The Church of Ireland
Press Release

Belfast Cathedral is expected to be filled to capacity this Friday night, 22 June 2001, at 8.00p.m. when its new Dean is installed.

Canon Houston McKelvey, currently secretary to the Church of Ireland's General Synod Board of Education in Northern Ireland, will succeed the late Dean Jack Shearer who died suddenly in January of this year.

The service will be conducted by the Bishop of Connor, Right Rev James Moore and by the Bishop of Down and Dromore, Right Rev Harold Miller. This is a somewhat unique arrangement due to Belfast City being in two dioceses. There is no other Cathedral in the Church of Ireland in which two Bishops share in this way.

Canon McKelvey will firstly be instituted as Vicar of Belfast and then installed as Dean. Taking part in these two ceremonies will be the Archdeacon of Connor, Venerable Alan Harper and the Archdeacon of Down, Venerable Gregor McCamley.

Many civic leaders are expected at the service. They include Lady Carswell, the Lord Lieutenant of Belfast, Alderman Sammy Wilson, the Lord Mayor, and Lord Alderdice the Speaker of the Assembly. Just under 1,500 worshippers are expected.

During the service a number of religious and community leaders will welcome the new Dean. They include Monsignor Tom Toner of St Peter's Cathedral, which is in a partnership with Belfast Cathedral and Rev Derek Drysdale of the Presbyterian Church. Monica Wilson of Disability Action will also welcome the new Dean, highlighting the fact that the Cathedral has disabled access. Clergy ministering with reconciliation groups are also being recognized at the service.

The hymns and anthem for the occasion are the same as chosen by the late Dean Sammy Crooks who was Belfast's' first Black Santa and the choir will use the same music for the Magnificat which was sung at the consecration of the Cathedral in 1904.

The Dean Elect, said "It is a very exciting time to be appointed Dean of Belfast both in the development of the city and the Cathedral's role and witness. There is a team of fifteen full time and part time staff and over one hundred volunteers whom I will enjoy working with."

Members of various associations and interests with which the new Dean is connected will be the collectors at the service. They include Instonians, Scouts, the Territorial Army, Coleraine Yacht Club and the Royal British Legion. Amongst the collectors will be Sir David Fell, former head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service and a former Head Chorister at the Cathedral and Mr Brian Hanna, the Chief Executive of Belfast City. Both are Instonians and contemporaries of Canon McKelvey.

The collection at the service will be the first contributions to this years' Christmas sit out for charities by the Dean and the Canons of Belfast Cathedral.

Canon McKelvey is married. He and his wife Roberta met when they were geography students at Queen's University. A former teacher, earlier this year Mrs McKelvey was elected a Trustee of Mothers' Union Worldwide. On the day the new dean was appointed, she left to work in the Sudan for two weeks assessing an adult literacy programme, which the Mothers' Union supports there. She visited the displacement camps in which many Christians are forced to live and was a guest in the Dean of Khartoum's home, which was attacked with gunfire in Easter of this year. They have a son John, who read geography at Cambridge and is now a Civil Servant in London.

The new Dean is a Muckamore man who retains his interest in the local cricket club's performance although he seldom gets to see them play. He is a keen sailor.