New Bishop of Limerick elected

The Right Rev Michael Mayes has been elected as the new Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe.

He is currently Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh, a position be has held since June 1993.

His translation to Limerick and Killaloe is expected to take place sometime in mid-October and will follow the expected ratification of the appointment at a meeting of the House of Bishops on September 20th.

Last night Bishop Mayes said he was "absolutely delighted and honoured" by the news but that he and his wife Beth would have "very mixed feelings about leaving Kilmore". It would be "a major wrench", he said.

He knows Limerick and that part of the south "quite well", having served as a rector in various Cork parishes for 17 1/2 years before his appointment as Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh. His three children, Patrick, Soren, and Natalya, live in Cork city.

Born near Magherafelt, Co Derry, in 1941, Bishop Mayes attended the Royal School in Armagh before attending Trinity College. He was ordained in 1965 and served in Portadown as a curate until 1968 when he and Beth went to Japan, where they lived until 1974.

He described that time as "one of the most formative periods of my life". Japan had "an enormous impact" on him and enabled him to see life through the eyes of a very different culture following "a process of being broken out of one's own culture". It was a painful but "absolutely tremendous experience", he said.

Bishop Mayes's brother, the Rev John Mayes, is rector at Clooney, Co Derry. Another brother Andrew is vice-provost of Trinity College, while his oldest brother, Peter, is an engineer in Enniskillen.