Robin Eames - Ministry in Ireland

Ministry in Ireland

Turning his back on legal studies for ordination in the Church of Ireland, Eames embarked on a three-year course at the divinity school in Trinity College, Dublin in 1960, but found the course "intellectually unsatisfying". In 1963 he was appointed curate assistant at Bangor Parish Church, becoming Rector of St Dorothea's in Belfast three years later. In the same year, 1966, he married Christine Daly. During his time in St Dorothea's, in the Braniel and Tullycarnet area of east Belfast, he developed a "coffee bar ministry" among young people but The Troubles interrupted. During this time he rescued a Catholic girl from a loyalist mob who had set her family home on fire. He turned down the opportunity to become dean of Cork and in 1974 was appointed rector of St Mark's in Dundela in east Belfast, formerly C. S. Lewis's family church. On 9 May 1975, at the age of 38, he was elected bishop of the cross-border diocese of Derry and Raphoe - having visited Derry only once. In a groundbreaking move, he invited his similarly young Catholic counterpart, Edward Daly, to his consecration on 9 June. Eames was translated five years later, on 30 May 1980, to the diocese of Down and Dromore. He was elected to Down and Dromore on 23 April and that election confirmed 20 May 1980. In 1986, he became the 103rd Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

In 1990, some members of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland felt offended when Eames did not attend the funeral of his neighbour and fellow Armagh primate, Tomás Ó Fiaich. Eames said that the reason for him not attending was due to the necessity of him attending the vote regarding the admission of women to the ordained ministry of the Church of Ireland.