Archdeacon Stephen Forde installed as new Dean of Belfast

Q Radio News

Archdeacon Stephen Forde has been installed as the new Dean of Belfast.

He becomes the 14th to take up the position, and did so in a service at St. Anne's Cathedral this afternoon.

Installation of new Dean of Belfast, Archdeacon Stephen Forde, taking place in St Anne’s Cathedral this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/ihR4wE7sNP

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The new Dean said,

“With the redevelopment of the Cathedral Quarter, and the arrival of 10,000 students at the University of Ulster, this is a time of new beginnings and new
horizons.

“I hope the Cathedral will be a place where people who are rushed and hassled by life’s demands will find rest and refreshment, a place of peace in a world of many pressures. I also hope the Cathedral will be a place of ecumenical encounter, a place where bridges are built and barriers dismantled.

Above all, I pray this will be a place where people discover how much they matter, because they will discover how much they matter to God.

“While I am excited at these new opportunities, I am also conscious that being Dean of Belfast is a massive challenge and a daunting task. I approach this new role, knowing that will I need the prayers and support of so many others: The staff at the Cathedral, the Cathedral community who call this place their spiritual home, and also support from the wider community in Belfast, as well as from the clergy and people of the two dioceses that this Cathedral serves.

“Yet I know that the God who calls is also the God who equips. All I can ask is that people will pray for me, and work with me, to achieve God’s ambitions for this great Cathedral and to embrace all the opportunities of God’s future.”