Alan Alexander Buchanan (28 February 1905 – 4 February 1984) was an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

in the second half of the 20th century.

Biography

Buchanan was born in

Fintona Fintona (; ), is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Its population at the 2011 Census was 1,164. Name and etymology Fintona is derived Phonetics, phonetically from the Irish name of the area, ''Fionntamhnach''; this is ...

. Educated at Masonic Boys School and

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, where he graduated in history and political science in 1928. He was ordained in 1931. He served as a chaplain with military forces during the Second World War, notably parachuting into Arnhem in 1944 and being captured by the Germans. In the Airborne Museum at Oosterbeek there is a serviceman's prayer card displayed which is signed by Buchanan. He was with the Church of Ireland Mission in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

until 1937, after which he held incumbencies at St Cedma Inver and St Mary, Belfast and St Comgall, Bangor. He was

Bishop of Clogher The Bishop of Clogher (, ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Clogher in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Following the Reformation, there are now parallel apostolic successions: one of the Church of Ireland and ...

from 1958 to 1969, when he became Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland. He resigned in 1977 and died on 4 February 1984. Among other things, Buchanan was known as an advocate for women's ministry. In the early 1970s, he spoke to the Diocesan Synod of Dublin: "Is it right to limits the possibility of ordination to one half of the Church? Our House of Bishops has recently echoed the view of Lambeth that there is no theological reason against the ordination of women. The Church in Canada has already decided in favour... the Church of Ireland should at least declare its mind on the subject." He personally invited and trained the first five women to be commissioned Lay Readers in the Church of Ireland in 1975, including Daphne Wormell and Patricia Hastings-Hardy. When the group chose a maroon liturgical gown, which looks similar to the bishops' red, he told them, "If they like to think I am commissioning five lady bishops, let them think it!" His daughter,

Désirée Stedman Désirée Stedman is a former Archdeacon of Ottawa. She is now an honorary assistant at Blackburn Hamlet.Blackburn Hamlet Stedman was born in Ireland. Before ordination she was a physiotherapist. She trained for ordained ministry at St. Paul's U ...

, was ordained in the Anglican Church of Canada. She was accepted into training in 1982 before the Church of Ireland voted to ordain women as deacons in 1984, and as priests and bishops in 1990. Buchanan missed these developments, having died in February 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, Alan Alexander 1907 births 1984 deaths 20th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Anglican archbishops of Dublin Bishops of Clogher (Church of Ireland) Christian clergy from County Tyrone People educated at Masonic Boys School, Dublin