



Our Members
Dublin City Interfaith Forum employs one full term person.
Support for the role is provided by the community members and volunteers. They are representative of the following faiths and communities: Christianity, Jewish, Islam, Bahà’í, Hindu, Sikhism and Buddhist.

Our Members
Alison Wortley
Alison is former secretary National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Ireland
Alison is a Medical Scientist by profession and a former Secretary General of the Baha’i Community in Ireland. She has worked in the area of community building and the promotion of religious tolerance for many years.
Alison is the current Treasurer of Dublin City Interfaith Forum.
Sr Sheila Curran
Justice Coordinator for the Association of Leaders of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland (AMRI)
Sheila Curran RSM, is a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy and the Justice Coordinator for the Association of Leaders of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland (AMRI) She holds a Doctorate in Practical Theology, an MA in Biblical Studies and an MA in Equality Studies. Prior to working in AMRI Sheila worked in Peru, in South America for many years.
Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson
Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough.
Dr Jackson was deaconed in 1986 and ordained a priest in 1987. He served his curacy in Zion Parish, Dublin, and lectured at Trinity College and the Church of Ireland Theological College (now Institute) before taking up the post of College Chaplain at Christ Church College, Oxford, from 1989 to 1997. From 1997 to 2002, he was Incumbent of St Fin Barre’s Union and Dean of Cork. Dr Jackson also plays an active role in the wider Anglican Communion, especially in the areas of ecumenism and inter–faith dialogue. He was elected Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough and was enthroned in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on 8 May 2011.
Damian Jackson
Member of the Adelaide Road congregation of the Presbyterian Church
Damian is from Dublin, a member of the Adelaide Road congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The focus of his PhD study is in migration and integration, specifically how different influences (popular culture, media, government, faith background) compete and combine in our unconscious in the formation of our attitudes to people of other cultural and faith backgrounds. He also likes cycling, photography and is a keen tennis fan!
John Mathews
Treasurer and member of Indian Orthodox Church in Ireland
John is serving as the Parish Secretary to the Indian Orthodox Church in Dublin. He travelled across the republic to identify the community and encouraged the community to come together and organized few other churches of the Indian Orthodox Community in Ireland.
He works closely with the Network of Orthodox Churches in Dublin and is a member of the Dublin Council of Churches. He worked closely with the Parish Integration Project and maintains contacts with various Indian Organizations, Clubs and the Embassy of India.
Deepak Inamdar
Member of Hindu Cultural Centre of Ireland
Deepak is now retired from Irish Civil Service. He worked in different capacities with various organisations, community and others viz. India Club, EU’s Migrant Forum, National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI), Know Racism, etc. He is representing Hindu Cultural Centre Ireland (HCCI).”
Swami Purnananda
Spiritual director and founder of the Éire Vedanta Society.
Swami Purnananda has been a Vedanta monk of the Ramakrishna/Vivekananda tradition for many years. The Swami is well versed in Vedanta and Yoga philosophy and practice and is currently the spiritual director and founder of the Éire Vedanta Society in Ireland and president of the United Cultural Institute in Zimbabwe.
Hilary Abrahamson
Member of Jewish Progressive Community
Hilary is very interested in interfaith dialogue and getting involved in organising interfaith events. She enjoys learning and engaging with other cultures and faith traditions and works tirelessly within her own community to promote dialogue and understanding of other faiths.
Shaheen Ahmed
PR–Coordinator of the Islamic Cultural Centre
Shaheen Ahmed, originally from Pakistan, has lived in Dublin since 1981. Naturalised as an Irish citizen in 1984, Shaheen has worked tirelessly for Muslim integration in Ireland over the last 30 years. Holding positions such as President of the Pakistan Welfare and Cultural Association of Ireland, PR–Coordinator of the Islamic Cultural Centre and General Secretary of the Muslim Primary Education Board, Shaheen has worked extensively with successive governments and various bodies on behalf of the Islamic community.
Educated first at Islamia College Civil Lines and Punjab University Lahore in Pakistan, Mr Ahmed holds an MBA from the Michael Smurfit College of Business in UCD. He comes from a strong sporting background, having played competitive badminton in Pakistan, Germany and Ireland, as well as top cricket for a number of Irish teams.
Shaheen Ahmed is a family man, with an Irish wife and four children.
Mudafar Al Tawash
Administrator, Islamic Foundation of Ireland
SMudafar Al Tawash has a doctorate in agricultural science and is a graduate of UCD. He worked in relief and development area. He likes to travel, meet and help people worldwide. Mudafar is a practising Muslim and interested to work with minority communities. He likes swimming, walking and travelling.
Hajar Al–Kaddo
DCIF Youth Coordinator and member of Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland
Hajar is a humanitarian aid worker, European youth representative and a researcher. With a passions for humanitarian aid, migrants and development, youth empowerment and training, sustainable energy and the environment. Hajar is a creative team player with a diverse range of skills acquired through an accomplished academic background, problem solver, a technical and logical thinker and a researcher. This, blended with experience and knowledge of NGOs and the third sector, has enhanced her leadership, management and programmes skills.
Hajar is an active member of DCIF where she leads the Forum’s Youth Board.
Imam Jameel Mutoola
Imam, Dublin City Mosque, Talbot Street, Dublin 1
Jameel is the Imam to Anwar–E– Madina, the City’s first mosque on the northside and also, the first Sufi mosque in the State. Interfaith dialogue and action was part of Jameel’s life in his native Mauritius and now he relishes the opportunity to be a member of the Dublin City Interfaith Forum and engage with people from different faiths and cultures.

