The Very Reverend

Very Reverend

The Very Reverend is a style given to certain religious figures.*In the Roman Catholic Church, by custom, priests who hold positions of particular note: e.g...

  John (Jack) Shearer, OBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, MA was Dean of Belfast

Dean of Belfast

The Dean of Belfast is the senior official of St Anne's Cathedral in the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland and head of the Chapter, its governing body.-List of Deans of Belfast:* 1894–1899: Henry Stewart O’Hara; became Bishop of Cashel and Waterford...

 in the last third of the 20th century and the first years of the 21st.

He was born on 30 December 1926 and educated at Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

. He was ordained in 1951 and began his career with curacies

Curate

A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...

 at Magheralin

Magheralin

Magheralin is a village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the main Moira to Lurgan road, beside the River Lagan. It had a population of 1,144 people in the 2001 Census. It is within the Craigavon Borough Council area....

  and Ballymacarrett

Ballymacarrett

Ballymacarrett or Ballymacarret is the name of both a townland and electoral ward in Belfast. The townland is in County Down and the electoral ward is part of the Pottinger district electoral area of Belfast City Council....

. He was Rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 of Ballynahinch, County Down from 1958 to 1964; and of Seagoe, County Armagh from then until 1970. He was Archdeacon

Archdeacon

An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...

 of Dromore

Dromore, County Down

Dromore is a small market town in the Banbridge District of County Down, Northern Ireland. It is south-west of Belfast, on the A1 Belfast – Dublin road. The 2001 Census recorded a population of 4,968 people....

 from 1970 until 1985 when he entered the Deanery

Deanery

A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...

.

He died in post on 12 January 2001.