The Diocese of Down and Dromore (also known as the United Dioceses of Down and Dromore) is a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

in the south east of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It is in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

. The geographical remit of the diocese covers half of the City of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

to the east of the

River Lagan The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs 53.5 miles (86 km) from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The ...

and the part of

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

east of the

River Bann The River Bann (from ga, An Bhanna, meaning "the goddess"; Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is one of the longest rivers in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). However, the total lengt ...

and all of

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Overview and history

When the Church in England broke communion with the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

was established by the state as the

established church A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...

. Later, by decree of the Irish Parliament, a similar new body became the

State Church A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...

in the

Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label=Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...

. The English-speaking minority mostly adhered to the Church of Ireland or to

Presbyterianism Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

. On the death of Archbishop Trench of Tuam in 1839, the

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of Tuam was united to the

. Over the centuries, numerous dioceses were merged, in view of declining membership. Until 1944, the dioceses of Down and Dromore were part of the United Dioceses of Down, Connor and Dromore. In 1944, the

Diocese of Connor The Diocese of Connor, Territory of Dalriada, was established in the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111. The diocese itself was erected in 480. Tradition holds that St. Patrick herded sheep on Slemish, in the heart of the Diocese, when first brought ...

gained a separate existence under its own bishop. It is for this reason that the united diocese has three cathedrals.

Cathedrals

* Holy Trinity Cathedral,

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the bu ...

* Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer, Dromore. * St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast ''(Shared with the

)'' The Diocese is the second largest of the Church of Ireland in terms of church population, with around 91,000 people and more than one hundred serving ordained Clergy. It is divided up into 79 parishes, with a total of 115 churches.

Bishops

Although the united diocese works under a single bishop, currently David McClay, each of the two dioceses within it has its own set of officers. ;Bishops of Down and Connor * John Charden (1596–1601) * Henry Leslie (1635–1661) *

Jeremy Taylor Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is fr ...

(1661–1667) * Roger Boyle (1667–1672) * John Ryder (1743–1752) *

Richard Mant Richard Mant (12 February 1776 – 2 November 1848) was an English churchman who became a bishop in Ireland. He was a prolific writer, his major work being a ''History of the Church of Ireland''. s:Mant, Richard (DNB00) Life He was born at ...

(1823–''1842'') ;Bishops of Down, Connor and DromoreFryde, ibid., p. 389. *

(''1842''–1848) *

Robert Bent Knox Robert Bent Knox (25 September 1808 – 23 October 1893) was the Church of Ireland Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore from 1849 to 1886, and then Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 1886 until his death. Early life Born in 1808 ...

(1849–1886) * William Reeves (1886–1892) * John Baptist Crozier (1907–1911) * Charles Frederick D'Arcy (1911–1919) * Charles T. P. Grierson (1919–1934) *

Charles King Irwin Charles King Irwin (also Irvine; 30 March 1874 – 15 January 1960) was an eminent Irish clergyman in the middle third of the 20th century. Born on 30 March 1874 into an eminent ecclesiastical family, he was ordained in 1898 and began his car ...

(1942–1944) ;Bishops of Down and DromoreFryde, ibid., p. 389. * William Shaw Kerr (1945–1955) * Frederick Julian Mitchell (1955–1969) * George Alderson Quin (1970–1980) * Robert "Robin" Eames (1980–1986) * Harold Creeth Miller (1997–2019) * David Alexander McClay (2020–present)

Relation with the Anglican realignment

Former Bishop Harold Miller is a member of

GAFCON The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (branded as GAFCON or Gafcon) is a global network of conservative Anglicanism, Anglican churches that formed in 2008 in response to an ongoing theological crisis in the worldwide Anglican Communion. ...

Ireland, and he attended GAFCON III, held in Jerusalem, on 17–22 June 2018. His successor,

David McClay David Alexander McClay (born 1959) is an Irish Anglican bishop. Biography McClay is the current Bishop of Down and Dromore in the Church of Ireland. McClay was educated at Trinity College Dublin; and ordained an Anglican priest in 1988. His fir ...

, is also a leading member of GAFCON Ireland.Authentic Anglicanism and False Fears, GAFCON Official Website, 28 January 2020
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Overview and history

Cathedrals

Bishops

Relation with the Anglican realignment

See also