Church of Ireland Theological Institute

The Church of Ireland Theological Institute (formerly the Church of Ireland Theological College) is responsible for ministerial formation and lay training within the Church of Ireland. It is located in Churchtown in Dublin. The Church of Ireland, Representative Church Body (RCB) Library and archives, are also housed on the CITI Campus. History Traditionally Church of Ireland clergy were trained for the priesthood by attending Trinity College Dublin, studying at the divinity school. In 1873, following the Dublin University Act, Trinity officially became a non-denominational university. While most Penal Laws had by that time been abolished, and the Church of Ireland had been disestablished in 1871, nevertheless, the University Bill continued the practice of anti-Catholicism, while the Irish Church Act 1869 disestablished the church, scholars, fellows and professors of the college were still required to be Anglicans. In 1911 an arrangement was formalised by which the House of Bishops and the college board governed the divinity school. In 1913 the "Divinity Hostel" was set up in two buildings in Mountjoy Square, Dublin, initially housing 15 students. The Rev. Ernest Lewis-Crosby allowed his property on Mountjoy Square to be used by the Hostel. In 1961 the Church of Ireland RCB purchased Fetherstonhaugh House in Rathgar, Fetherstonhaugh Convalescent Home for the Adelaide Hospital, Dublin was built by architect George P. Beater (1850-1928) in 1894, following the addition of a residential wing by architect Ian Roberts, the Divinity Hostel, moved there in 1963, and was officially opened in 1964.. In 1969, the Church of Ireland Library was moved to the site of the Divinity Hostel, and a number of other archives of Church of Ireland organisations are held here. Following the sudden death of warden Fr. Michael Ferrar in December 1960, he was succeeded by the Rev. John Simpson Brown, who was director of Education for Church of Ireland, and also held the position of Professor of Pastoral Theology at Trinity College. Over the years as the Church of Ireland bishops' presence in the governance of Trinity diminished (where before 1980 as members of the board of the divinity school, the bishops could nominate the professors of theology), the divinity school at Trinity has been effectively replaced by the non-denominational School of Religious Studies and Theology.