Thursday, December 20, 2007

Tributes paid to a 'gentle pastor'

ARCHBISHOP of Dublin John Neill has described the sudden death of the Dean of Christ Church Cathedral as "a huge loss" for the Church of Ireland.

Dean Desmond Harman died yesterday in the Blackrock Clinic, where he had been recovering from a heart operation before encountering a fatal set-back.

Aged 66, he was an Honorary Secretary of the General Synod, the Church's annual council, and as a former editor of 'The Church Review', he took an active interest in improving church relations with the media.

On hearing the shock news of Dean Harman's passing, Archbishop Neill offered his deepest sympathies and the condolences of the clergy and people of the dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough to his wife Sue and their three children.

"The loss of a loving husband and father will be profound, all the more so, so close to Christmas," said Archbishop Neill in a tribute.

The Archbishop said that Dean Harman, his friend since their teenage days, was "a gentle and caring pastor," who was the driving force behind the Bishops' Appeal for world development that had positively affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of poor people.

"The respect and trust in which Dean Harman was held by his colleagues was also demonstrated when they elected him an Honorary Secretary of the General Synod in 1999," Dr Neill added.

Last night the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, Alan Harper, said Dean Harman was "a man of the highest personal integrity," who exhibited "masterly oversight" in his pastoral and administrative work.
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