Lady Sheil to be installed as Lay Canon of Armagh Cathedral

Lady Brenda Sheil is to be installed by the Dean of Armagh, the Very Revd Patrick Rooke, as a Lay Canon of Armagh Cathedral at a service of Choral Evensong on Sunday.

Lady Sheil was appointed by the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Rev Alan Harper, to the Lay Canonry, which became vacant upon the death of Mr Robin Lewis-Crosby earlier this year. He will be present at the service together with the former Archbishop of Armagh, the Rt Rev Lord Eames, who has been invited to give the address.

Lady Sheil has given distinguished service to the Church of Ireland and the wider Anglican Communion over the past two decades. She is one of the two lay Honorary Secretaries of the Standing Committee of the Church of Ireland's General Synod, having been elected to the position in 1999, the first woman to have held the post. Armagh Cathedral has six Lay Canons - the first were appointed in 1997 and Lady Sheil will be the tenth to take up office.

In welcoming Lady Sheil, Dean Rooke said, "Lady Sheil has made an enormous contribution to the Church of Ireland and to St Patrick's Cathedral - we feel she is 'one of our own'.

"Her father, the Rev Ford Patterson, was a Rector in Armagh Diocese and as a 'child of the rectory' she has always maintained close links with Armagh."

Lady Sheil has been an active member of the committee of the Friends of the Cathedral and served on the Board of the Royal School in Armagh.

In anticipation of Sunday's installation, Lady Sheil commented, "I am humbled by this appointment. Without belittling anything else, it is one of the greatest honours I have ever received.

"I was married in Armagh Cathedral by my father, who was a priest in the Armagh Diocese for fifty years, so the installation will be a very poignant occasion.

"As a 'child of the rectory', I have always looked to Armagh Cathedral so it is wonderful that this is taking place there."