Irish Council of Churches to mark 100 years of annual meetings in Limerick cathedral

THE IRISH Council of Churches (ICC) will be holding their centenary annual meeting in a celebratory event in St Mary’s Cathedral.

The first meeting of the Council was on January 23, 1923, in the aftermath of the Civil War, making it one of the oldest national ecumenical bodies in the world.

The ICC originally comprised of seven churches and now has 15 member churches, covering the breadth and diversity of the Christian traditions now present in Ireland.

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“It is significant that the location of its centenary annual meeting is in Limerick - demonstrating the all-island remit of the organisation, active in both jurisdictions on the island,” a spokesperson for the ICC said.

The current President is from the Church of Ireland - Right Rev Andrew Forster, Bishop of Derry and Raphoe and the current Vice President is Right Rev Sarah Groves of the Moravian Church.

Some of the areas of work in which the ICC is engaged include peacebuilding and reconciliation, climate justice, housing insecurity and homelessness, as well as engagement around the consequences of Brexit and the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.

St Mary’s Cathedral is one of the oldest buildings in Limerick city and was formerly a royal palace of the Kings of Munster.

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Over the years it has seen times of division and unity, and the occasion of the ICC Centenary AGM intends to be a notable occasion of celebrating the unity in the diversity of churches in Ireland, all working and worshipping under its roof.

Roman Catholic Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy will also be in attendance for the occasion and is co-Chair with Bishop Forster of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting (IICM), the body which brings together the ICC and the Catholic Bishops Conference.

IICM will celebrate a significant anniversary later in 2023, as its origins were in the Ballymascanlon Talks which took place in 1973 at the height of the Troubles.