research fellow at Cardiff Law School of Cardiff University, and its Centre for Law and Religion. [3]

He was consecrated bishop at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Thursday 25 March 1999—the Feast of the Annunciation. He was enthroned in St. Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork on 24 April 1999, in St Colman's Cathedral, Cloyne on 13 May 1999, and in St. Fachtna's Cathedral, Ross on 28 May 1999.

He officiated at the wedding of footballer David Beckham and Spice Girl Victoria Adams on 4 July 1999 at the medieval Luttrellstown Castle on the outskirts of Dublin. [4] [5]

He is married to Susan Colton, who was deputy principal of a primary school until her retirement in 2022 and they have two adult sons. [6]

He was the first Church of Ireland bishop to openly support same-sex marriage. [7]

He is involved in education debates and in charity work. [1] He chairs the board of directors of Saint Luke's Charity, Cork, which focuses on the elderly and dementia sufferers. [8] He is also chairman of the board of governors of Midleton College.

At the episcopal ordination of Bishop Fintan Gavin as Catholic bishop of Cork and Ross in June 2019, Colton presented the crozier at Bishop Gavin's own request. [9]

As of June 2020, Colton is the longest-serving bishop of Cork Cloyne and Ross since bishop William Lyon in 1617 [10] and also the longest serving bishop still in office in the Anglican churches of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. [6]

On 27 February 2022, Colton was the invited preacher at the Patronal Eucharist in Lichfield Cathedral, to mark the 1,350th anniversary of the death of Saint Chad.

Publications

Colton is the author of almost a dozen book chapters, mostly in the area of the interface between religion and law. [1]

Ecclesiastical career

Related Research Articles

The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross is the Church of Ireland Ordinary of the united Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross in the Province of Dublin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Province of Dublin (Church of Ireland)</span> Ecclesiastical province of the Church of Ireland

The United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel, commonly called the Province of Dublin, and also known as the Southern Province, is one of the two ecclesiastical provinces that together form the Church of Ireland; the other is the Province of Armagh. The province has existed since 1833 when the ancient Province of Dublin was merged with the Province of Cashel. Its metropolitan bishop is the Archbishop of Dublin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Jackson (bishop)</span>

Michael Geoffrey St Aubyn Jackson is a Church of Ireland Anglican bishop. Since 2011, he has served as the Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough in the Church of Ireland. He is also the co-chairman of the Porvoo Communion of Anglican and Lutheran churches.

John Robert Winder Neill was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin until the end of January 2011.

William Maziere Brady (1825–1894) was an Irish priest, ecclesiastical historian and journalist who converted to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism.

Achilles Daunt (1832–1878) was a noted Irish preacher and homilist, and Anglican dean of Cork.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Collegiate Church, Youghal</span> Church

The Collegiate Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, also known as St Mary's Collegiate Church, is a large Anglican church in Youghal, east County Cork, Ireland. Dating to roughly 1220 and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it is part of Youghal Union of Parishes, in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.

The Diocese of Ross was a separate diocese situated in south-west Ireland. Following the Reformation, there were two dioceses. In the Church of Ireland, the diocese is now part of the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is part of the Diocese of Cork and Ross. In the 19th century, an exclave of the diocese existed around that part of the Beara peninsula in County Cork including the area around Glengariff though not as far east as Bantry. The main diocesan territory was centred on the towns of Baltimore, Skibbereen, Rosscarbery and Clonakilty which lie along the modern national road N71.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross</span> Anglican diocese of the Church of Ireland

The Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, also referred to as the United Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, is a diocese in the Church of Ireland. The diocese is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. It is the see of the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, the result of a combination of the bishoprics of Cork and Cloyne and Ross in 1583, the separation of Cork and Ross and Cloyne in 1660, and the re-combination of Cork and Ross and Cloyne in 1835.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gregg (archbishop of Armagh)</span> Irish bishop, theologian, and historian

John Allen Fitzgerald Gregg CH (1873–1961) was a Church of Ireland clergyman, from 1915 Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin, in 1920 translated to become Archbishop of Dublin, and finally from 1939 until 1959 Archbishop of Armagh. He was also a theologian and historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloyne Cathedral</span> Anglican cathedral in Cork, Ireland

St. Colman's Cathedral, Cloyne is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Cloyne, County Cork in Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. Originally a Roman Catholic cathedral, it was converted to an Anglican cathedral in 1678.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral Church of St. Fachtna</span> Anglican cathedral in Ireland

The Cathedral Church of St. Fachtna, also known as the Cathedral Church of St Faughan,Ross Cathedral, and Rosscarbery Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Rosscarbery, County Cork in Ireland. Located in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin, it is the smallest cathedral in Ireland. Having once been the mother church of the Diocese of Ross, it is now one of three Anglican cathedrals in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, alongside Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral and Cloyne Cathedral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Wetenhall</span>

Edward Wetenhall (1636–1713) was an English bishop of the Church of Ireland. His name is also spelled Wettenhall, Whetenhall, Whitnall, Withnoll, and Wythnall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Gregg</span> 19th century Irish Anglican bishop

Robert Samuel Gregg was a 19th-century Anglican bishop.

Henry Jellett was an Irish Anglican priest. He was Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin in the Church of Ireland from 1889 to 1901.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne</span> Catholic diocese in Ireland

The Diocese of Cloyne is a Roman Catholic diocese in Ireland. It is one of six suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of Cashel.

Edward Synge, D.D., M.A., B.A. (1659–1741) was an Anglican clergyman who served in the Church of Ireland as Chancellor of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin (1705–1714), Bishop of Raphoe (1714–1716), and Archbishop of Tuam (1716–1741).

Adrian Mark Wilkinson is an Irish Anglican priest: he is the current Archdeacon of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.

Arthur Pomeroy, D.D. was an 18th-century Anglican priest in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brinny Church</span> Anglican church in Cork, Ireland

Brinny Church is an Anglican Gothic Revival church located in Brinny, County Cork, Ireland. It has no dedication. It is part of the Bandon Union of parishes in the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Cork, Cloyne and Ross, diocesan website.
  2. ↑ Bishop Colton, Conferring Speech, UCC, September 26, 2000.
  3. ↑ Cardiff University website
  4. ↑ "Bishop who tied celebrity knot is a United fan". www.irishtimes.com.
  5. ↑ "Church of Ireland Gazette criticizes Beckham wedding" . Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Bishop Colton is longest serving cofi bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, 25 June 2020". www.catholicireland.net. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  7. ↑ "C of I bishop backs civil marriage for same-sex couples". Irish Times. 18 May 2014.
  8. ↑ St. Luke's Charity, Cork
  9. ↑ A Generous Heartfelt Welcome for New Bishop of Cork, Irish Examiner, 30 June 2019
  10. ↑ "It could happen to a bishop: Paul Colton celebrates becoming the longest serving Church of Ireland bishop in 400 years". www.irishexaminer.com. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.