Irish Catholic Church prepares for arrival of Ukrainians

Ireland's Catholic bishops are meeting in Maynooth this week to discuss how parishes and dioceses on the island can best help accommodate the many thousands of people from Ukraine expected to arrive here over coming days.

It is understood their emphasis will be on practical measures necessary to cope with what is expected will be a sudden influx across the island.

Meantime the Catholic Primate Archbishop Eamon Martin and Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell are among the Catholic Church leaders of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales who have called on Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to make practical efforts towards bringing about peace in Ukraine.

Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces on February 24th, the Patriarch, who is close to Vladimir Putin, invoked the concept of Russia as a "fatherland" inclusive of Ukraine, while also insisting on the ecclesiastical authority of Moscow over Kyiv's church leaders.

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The Catholic Church leaders called on “fellow Christians everywhere, including Patriarch Kirill and all in the Russian Orthodox Church, to join in solidarity with us in daily spiritual and practical efforts for a ceasefire, for humanitarian outreach and the silencing and laying down of weapons” in Ukraine.

Ukraine has three major Churches: the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the country’s Orthodox Christians who are divided between the self-governing Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which falls under the authority of Patriarch Kirill.

In 2018 the worldwide leader of Orthodox Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, recognised the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as independent of Moscow, leading to Patriarch Kirill breaking off relations with Constantinople.

Spring meeting

This week Ireland’s Catholic bishops are gathering for their 2022 spring meeting which continues until Wednesday. It is their second time to do so in person since the pandemic began two years ago.

As well as preparations for people from Ukraine arriving in Ireland, North and South, they will also discuss their latest agreement with the Department of Education on extending diversity of patronage to include schools in Arklow, Athlone, Dundalk, Nenagh and Youghal, as reported on RTÉ Radio One's Morning Ireland today.

All the relevant schools are are run by Catholic management and the five towns have no multidenominational primary schools. This will be in addition to agreement reached with the Bishops' Council for Education on divestment from Catholic management of schools in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.

Altogether just three Catholic schools have been transferred to multidenominational patronage in Ireland over recent years. This is despite encouragement by church and State authorities who have met resistance locally to such divestment policies.