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The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Robin Henry Alexander Eames, Baron Eames (born April 27, 1937) is the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh. Born in Belfast, he was educated at the city's Belfast Royal Academy and Methodist College before going on to study at Queen's University, graduating LLB as well as obtaining a Ph.D. from there.
During a distinguished academic career he was lectured in philosophy by his future Catholic counterpart, Cahal Daly. During his time at Queen's he was briefly involved in the Young Unionists.
Rugby, athletics and sailing are his favourite sports.
Turning his back on law for the Church of Ireland, he embarked on a three-year course at the divinity school in Trinity College Dublin in 1960 but found the course "intellectually unsatisfying".
In 1963 he was appointed curate assistant at Bangor Parish Church, becoming Rector of St Dorothea's in Belfast three years later. In the same year, 1966 he married Christine Daly
During his time in St Dorothea's in the Braniel and Tullycarnet area of east Belfast, he developed a 'coffee bar ministry' among young people but the Troubles interrupted. During this time he rescued a Catholic girl from a mob who had set her family home on fire.
He mysteriously turned down the opportunity to be dean of Cork and in 1974 was appointed rector of St Mark's in Dundela in east Belfast, formerly CS Lewis's family church.
In May 1975, at the age of 38, he was appointed bishop of the cross-border diocese of Derry and Raphoe - having visited Derry only once. In a groundbreaking move, he invited his similarly young Cath-olic counterpart, Dr Edward Daly, to his consecration.
Eames was translated five years later to the diocese of Down and Dromore. In 1986, he became Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, and was the following year a select preacher at Oxford University.
Created a life peer in 1995, Lord Eames has for many years been very much involved in Northern Irish politics, and has been a prominent advocate for peace and understanding. He is also a significant figure within the general Anglican Communion, and is Chairman of the Lambeth Commission on Communion. He is the recipient of honorary degrees from both his alma maters as well as the Universities of Lancaster and Cambridge.
In 2003, the self-styled 'divine optimist' was appointed Chairman of the Lambeth Commission on Communion, which examined the challenges to unity in the Anglican Communion. The Commission published its report ("the Windsor Report") on 18 October 2004.
On 18 November 2004, a biography of Robin Eames, Nobody's Fool (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0340862238/irishanglenet-21) by Alf McCreary, was published.
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