Bishop Rooke ponders future of scattered diocese

AS Church of Ireland congregations dwindle there is a distinct possibility of the amalgamation of the diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry with Limerick and Killaloe — but that does not mean the closure of Tuam’s historic St Mary’s Cathedral. So Bishop Patrick Rooke told The Tuam Herald this week.
In a wide ranging interview Bishop Rooke spoke about coming back to his rural roots on the Galway-Mayo border, near Kilconly, where he spent many childhood holidays on his grandparents’ farm.
Having trained and worked for a while in farming he quipped that he “swapped one flock for another!”
The Dublin-born religious leader has been a Bishop in this area for five years and while he is enthusiastic in expressing his love for the historical edifice that is St Mary’s Cathedral, Tuam, and is confident it will not close, he is a pragmatist who feels that a future amalgamation of this diocese with another is on the cards.

Read the full feature in this week's edition