21 April 2016
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
The new rector of the Kilgariffe Union of Parishes, the Reverend Kingsley Sutton, was warmly welcomed to his new parish in Clonakilty, County Cork on Tuesday, 19th April. Clergy colleagues, Diocesan Readers and lay people from throughout the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, together with parishioners, visitors and guests gathered in Kilgariffe Parish Church for the Service of Institution at which the Bishop, the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton, presided.
The Reverend Kingsley Sutton, his wife Daphne and two of their five children, were joined by family members and friends. Clergy colleagues from the Diocese of Down and Dromore, including the Archdeacon of Dromore, the Venerable Roderic West, and parishioners from Kingsley’s form parish in Newry, also travelled to West Cork for the Service. The preacher at the Service was the Most Reverend Patricia Storey, Bishop of Meath and Kildare, who was in the same year as Kingsley in the Theological College, and a close friend ever since. The former Bishop of Kilmore, the Right Reverend Ken Clarke, was also present.
In attendance from the local community in Clonakilty to welcome the new Church of Ireland rector were: Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin (Mayor), Superintendent Gerard O’Mahony (An Garda Síochána, Clonakilty), Maureen O’Donovan (Care Choice Nursing Home), the Reverend Denis Maguire (Methodist Church in Ireland), Monsignor Aidan O’Driscoll (Clonakilty) and Monsignor Finbarr O’Leary (Timoleague). ‘No TDs are present’, quipped Bishop Colton as Gaeilge, ‘as presumably they are trying to get some work done in Dublin!’
Local schools were represented by Ian Coombes (Principal, Bandon Grammar School), Ann-Marie Brosnan (Principal, the Sacred Heart Convent), Susan Hanbidge (Principal, Kilgariffe National School), and Sharon Hosford (Principal, the Model School, Dunmanway).
Bishop Colton remarked that the occasion was marked by great joy; joy for the Sutton family, for the parish, for the Diocese, and for the local community. Afterwards everyone enjoyed supper in the Kilgariffe Parish Hall.
Among those at the Institution in Kilgariffe Parish Church were (l-r) the Reverend Elaine Murray (Bishop’s Chaplain), the Reverend David Bowles (who served as deacon at the Service), the Most Reverend Patricia Storey (Bishop of Meath and Kildare and preacher), the Very Reverend Christopher Peters (Dean of Ross), the Reverend Kingsley Sutton (Rector of Kilgariffe Union of Parishes), the Venerable Adrian Wilkinson (Archdeacon of Cork, Cloyne and Ross), the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton (Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross), Cllr Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin (Mayor of Clonakilty), the Reverend John Ardis (Bishop’s Chaplain), and John Jermyn (Diocesan Registrar).
