Diocesan communicator to head Jesuit refugee service for Europe

The director of communications for the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, Father John Dardis SJ, is to leave the position in December.

From January next year he will be regional director of the Jesuit Refugee Service for Europe.

He has held his current post since September 1995, when he was seconded by his order for an initial three-year period. That was extended yearly since 1998.

Before 1995 Father Dardis was founder/director of the Jesuit Communications Centre in Dublin.

In 1995 also he worked with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Tanzania and helped to set up Radio Kwizera, a station for refugees from Rwanda.

The Dublin Archdiocese's Communications Office was set up in 1995. Since then the diocesan magazine Link-Up has resumed publication; a panel of writers has been trained to present a Christian and Catholic perspective on current issues; a website has been set up; and, just recently, it was part of an ecumenical group which expressed an interest in starting a Christian radio station in Dublin.

Father Dardis said: "The last few years have been very fulfilling for me personally and a lot has been achieved in a short time by the team here at the office."

He expressed pleasure at working for Archbishop Desmond Connell, as well as the auxiliary bishops and diocesan staff, including his colleagues at the communications office.

"I wish to take this opportunity to thank them all publicly. While I am sad to leave this work in the diocese behind me, I am happy to be moving to another area which represents one of the vital issues of the time," he said.

In his new post Father Dardis will co-ordinate the work of Jesuits and their colleagues on behalf of refugees and asylum-seekers in 13 European countries. This will involve advising on policy concerning refugees and asylum-seekers at EU level.

The greater part of his work, however, will consist in examining how refugees and asylum-seekers are portrayed in the media and how this affects public perception and policy towards them.

"Ten years ago the refugee problem was one which we associated with Ethiopia or with Cambodia and Vietnam. Five years ago we associated it with Rwanda and Burundi. Now it is on our doorstep. It presents a real challenge to us about how we think about ourselves and about our society. It is a challenge directly related to the Gospel," he said.