Tuesday 26 March 2019

Church of Ireland to mark 150th anniversary of its disestablishment

This year marks 150 years since the Irish Church Act was passed, and set in train the end of the Establishment of the Church of Ireland (as the state church). The Act came into force 17 months later on 1 January 1871.

One of the displays in a small exhibition at the RCB Library
marking 150 years since the Church of Ireland
ceased to be Ireland's state church.
The Church of Ireland is planning an official programme of events across the island starting in November 2019 with a commemoriative National Service at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin and ending in Autumn 2020 in St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast.

Other projected events include a colloquium in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, architectural walking tours incorporating the key sites in Dublin during Heritage Week 2019 and 2020, and a symposium at the Royal Irish Academy.

There will also be a small exhibition within the Representative Church Body Library and a small exhibition that will travel to the Cathedrals across the Church of Ireland. Also in planning is a cultural exchange in 2020 between the Church of Ireland and the Church of Wales, when the latter will be commemorating the centenary of their own Disestablishment from the Church of England.

A new area of the Church's website has been dedicated to the 150th anniversary at https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/welcome-to-disestablishment-150