ISE at 50 Webinars

Renewed Ecumenical Vision for Peace and Reconciliation on a Shared Island and Beyond

This bi-monthly webinar series is to celebrate the Irish School of Ecumenics (ISE) at 50, with a specific focus on ecumenical vision for peace and reconciliation in Ireland at a time of change. The founder of the ISE, Fr. Michael Hurley said (1984), “ecumenical moves have little chance of succeeding without political initiatives but political initiatives have little chance of succeeding without ecumenical moves”.

Although it has been 10 years since Fr. Hurley passed, his remark is still relevant on the island of Ireland, in 2021, as we reflect on the need for reconciliation in a Shared Island, at a time of Brexit and the Centenary of the Partition. The original Greek word, Oikumene from which the term ‘ecumenism’ is derived, means “the whole inhabited earth”, and the vision of the world ecumenical movement includes “serving human need, breaking down barriers between people, promoting one human family in justice and peace, and upholding the integrity of creation” (WCC Constitution).

This ISE at 50 webinar series discusses how the whole inhabited island of Ireland can be shared in a just and peaceful way.