Press Releases16 Mar 25

Archbishop John McDowell meets with civic and political leaders during Washington visit

Archbishop John McDowell, the Church of Ireland’s Primate of All Ireland, has visited Washington DC in the last few days along with other representatives of civil society.

The archbishop was among many guests hosted at the British Embassy’s breakfast on Friday morning – a gathering which also included Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn MP, Executive ministers, and leaders from public services, business, and the voluntary and community sector.

Photo credit: PressEye

Later in the day, he took part in a townhall–style event on Capitol Hill with Archbishop Eamon Martin, at the invitation of the Speaker’s Office.

On Friday evening, he was the special guest at a reception hosted by St Patrick’s Episcopal Church and St Patrick’s Day School, in the Palisades neighbourhood in the north–west of the city.  The church’s font was carved in 1911 from a piece of stone provided by the Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.

Archbishop McDowell preached on Sunday morning in Washington National Cathedral at the invitation of Dean Randolph Hollerith.  His sermon outlined how Patrick’s own character and discipleship was modelled on early Latin Christianity, a concern to avoid materialism, and a voluntary laying down of self in service to God and others. 

Patrick’s courage, he noted, is similar to that expressed by “those brave people who cross rivers and seas and mountains all over the world to live in a new country … there is something very deep inside them that tells them they were made for freedom so they risk much to go on their pilgrimage.”

As Lent continues, he suggested that to “travel a bit lighter and perhaps even a bit slower” can “condition our thoughts to see through that mist of tears … and to catch a glimpse of the Son of Man, the foregone conclusion of all history, drawing us towards himself”.

The full service can be viewed at the following link: