In partnership with local parishes

We are very aware that as a parish we have a privileged entry point in to the life of the two hundred local parishes. In the Diocese of Dublin and in the church nationally. Therefore part of our strategy is to encourage and resource church leaders and local parish teams to actively include Travellers in the lives of their local parishes as equal and full members.

We try to live with the tension of providing a pastoral service to all the Travellers in the Dublin Diocese while at the same time striving to resource local parishes in building relationships between Traveller and settled.

From our experience of pilot projects we have learnt that the best way to build up relationships is through action based projects or events of common interest like an exhibition, sale of work, pilgrimage or a Mass for the dead in November. In this way both groups participate as equals.

People with a favourable attitude towards Travellers are much more likely than average to have socialised with them, to have worked with them or to have had Travellers do some odd jobs on their behalf.

The improvement of relationships between the Traveller and ‘settled’ communities through the development of mutual understanding and respect requires an adjustment in attitudes towards one another and an acceptance of the others culture. The task force believe that church groups have a significant role to play in this area, particularly in the improvement of relationships between, “settled and Traveller populations.”