The Irish Council of Churches is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Damian Jackson to the position of General Secretary.

Dr Jackson brings five years of experience with the Irish Council of Churches and the Irish Inter–Church Meeting in the role of Program Officer when his primary responsibilities included developing connections between local and national inter–church work and resourcing churches’ work together on social justice issues including migration and asylum, anti–racism, housing insecurity and homelessness, and climate justice.

Commenting on his appointment, Dr Jackson said “I’m excited to continue the work of my predecessors in the Irish Council of Churches and Irish inter–Church Meeting and look forward to supporting our member churches as they seek to use their distinctive voice to advocate for those who are unheard and marginalised in our society today. While churches have much to learn and many challenges to respond to, particularly as a result of the Covid–19 pandemic, they also have a particular calling to justice and a reach throughout the island that offers great possibilities for positive interventions of hope.”

ICC President Bishop Andrew Forster responded to the appointment: “On behalf of the ICC and IICM I’m delighted with the appointment of Dr. Jackson as ICC General Secretary. His work as Program Officer over the last five years has broadened and deepened the reach of ICC and I look forward to him bringing that wide knowledge of the landscape of churches in Ireland to his new role. His passion for the pursuit of church unity in diversity is clear and that unity is the foundation upon which the collaboration between our churches in justice and reconciliation work is built.”

Bishop Brendan Leahy of the Irish Bishops Conference commented: “In wishing Damian well, I know from working closely with him in recent years that he will make a wonderful contribution. He is following in the line of many fine General Secretaries who have served competently and with a great passion for the unity of Christians and the Irish Inter–Church Meeting in its almost fifty year history.”

Previous to his role with ICC, Dr Jackson undertook postdoctoral research at the Irish School of Ecumenics in Trinity College, Dublin on the ethics of the use of personal information in emergency response. His PhD studies analysed the responses of churches in Ireland to undocumented migrants.