The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton, has announced the retirement of the Diocesan Registrar of the Diocese, Mr John L. Jermyn.
John L. Jermyn was appointed by Bishop Gordon Perdue as a Licensor of Marriages on 29th April 1971. Nine years later, on 1st December 1980, he was appointed Diocesan Registrar by Bishop Samuel Poyntz. With the changes in marriage law in Ireland in 2007 he ceased to be a licensor of marriages but continued as Diocesan Registrar.
As Diocesan Registrar he succeeded his own father, John Bennett Jermyn, who had served as Diocesan Registrar since 23rd October 1947. John Bennett Jermyn, who served for thirty-three years, had succeeded his own father (John L. Jermyn’s grandfather, also John Jermyn, who had been appointed Diocesan Registrar by Bishop Charles Dowse in 1920, one hundred years ago this year.
Bishop Paul Colton, paid tribute to John L. Jermyn:
The Jermyn family have served the Church of Ireland indefatigably, generously and with sound judgment for the last 100 years. I was very fortunate indeed to inherit John L Jermyn as Diocesan Registrar. He also faithfully served my predecessors Bishop Roy Warke, Bishop Samuel Poyntz, and, as a marriage licensor before that, Bishop Gordon Perdue.
Forty years is a long period of voluntary service as Diocesan Registrar and I warmly thank John for all that he has done. For the last twenty-one years of the forty years he has stood alongside me as Bishop, and has been a rock of common sense and a great support. He has been extremely generous with his time and expertise to me, to the bishop of the day, as well as to the Diocese at large.
We are all indebted to him and cannot thank him enough.
Each Church of Ireland Diocese has a Diocesan Registry in a place named by the bishop, and the Diocesan Council is required to make arrangements for the safe custody of the registry and its contents. The contents may include: judgments or orders of the Diocesan Court or the Court of the General Synod; records of appointments of clergy, appointments of clergy by licence, retirements and resignations; the appointment of deputy chancellors and deputy registrars of the Diocese. The Diocesan Registrar has responsibility for these matters, and also the keeping of a verified roll of the clergy of the Diocese which is to be tabled at meetings of diocesan Boards of Patronage (which nominates clergy to the bishop for appointment to parishes). More generally, Diocesan Registrars are frequently turned to by bishops for advice in legal matters.
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