THE Church of Ireland's newest bishop has - finally - been consecrated.
Rev George Davison, former Archdeacon of Belfast and rector of Carrickfergus, was elected to succeed Alan Abernethy as Bishop of Connor in February.
At that stage a consecration date in May was envisaged. But the intervention of Covid-19, lockdown and the closure of places of worship meant that it was impossible for the ceremony to be held until last week.
The consecration was conducted in St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh under strict Covid-19 regulations.
The traditional 'laying on of hands' was preceded by hand-sanitising, for example, and the congregation was limited to less than 30. The service was live-streamed.
Bishop Davison (55) said the coronavirus emergency "has turned all our lives upside down over the last number of months".
"As individuals and as a society, we face challenges that we have never had to deal with before," he said.
"It has caused real heartache for many people, and for some, the challenges they have faced make the delay of a service feel very insignificant."
The bishop said that familiar ways of doing things had to be put on hold, and churches had to learn new ways to enable people to join together as the family of God.
"Even as we take these tentative steps back into our church buildings again, I am very conscious that we still have challenges ahead of us," he said.
"We have to be realistic about the challenges ahead, but I am convinced that they should not, and will not, define us."
Married to Nadine and with two adult children, Bishop Davison grew up in south Belfast and studied theology at St Andrews University, Oak Hill College in London and the Church of Ireland Theological College in Dublin.
He was ordained in 1992 and served his curacy in St Mark's Parish, Portadown, and was appointed rector of Derrylin, Fermanagh in 1995. He remained there until becoming rector of Carrickfergus in 2009.
