24.05.2016
Archbishop Michael Jackson Welcomes Announcement that the World Meeting of Families will be held in Dublin in August 2018
The announcement of the date and theme for the 9th World Meeting of Families (WMF) was made at a press conference in the Vatican this morning (24 May), attended by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, and the head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Archbishop Vincenzo Pagila. The Archdiocese of Dublin is the host diocese for this event which takes place once every three years in different parts of the world.
The announcement was welcomed by Archbishop Michael Jackson who pledged the Church of Ireland’s willingness to assist.
“I should like to wish everything that is best to our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Roman Catholic tradition, both in Dublin and more widely across Ireland, as they begin preparations in earnest for The World Meeting of Families in 2018. This is an event of international proportions and of considerable significance right across society in general. Wherever people congregate and share lives, issues associated with family life, care and nurture are always to the fore. I congratulate Archbishop Diarmuid Martin with whom I have had the pleasure of working for almost six years in these dioceses and also Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia who is a friend for more than a decade through the Community of St Egidio in Rome,” he stated.
The Archbishop continued: “The World Meeting of Families intends to open wide its doors in generosity of invitation to all interested parties. We in the Church of Ireland tradition recollect with great joy the ways in which we were included in The International Eucharistic Congress and pledge our willingness to assist in any ways that our brothers and sisters in Christ think may be helpful”.