Senior Protestant clergy attended the ordination service in Newry Cathedral yesterday of Dr John McAreavey as the new Roman Catholic Bishop of Dromore.
Dr McAreavey, from Drumnagally near Banbridge, Co Down, succeeds Bishop Francis Brooks, who led the Co Down diocese for 23 years.
The new bishop was ordained by the Catholic Primate, Dr Sean Brady, who was assisted by Bishop Brooks and the Bishop of Cloyne, Newry-born Dr John Magee.
Clerics from the main Protestant churches in Ireland attended, with the Bishop of Down and Dromore, the Right Rev Harold Miller, representing the Church of Ireland; a former president, the Rev David Kerr, the Methodist Church; and the Warrenpoint minister, the Rev Brian McMillen, the Presbyterian Church.