The Right Rev John Neill, Bishop of Cashel and Ossory is the new Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin. He succeeds the Most Rev Dr Walton Empey, who retired in July.
Bishop Neill (56) was selected by vote at an electoral college gathering of 52 lay and clerical members in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, yesterday.
A native of Dublin, he has been described by his peers as a progressive thinker.
He has been prominent in promoting ecumenical relations and in championing the ordination of women priests.
The electoral college took three hours to choose a successor to Dr Empey yesterday.
To be elected, Bishop Neill had to secure a two-thirds majority from both lay and clerical voters. A date has not been set yet for his consecration.
Bishop Neill was president of the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland between 1990 and 1994 and more recently served as president of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
He is a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches and was elected Anglican chairman of the Porvoo Contact Group in 1998.
At the Lambeth Conference in 1988, he proposed all the approved resolutions in respect of women in the episcopate and was chairman of the Church of Ireland General Synod Committee on the Ordination of Women.
In 1996 he said the Church of Ireland in the Republic had often tended to keep quiet on many issues, lest it lose members.
"A prophetic church is one in which its members are prepared to face the cost of discipleship, to realise that standing for peace and justice will involve the loss of members and of income," he said.
Bishop Neill was also critical of the events at Drumcree and said many church members found the Church of Ireland's association with the events there in 1995 "deeply embarrassing and offensive".
"The threat of extreme violence, the use of church property by the Orange Order, the perpetuation of the myth that, because a march is to a service of worship, it is a quasi-religious occasion, are features of recent events with which we cannot identify"
Bishop Neill has served on many central committees of the Church of Ireland, covering issues such as liturgical reform, education, communications, ministry, Christian unity and synodical structures.
He served as a member of the governing body of University College Galway for 11 years until 1997 and also sat on the academic council of the Irish School of Ecumenics.
Bishop Neill's election as Archbishop of Dublin was welcomed by Cardinal Desmond Connell last night.
"I wish to warmly congratulate Bishop John Neill on his being elected Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin today," Cardinal Connell said. "I wish him a fruitful and fulfilling ministry. May the Holy Spirit strengthen him as he takes up this new responsibility."
