Ireland Prepares to Welcome World Council of Churches Leader

The General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, will visit Dublin and Belfast this weekend as part of a visit to the UK and Ireland that looks at various aspects of the life and work of the member churches of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.

During his visit, from 29 April to 1 May, Kobia will travel from England to Wales and then Scotland before heading across to Ireland and back to England again, bringing him into contact with church leaders and workers engaged in such diverse fields as interfaith relations, work with refugees and asylum seekers, racial justice initiatives, and ecumenical theological education.

Dr Kobia will meet with the leaders of all the main churches in Ireland and with theological students and focus on a variety of areas including reconciliation and the healing of memories and justice and peace issues.

In Dublin, Dr Kobia will lead a seminar at the Irish School of Ecumenics on the topic of 'Reconciliation and the healing of memories' and meet with the school's staff and students.

At Belfast's Edgehill Theological College, he will meet with church leaders, including the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Rev Alan Harper, and will later respond to a lecture on 'Prisoner abuse: from Abu Ghraib to the passion of Christ'.

The WCC General Secretary will be accompanied on his visit by WCC executive committee members Graham McGeoch of the Church of Scotland and Archbishop Nifon of Targoviste of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Colin Ride, Conference of European Churches central committee member and Europe secretary of the Methodist Church of Britain, and WCC staff members Ms Sydia Nduna for Migration and Social Justice and the Rev Jacques Matthey for Unity, Mission, Evangelism and Spirituality.