Senior African cleric to visit Cork in Darfur talk

A SENIOR African cleric will visit Cork next week to raise awareness of the suffering of people caught up in the Darfur conflict.

Bishop Macram Gassis of the Diocese of El Obeid in Sudan, which includes the famine-stricken, war-torn territory of Darfur, will be in Cork on Monday and Tuesday. He will address students at the Cork Institute of Technology in Bishopstown. On Monday, he will address a free public meeting in the college theatre at 7pm, and on Tuesday he will address a student audience at the same venue at 11am.

University College Cork students have also been invited.

He is visiting Ireland at the invitation of the Irish Missionary Union (IMU) to heighten awareness of the suffering endured for many years by the people of Sudan. But his address will focus specifically on Darfur.

“The bishop’s visit will remind the Irish people of the suffering in Darfur and the great service offered by our missionaries in so many troubled spots of the world,” said Sr Miriam Duggan, president of the IMU.

This month, and especially this Mission Sunday, the Irish Catholic Church is celebrating its long missionary tradition.