Press Releases20 Feb 08

DUFEM to Launch Chinese Immigrant Report

The Dublin University Far Eastern Mission (DUFEM) was founded in 1886 to engage TCD students with Christianity in China. The Society , of which the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin are Patrons and which is chaired by the Revd Canon Patrick Comerford, has had a long and distinguished history of supporting the Church in China through education, friendship and material care.  The context within which DUFEM works has changed since its foundation and the organisation now engages in ecumenical and secular endeavours whilst not losing sight our founders' original concerns.

In recent years DUFEM has developed a Summer Placement Scheme where young TCD students travel to China to work with the YMCA to learn something of life in this exciting and different context. When they return to Trinity these students share their experiences with the community in College. DUFEM is also engaged with the Fuzhou Foreign Language School (a division of the Chinese Middle School system in Fuzhou, Fujian) in providing the opportunity for recently-graduated Irish teachers to teach in China.  The Middle School had been founded as Trinity College Fuzhou in 1907. DUFEM continues to support theological education in the Church in China through an exchange programme between the Church of Ireland Theological College and Ming Hua Theological College in Hong Kong.

DUFEM is also engaged in examining the status of immigrants to Ireland from mainland China.  This grouping constitutes a significant minority of the populations of both Ireland and Northern Ireland. Many report experiences of racism and of discrimination. It is unclear what their spiritual and their social needs are and how they are being met. The Dublin University Far Eastern Mission and the China Educational and Cultural Liaison Committee (A Roman Catholic Church organisation) commissioned a sociological study into the religious values of the Chinese people in Ireland.  This was undertaken as a first step to determine what pastoral care the Churches might offer and further to uncover issues which the Churches might not be able to directly address but of which our whole society must be conscious.

The launch of this report, Mainland Chinese Students and Immigrants in Ireland and Their Engagement with Christianity, Churches And Irish Society by Dr Richard O'Leary and Dr Lan Li, is scheduled for March 6th at 6.15pm, and it is to take place in the Chapel in Trinity College. As an ecumenical space within a secular University the Chapel reflects the ethos of DUFEM as it strives towards greater understanding through education and engagement.

Please click here for more information about the launch.

To view the executive summary of the report please click here.