A church in Dublin city centre will be made available for use as a hub and cultural centre for Ukrainian refugees by the Church of Ireland.
It is part of an initiative that has been launched by its United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough to help Ukrainian people arriving in Ireland.
Permission has been received through the Representative Body Executive Committee and Diocesan Councils to make the Church of St George and St Thomas in Dublin's city centre available for use as a hub and cultural centre.
The well known church, located on Cathal Brugha Street just off O’Connell Street, will become a centre of warmth, welcome and activity for those arriving in Ireland from Ukraine.
Dublin and Glendalough are now issuing a "call to action for Ukraine" and all parishes in the United Dioceses have been urged to focus the fundraising drive throughout Holy Week and Easter.
Funds are required to upgrade kitchen and restroom facilities in St George and St Thomas’s to ensure they are fit for use by members of the Ukrainian community.
In a statement it said the United Dioceses has committed to working closely with the Ukrainian community leaders in Ireland to identify practical ways to support and meet the needs of those arriving in the country.
Over the next year, the Church of Ireland intends to sponsor a priest in the Ukrainian Orthodox tradition to provide pastoral and liturgical ministry to Ukrainians who have come to Ireland as displaced people.
Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Revd Dr Michael Jackson said it was time for the dioceses to pull together and take action.
"Over the past six weeks we have watched in despair as war in Ukraine has unfolded on our screens and in our newspapers. Now it is time to put that despair aside and take action to welcome and support those Ukrainians who have come to Ireland having had no choice but to flee their homes," he said.
Noting President Volodymyr Zelensky's historic address to the Houses of the Oireachtas he said that as Christians "we cannot be morally neutral".
"As we approach Holy Week I urge you to pray for all people who have been displaced and take action to serve them".
He has asked people to support the U&Ukraine initiative "to enable Ukrainian people arriving in Ireland to feel welcome," he added.
St George and St Thomas's which is located on Cathal Brugha Street in Dublin 1 replaced St. Thomas's Church on Marlborough Street, which was destroyed following a fire during the Irish Civil War in 1922.
In the 1960s the parish of St. Thomas merged with the parish of St. George.
In 1990, St George's Church, Dublin, and the church was renamed the Church of St Thomas and St George.
It has been closed for a number of years.
