Archbishop Diarmuid Martin was one of a number of religious leaders
who took part in an interfaith peace walk in Dublin on Sunday to mark
the UN International Day of Peace.The Primate of Ireland joined representatives of Ireland’s Baha’I, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities as well as members of the Dublin City Interfaith Forum at the Peace Park in Christchurch Place before they all walked together behind a peace banner to the Mansion House.
There they were met by Councillor Edie Wynne on behalf of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Naoise Ó Muirí.
Welcoming the group, Councillor Wynne said, “The City of Dublin is, for some time now, a place of diversity, a place where religions, cultures and people meet, mix and develop. This constitutes our true identity.”
She added, “Properly managed, this diversity gives us great strength. Mismanaged, it risks weakening us greatly.”
Councillor Wynne told the representatives of the various faiths that information and education alone were not enough.
“People need to meet face to face, experience diversity and discuss issues with people who differ. Communities need to reach out to each other. Dialogue and exchange between people of different views, cultures and faiths is the glue that will hold us together and enrich us all,” she said.
Archbishop Martin told ciNews that the Interfaith Peace Walk said that Dublin is, “a multi-faith community," and that these faiths, "are strong and that relationships between the faiths are very good. That is an important thing to see.”
He described the walk, “as a symbol,” and, “an important message to give the people of Dublin that we can and we should be getting on with one another and understanding one another in a different way.”
Speaking to ciNews, the Archbishop said the walk, along with the Pope’s recent visit to Lebanon, are clear signs that religions can come together and that this was a much-needed message for our times.
“In the long term fundamentalism is always a problem. Fundamentalism comes strangely when people are insecure in their faith and have a low level of education in their faith, so it is important also in the educational sphere we have ways in which religious education is seen not as something divisive but something that will actually bring people securely together,” the Archbishop said.
The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson, said, “Initiatives such as this walk are important to help build solidarity, trust and friendship in our city. This walk, set as it is, in an interfaith context, shows in a very public way the desire for peace among a wide cross-section of the community here.”
The International Day of Peace was established by a United Nations resolution in 1981. In 2002, the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace.
Rabbi Zalman Lent of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation told ciNews that the walk, which was the first of its kind, was, “an amazing initiative.”
“There is so much friction around the world between faiths, so to see all the representatives of the various faiths here walking shoulder to shoulder down through the city centre sends a very strong signal of peace and harmony.”
Speaking of the experience of the Jewish community in Ireland, he said he didn’t feel there was friction towards the community per se.
“The friction they feel is that people mix up Israel and Jewish and if they are upset at something that is happening in Israel, they take it out on the Jewish community.” He added, “I think it is important to separate the two.”
Rabbi Lent, who was born in the Britain but has lived in Ireland for twelve years, explained that while the existing older Jewish community is declining they are also seeing, “lots of other families moving here.”
He added, "There are many jobs available in certain fields such as the technology field and pharmaceuticals and so we are gaining new members as some younger families come here for work."
Dublin City Interfaith Forum (DCIF) is a network of people from the different faith communities in the City of Dublin. It aims to create awareness and dialogue through building relationships that nurture harmony and deepening understanding and respect.
The world faiths currently present and active on DCIF are, Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.
DCIF was developed as part of the Irish Council of Churches’ Integration Programme in partnership with Dublin City Council with finance from the European Commission under the European Integration Fund, also supported by the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration in the Department of Justice and Equality and Pobal.