08.02.2026
‘Embrace the opportunity presented by migration’ – Archbishop McDowell
The following Rite & Reason article by Archbishop John McDowell has been published by the Irish Times for Racial Justice Sunday, which is being celebrated today (Sunday, 8th February 2026) in the Church of Ireland alongside other Churches across Britain and Ireland:
When I visited Washington DC for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in 2025, I had the immense privilege of meeting a theologian and activist called Jim Wallis in his little office in Georgetown University. Jim is probably best known outside the United States as the founder of the Sojourners – a movement whose mission is to put faith into action for social justice. In a phrase which may come as a surprise to people on this side of the Atlantic, he is one of the leaders of the ‘Evangelical Left’.
Just before I left his office, Jim gave me a signed copy of a book he had written ten years ago called America’s Original Sin, which is a very powerful theological and personal anatomy of racism in America. Here in Ireland, we too face a personal and collective daily decision as to whether to treat people fairly and with respect, regardless of the colour of their skin or their place of birth.
This Sunday is Racial Justice Sunday and churches and faith communities across these islands will hold dedicated services or in some way mark the occasion. For the first time in our history the Church of Ireland has provided a liturgical resource for parishes to use for this purpose; a small but significant recognition of need.
“Justice” is a complicated word although it bears a strong family resemblance to the much more ordinary ideas of fairness and respect. And from a theological point of view, as long as the world is made up of competing groups within and between nations, justice is the form which love takes in society. As with every good thing, justice is not entirely natural to us. Because each of us as individuals and as group members are inclined to interpret the world to our own advantage, fairness requires conscious effort and justice needs deliberate intention. Racial Justice Sunday is a time set aside in worship, penitence and prayer to concentrate on these things.
One of the more startling statistics that Jim Wallis identifies in his book is that about seventy–five per cent of white people in America have no relationship with people of colour. I suspect the percentage of white people on this island who have no personal knowledge or relationship with people of colour may be even higher. However, the significant difference between Ireland compared to the United States is that we have an early opportunity to do something to amend that situation. There is an urgency to this task. We must consciously avoid racism becoming so deeply embedded in personal attitudes and in the structure of society that it becomes manifested in the way it has in America.
At first I was surprised to find in Jim Wallis’ book a strong emphasis on the value of personal relationships, but after only a few moments’ thought I realised that much of problem of political and religious sectarianism in Northern Ireland stems from precisely the same root: a lack of personal relationships. So, like the person who has a problem and takes to alcohol to deaden the pain and then finds himself with two problems, we may find ourselves adding racism to sectarianism in an attempt to avoid reality. In fact, we are dangerously close to creating the sort of “racial geography” which Jim Wallis talks about in his book – a ‘living apart’ which prevents us from hearing one another’s stories.
If you ask parents what they want for their children and you ask young people what they want for themselves, you will almost certainly get the same answer: an education, a job and a family. And people coming into this island will say exactly the same thing, probably with a further wish for security if they have come from places with repressive regimes.
No country, especially on a small island like Ireland, can resist the great geopolitical facts of the world around them. We can either make the best of them or the worst of them. It might even be a choice between stagnation or renewal. And if we deliberately and intentionally embrace the opportunity that is presenting itself to us in the form of the human talents and boundless energy of newcomers to this island, we will find ourselves enriched in every way. The problems, particularly around housing, existed long before the pace of immigration picked up and can be solved if they are approached with honesty and single–mindedness rather than scapegoating.
But it will be a two–way street. That seems only fair, and we believers are called to be much more than fair.