At the end of the Diocesan Council Meeting on Thursday evening (17/06) Bishop Kenneth announced that he would be retiring at the end of October after 7 years in post.
Bishop Kenneth explained that he had been in many long discussions with Bishop Patrick Rooke the Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry and Bishop Patrick had also decided to retire on the 31st October. There had been a similar Diocesan Council meeting being held in Tuam Diocese at the same time and Bishop Patrick had also announced his retirement there.
With the agreement of the two united dioceses, in 2019 the General Synod voted to amalgamate them under the oversight of one bishop upon the next episcopal vacancy. With both bishops retiring at the same time, a new bishop will be elected, probably early in the new year.
Bishop Kearon was ordained in 1981 and served his curacy in the parish of All Saint’s Raheny and St John’s Coolock in Dublin. He was Dean of Residence at Trinity College, Dublin from 1984 to 1991 when he became Rector of Tullow in Dublin. He became Director of the Irish School of Ecumenics in 1991 and Secretary General of the Anglican Communion in 2005, and was elected bishop of Limerick and Killaloe in 2014.
You can hear Bishop Kenneth talking to Stephen Fletcher about his retirement.