7 September 2025
By Valerie Ryan
valerie@TheCork.ie
Church of Ireland Bishop Paul Colton announces his intention to retire once he has completed 27 years as Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross
The Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton, has announced his intention to retire. In a letter sent on Friday 5th September to clergy and co-workers in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Bishop Colton said that he believed that ‘now, under God, the time has come to retire’.
The 27th anniversary of the Bishop’s election will be in five months’ time and, on 25th March 2026, the Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he will embark on a 28th year. That is a longer tenure as Church of Ireland bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross than anyone else since the first Reformation bishop died in 1617; and the second longest ever. For several years now he has been the longest serving, diocesan bishop, still in office, in the Anglican Communion in these islands: Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England.
For all those reasons, Bishop Colton said that he felt, ‘under God that the time is right to retire.’ He continued:
This autumn also marks, for me, the completion of fifty years of ministry in the Church, more than forty-one of those in Holy Orders, and the others in lay ministry: as a singer, organist and lay reader.
As the last bishop of the Church of Ireland to be elected in the Twentieth Century, it has been my calling and joy to journey with you from the last millennium of our Lord into this new century. There have been many celebrations and an equal number of challenges in church, society and in the world, as well as much to preoccupy us all in our own lives.
Therefore, I have consciously chosen the Easter season as a time to depart. It is the season of resurrection hope, confident faith, and of joyfully moving forward in our discipleship into the future. It is the time when we read of the risen Christ accompanying the disciples on their journey.
The Bishop said that his last public Service in the Diocese will be on Saturday 18th April 2026 when he will lay down his crozier in Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork.
Speaking about the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross in which he will have served for more than 27 years, he said:
Our small, most southerly Diocese of the Church of Ireland is remarkable in many ways, but most of all, I believe, because of the commitment, generosity and voluntary work of each of you in countless ways. Thank you for all that you are and all that you do.