Dublin City Interfaith Forum is a key member of the Irish Anna Lindh network. They foster and support interfaith dialogue not only throughout the city of Dublin but also across borders including the UK. Both countries share a long interconnected history through colonialism as well as religious conflict and persecution. Below is an update of a cross-border exchange between the groups Columban Interreligious Dialogue Co-ordinator Mauricio Silva recently travelled with interfaith leaders and practitioners from the city of Birmingham to Dublin to explore collaboration opportunities with the aim of addressing challenges faced by our interfaith communities. “It has been a truly inspiring few days, both from a spiritual and friendship perspective, but what are we taking away from this experience?” This comment, made by one of the participants just before boarding the short flight back to Birmingham, expressed the shared sentiment among the 16 people from diverse faith traditions who took part in an interfaith trip to explore dialogue efforts in Dublin last month. The group was comprised of interfaith leaders and practitioners, all actively engaged in interfaith initiatives in the city of Birmingham. Some have decades of experience, others hold leadership responsibilities, and some were newer but brought with them plenty of enthusiasm and commitment. Despite these differences, all of the adults in the group shared a common role, this being leaders within our respective faith communities. A strong sense of belonging to our own faiths united us, along with a shared belief in the need to collaborate with one another to address the increasing challenges faced by our ‘community of communities’ in Birmingham. With a group of colleagues from Dublin Interfaith Forum and the Columban Missionaries in Ireland, we worked for months to prepare this 3-day trip. The idea had originated back in February 2024, when Irish interfaith leaders visited Birmingham to explore its interfaith scene. During our various conversations at that time, we realised that the challenges facing communities in both Dublin and Birmingham were remarkably similar: socio-economic deprivation fuelling an anti-migrant rhetoric and prejudice against minority communities. We agreed on the diagnosis and the complexity of these issues, recognising how dangerous such fractures in our societal fabric could become. In November 2023, Dublin had witnessed anti-immigrant riots and street violence, events the city had not seen in decades. The then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the rioters ‘brought shame on Dublin, shame on Ireland, and shame on their families and themselves’. Over the summer of 2024, far-right, anti-immigration protests and riots -which included attacks on mosques and centres housing asylum seekers-had shaken British towns and cities. Echoing the Taoiseach’s words, leaders of the Abrahamic faiths in England, had jointly declared that these riots were ‘a stain on our national moral conscience.’ Against this backdrop, our group of interfaith practitioners embarked on the trip, which included a one-day conference poignantly titled Building Peaceful and Resilient Communities in Our Cities at Mansion House, the heart of Dublin’s city government. The beautiful Oak Room hosted interfaith representatives from Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Edinburgh, and Birmingham, on behalf of most of the faith traditions present in those cities. Following keynote addresses from academics and practitioners in the morning, afternoon workshops were held to harness the rich experiences of those present in the room. (Reports of the talks will be shared at a later date.) That morning, Mahmooda Qureshi from the Faith & Belief Forum represented our Birmingham delegation, eloquently presenting the hopes and challenges she encounters in her extensive interfaith involvement, both locally and nationally. The second day included visits and ‘reflective conversations’ at four places of worship in Dublin: two mosques, a gurdwara and a synagogue. My highlights for this day included the generous hospitality offered by our hosts in those places of worship,  the insightful questions raised by our group—which sparked further reflection—and, a hope-filled symbolic moment of dialogue about the Torah between 10 year-old Mikaeel and Hillary, our host at the Progressive Synagogue on Leicester Road. On our final day, we travelled to the Home of the Columban Missionaries in Ireland. A rainy Dalgan Park proved to be a fitting venue to reflect on our faith responses to the climate crisis. Ecologist Liz McArdle gently introduced us to the theme of reconnecting ourselves with creation, leading us on a wet nature walk around the grounds. After a lovely lunch, Anjana Shelat (Hinduism), Zahra Ahmad (Islam), and Shabana Parveen (Islam) shared profound insights on caring for our common home from their respective traditions. Shabana and Zahra also introduced us to the work of Al-Mizan, which has been described as the Muslim counterpart to Laudato Si’.  Violet Owen (Baha’i) shared a reflective reading on the teachings of Baha’u’llah about nature. With the help of Columban Fr. Pat Colgan, we also explored the theme of biodiversity loss, aided by slides prepared by Columban eco-theologian Fr. Sean McDonald, who could not be with us due to ill health. With this, the trip came to an end. Click here for a more in-depth read of the event