The Reverend Michael Parker has been the Rector of St. Gall's since 2000.
Michael graduated from Durham University in 1991 with a B.A. (Hons.) in Sociology. His dissertation topic was "Euthanasia and the Mentally Infirm Elderly." Having completed training for the ministry in Trinity College, Dublin he was awarded a Bachelor of Theology degree in 1996. Through the Irish School of Ecumenics he studied for a M.Phil which was awarded in 2004. His research dissertation title was "The Response of the Church of Ireland to Political Change in 1922 and 2002: Despair and Disengagement versus Hope and Faith."
An extract from "The Response of the Church of Ireland to Political Change in 1922 and 2002"
Joe Liechty in his study of sectarianism within
the Church of Ireland has made the observation that ;
"Some of the most contentious issues we explored occupy that ground where
communal memory and academic history clash and the demarcation between past and
present is elusive."
This study ................. seeks to focus on the role of the church as an
agent for change and a facilitator of community development in the midst of
political transformation. This study seeks to draw on the experience of the
Church of Ireland both as a beleaguered community at the time of the conflict in
the early 1920’s and today as it seeks to articulate a response to the
challenges of the political arena in the Ireland of 2003.