Andrew James Forster is an Irish

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on 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 ...

. He is currently Serving as Bishop of Derry and Raphoe since 8 December 2019. Forster was educated at

Queen's University, Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

and the Church of Ireland Theological College. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in 1992. His first post was a

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are ass ...

at Willowfield. After that he was

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of Residence at his old university then from 2002 to 2007 he was Archdeacon of Elphin and Ardagh and rector of the

Drumcliff Drumcliff or Drumcliffe () is a village in County Sligo, Ireland. It is north of Sligo, Sligo town on the N15 road (Ireland), N15 road on a low gravel ridge between the mountain of Ben Bulben and Drumcliff Bay. It is on the Drumcliff River, o ...

group of parishes in

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

. From 2007 to 2015 he had Served as rector of Drumglass. He previously served as Archdeacon of Ardboe from 2015 to 2019 when he was ordained a bishop.Diocese of Armagh web-site
/ref> On 29 August 2019, Forster was elected as Bishop of Derry & Raphoe, following the retirement of Bishop Kenneth Good In 31 May 2019. His consecration took place on the evening of Sunday 8 December in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh. He was enthroned in the two diocesan cathedrals in Derry and Raphoe at the beginning of January 2020. Forster was President of the Irish Council of Churches, his term of office ran from March 2022 until March 2024. He was succeeded by Bishop Sarah Groves. He is married to Heather and has three children, Hannah, Patrick & Megan (in age order).

References

Living people Archdeacons of Ardboe Archdeacons of Elphin and Ardagh Alumni of the Church of Ireland Theological Institute Alumni of Queen's University Belfast 20th-century Irish Anglican priests 21st-century Irish Anglican priests Year of birth missing (living people) {{Ireland-Anglican-clergy-stub Evangelical Anglican bishops Place of birth missing (living people)