More than 300 delegates representing Quakers (the Religious Society of Friends) in 40 countries will arrive in Dublin this week for a nine-day conference which begins in Dublin's King's Hospital School on Saturday.
The triennial international conference is meeting in Ireland for just the second time, the last one being in Waterford in 1964.
There are 1,600 Quakers in Ireland, out of a world-wide community of 350,000, which breaks down as 167,765 in the Americas, 155,871 in Africa, 22,723 in Europe and Middle East, 12,564 in Asia and West Pacific.
Clerk of Ireland Yearly Meeting of Friends, Alan Pim, said it was "a tremendous privilege for us in Ireland to host this gathering of Quakers from around the world . . . . The triennial conference builds solidarity and connections which we can use in spiritual and practical ways."
Attendance at the conference will include 38 Irish delegates.
It has been organised by the international Quaker network, Friends World Committee for Consultation, and its theme is "Finding the Prophetic Voice for our Times".
The programme will include worship, reports on Quaker work worldwide and a taste of Irish culture with a céilí and excursions. Delegates will also consider climate change, the AIDS crisis and violence.
