Press Releases15 Jan 08

Book to address diversity and the Church of Ireland to be launched

On Saturday 19 January 2008, Embracing Difference will be launched by the Republic of Ireland’s Minister for Integration, Conor Lenihan, at the Emmaus Retreat Centre. The launch will take place during ‘A Pilgrim People’, a conference on immigration being organised by the Church of Ireland’s Hard Gospel Committee.

Written by Revd Canon Patrick Comerford, Embracing Difference will inform Church of Ireland parishes on the new, multi-ethnic context they are working within. Recent censuses indicate the large numbers of new Christians arriving in Ireland and the diversity they add to Ireland’s Christian community. The censuses also indicate the growth of other faith communities in Ireland. Embracing Difference seeks to assist the Church to engage with these new communities and to fuse the experiences and knowledge of the Church and these new immigrants together to create a relevant dynamic for Ireland in the twenty-first century.

Canon Comerford is Director of Spiritual Formation at the Church of Ireland Theological College and Chair of the Dublin University Far Eastern Mission. 

Embracing Difference is produced by the Church in Society Committee of the Church of Ireland.