THE DEAN of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Robert MacCarthy, is to retire next month.
“I’ll be 72 next March and at my advanced age it is time I cleared off, really,” he told The Irish Times.
He said life had been “made more difficult” by the attitude of some members of the cathedral chapter and board.
“They have not supported me all along and they can find someone else to carry on,” he said.
His retirement will take effect from January 25th.
His most recent spat with members of the chapter and its board followed his request last October to all candidates in the presidential election that they support his idea that St Patrick’s become “a national cathedral not merely for the Church of Ireland but for all Irish Christians”.
Board member Alan Graham responded that Dean MacCarthy “consulted neither the chapter nor the board” before making the proposal and concluded: “It is generally felt, both in the cathedral community and the Church of Ireland, that the sooner he resigns, the better.”
Dean MacCarthy said that since his installation in 1999 he felt he had “moved the cathedral along a bit. We have an excellent lay staff and the cathedral is in better shape than ever before.”
But he was frustrated at ecumenical progress. “Dublin is way behind the country,” he said.