The departure of Dean Trevor Lester from Waterford to minister in West Cork, prompted these insights from the Bishop of Cashel.
In his monthly letter to the diocese, Rt Rev Dr Michael Burrowes, writes,”The dean’s departure displays to me – yet again – the rapid rate of change in ministry in these dioceses in recent years. Five years ago, I was placed in the Episcopal chair in the six cathedrals by Deans Knowles, Lester, Beare, Lynas, Forrest and Wynne. Of those six only the dean of Cashel now remains in the position which he held in 2006 – and may he be long spared to that ministry! Of the 32 cures in the bishopric, exactly half have changed incumbent in my time – in a couple of cases more than once.
“There is much to be said for changes in clerical personnel taking place from time to time so that both clergy and people may experience rich variety in ministry, but sometimes I feel the rapidity of change can diminish long-term perspective and lead to a tendency to reinvent the proverbial wheel. At any rate, let us pray for a fruitful outcome to a number of appointment processes about to begin among us, both in ministry and in education, that in the phrase of the Pentecost collect (and I write these words on that feast day) those involved may be given ‘a right judgment in all things’.
With six cathedrals in the diocese, Bishop Michael has a strategy which he employs each year. He later writes, “ In recent years I have developed a habit at the start of each autumn season of earthing myself in one of the cathedrals each Sunday for a month. This has the effect I believe of building my relationship with the places where in a particular way the bishop is seen as the teacher of the faith, and it also gives me a chance to preach in a systematic way week by week in a manner which is not otherwise possible in the course of my rather grasshopper like routine. Last year I spent my autumn cathedral month in Waterford and the previous year in Kilkenny; this year I look forward to four Sundays from 18th September in Lismore.”