At the Synod of 1880, Cabrera was elected the first bishop of the IERE, under the pastoral care of William Plunket, 4th Baron Plunket, then Bishop of Meath and later Archbishop of Dublin. He had been interested in the two Iberian churches and determined to act to consecrate a bishop in Spain. The church remained without a bishop for a time after Cabrera died in 1916 and was placed under the authority of the Church of Ireland. For a lengthy period from 1935 to 1951 there was not a single episcopal visit to Spain. Fernando Cabrera, son of the Church's first bishop, was elected to be the next bishop, but he died in 1954 before being consecrated. Fernando Cabrera served as rector of the Anglican Cathedral of the Redeemer for close to a half-century.