Diocesan News07 Oct 04

Bishop Paul Colton to speak at 150th Anniversary of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale

BISHOP PAUL COLTON TO SPEAK AT 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF BERKELEY DIVINITY SCHOOL AT YALE

21st Century Bishop follows in steps of his 18th Century predecessor

Berkeley Divinity School at Yale

The Right Reverend Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross will follow in the steps of his Eighteenth Century predecessor - the philosopher George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne - when he travels to the United States of America for the 150th Anniversary celebrations of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.

Bishop Colton will speak at a dinner on Wednesday 13th October to mark the anniversary.

Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded in 1854 and named after the Eighteenth Century Bishop of Cloyne George Berkeley who had travelled to America in 1728 with the intention of founding a seminary to mediate the Anglican tradition in new surroundings. A promised grant of £20,000 from the government of the day never materialised and Berkeley's dream was unfulfilled.

Berkeley donated his farm in Newport, Rhode Island and library of Theological Books to Yale in 1733 which had only been founded in 1701.

From 1734 to 1752 Berkeley was Anglican Bishop of Cloyne.

Bishop Colton said, "The dream Bishop Berkeley had of founding a seminary in America may have been unfulfilled in his lifetime; but through the work of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale whose 150th anniversary we are celebrating this year, through Berkeley's generosity to Yale and indeed, through Berkeley (The University of California) the momentous efforts made by Berkeley were recognised by later generations and are acknowledged by us today: his influence continues. That is worth celebrating."