Macartan 1500 to Welcome Archbishop of Kaduna

The Macartan 1500 Project's finalé guest speaker in its Christianity and Conflict lecture series will be the Archbishop of Kaduna in Nigeria.

The Macartan 1500 Project, which celebrates 1500 years since the death of the Clogher Diocese's patron saint - St Macartan.

The project is part financed by the European Union through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation and managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by the Northern Ireland Rural Development Council.

Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon will speak about the conflict in the Kaduna region in February 2000. His talk entitled 'Nigeria - Challenges of Contemporary Society' will take place on the 6 June 2007.

Following the riots of 2000, those with responsibilities for the faith communities acted quickly to heal rifts in the everyday life of the city and region. Archbishop Josiah was and remains in the forefront of this activity today.

In welcoming the forthcoming visit of the Archbishop to the diocese, Bishop of Clogher, the Rt Rev Michael Jackson, said, "Living and working on Kaduna in Northern Nigeria, Archbishop Josiah is well aware of the sensitivities surrounding daily life in a region where Muslims and Christians live side by side.

"Peaceful co-existence is the main objective of the dialogue of life which Christian and Muslim leaders have pioneered among the people of Kaduna.'

In addition to being the Bishop of Kaduna Diocese, he is a member of The Network for Inter Faith Concerns of the Anglican Communion, and a member of National Inter-Religion Council.