A new Church of Ireland primate and Archbishop of Armagh will be announced in Belfast this afternoon. He will succeed Archbishop Alan Harper (68) who officially stepped down from the post on Monday.
His successor will he selected by the Church’s House of Bishops which has been in retreat since Monday.
Those most likely to succeed include Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson, Bishop of Kilmore Ken Clarke, Bishop of Derry Ken Good, and Bishop of Meath Richard Clarke.
The Church of Ireland has 390,000 members on the island. Traditionally its Primate of All-Ireland, as Archbishop of Armagh, succeeds from a Northern diocese.
The most intriguing and “talked-about” candidate is Bishop Richard Clarke of Meath. He ruled himself out as a candidate for Dublin last year. He is 63 and served as curate in Holywood, Co Down, from 1975 to 1977. But he is from Dublin and most of his experience has been in the South. He is also decidedly on the liberal wing of the church.
