Tomorrow September 8, leaders of the Christian Churches in Ireland will meet in Belfast City Hall to launch a new resource document aimed at promoting the integration of immigrants into church and civic life in Ireland.
The document, Irish Churches' Affirmations on Migration, Diversity and Interculturalism, is being issued by the Irish Inter-Church Meeting, which represents fifteen Christian Churches on the island of Ireland, including the Roman Catholic Church and Churches of the Protestant and Orthodox traditions.
Adrian Cristea of the Inter-Church 'Parish-Integration Project', which drafted the document, said: "The face of Ireland, north and south, has changed very rapidly in recent years with the arrival of migrants from a large number of countries. We now have a population that includes people from Eastern European, Asian and African countries, and who come from many different faith traditions. As a result, the promotion of integration and the recognition of the richness that comes with diversity have become important issues for Irish society and Irish Churches."
The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Rt Rev Dr Norman Hamilton added, "For many people moving to a new country the one thing that makes them feel at home is finding fellow Christians to join with in worship and fellowship. Over the last few years many of our congregations have been experiencing an influx of new members from around the world. It is timely to have this new document that lays the foundations to create vibrant Christian communities that are enriched from the sharing and interweaving of the various traditions and cultures that are now joining together."
Welcoming the publication of the document, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, said: "Christian Churches face the challenging but exciting task of welcoming and including new members who have a different language, different cultural backgrounds, and different experiences and expectations of church membership. In facilitating participation in church and local community life, Churches play a vital role in supporting and promoting the integration of ethnic minorities."
Archbishop Martin noted that the new document sets out ten 'Affirmations' - specific commitments on the part of the Churches of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting to promote integration and interculturalism. The Affirmations include commitments by the Churches to: "recognise and appreciate cultural and ethnic diversity as gifts of God'; "foster faith communities where the rights of each person are respected"; "explore and adopt" ways of worship and systems of administration that respond to the diversity of the Church membership; challenge racism and xenophobia; defend the rights of migrants and advocate for the provision of appropriate services to meet their needs.
Recognising the fact that in recent years, many 'migrant-led Churches' have been established throughout the country, the Affirmations commit the longer-established Churches to "foster co-operation and collaboration" with the 'migrant-led Churches' in providing pastoral care and support to migrants.
Mervyn McCullagh, Executive Officer of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting said that an important feature of this initiative was that all the member Churches had been invited to report in twelve months time on their progress in implementing measures in line with the Affirmations.
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