The Catholic Primate, Dr Sean Brady, will open a conference on the theme "Responding to Racism" in Dublin next Thursday, writes Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent.
It will explore further the scriptural and doctrinal basis for the Catholic Church's opposition to racism and work towards a definition of "good practice" in the everyday life of Catholics.
Last year 11,000 asylum-seekers from more than 100 countries arrived in Ireland. There are an additional 18,000 immigrant workers from outside the EU in the State. Among the speakers at the conference will be Father Kieran O'Mahony, an Augustinian friar and scripture scholar, who will speak on the implications of St Paul's teaching on the equality of all in the Christian community.
The conference is being organised by the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace, a commission of the Irish Bishops' Conference, and is supported by the Council for Social Welfare, Trocaire and the Refugee Project of the Irish Bishops' Conference.
The conference opens at 9.30 a.m. in the Gort Muire Conference Centre, Ballinteer, Dublin. For booking information contact Sister Mary O'Connor at (01) 2885021.