Our Members
Julian Hamilton
Chaplain, Trinity College Dublin.
‘Rev Dr Julian Hamilton’ – is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church in Ireland, currently Chaplain to Trinity College Dublin. Prior to being ordained Jools spent over a decade working with young people. He is a popular conference and retreat speaker/teacher in Ireland, the UK, Europe, America and Australia. With specific interest in transformational/missional leadership, Jools participates in and facilitates workshops & retreats on amongst other things, ‘Adaptive Leadership’ ‘Conversations That Matter’ ‘Creating a Missional Imagination’ and ‘Interfaith Dialogue.’
With an academic interest in the Missional Church Movement, Jools has a passion to see people live in light and love – people filled with purpose, dignity, passion and compassion. With trademark humour and insight Jools draws people toward ‘themselves.’ As founder of Youthspirit – an organisation dedicated to positive transformation – Jools runs the ‘Space to Breathe’ project, connecting young adults from Ireland, Britain, Israel and Palestine.
Along with his friend Amr Dawood, Jools has founded ‘The Good Summit” as another vehicle to help the conversation of how the world can do things differently. The Good Summit is an international movement, through events, to re–imagine the conversation around Social Economy and Corporate Responsibility.
Jools believes there is always more to life than we can see and more that we can be. Reaching and stretching toward ‘the other’ always moves us closer to ourselves.
Sr Sheila Curran
A member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy.
She holds a Doctorate in Practical Theology, and MA in Biblical Ministry from Catholic Theological Union, Chicago along with an MA in Equality Studies, University College Dublin and a Degree in Social Work from the University of Ulster, Jordanstown, Belfast. She worked in Peru, in South America for many years. Since returning to Ireland, she has been working on issues of interculturalism, racism and interfaith dialogue.
Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson
Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough.
Dr Jackson was deaconed in 1986 and ordained a priest in 1987. He served his curacy in Zion Parish, Dublin, and lectured at Trinity College and the Church of Ireland Theological College (now Institute) before taking up the post of College Chaplain at Christ Church College, Oxford, from 1989 to 1997. From 1997 to 2002, he was Incumbent of St Fin Barre’s Union and Dean of Cork. Dr Jackson also plays an active role in the wider Anglican Communion, especially in the areas of ecumenism and inter–faith dialogue. He was elected Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough and was enthroned in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on 8 May 2011.
Damian Jackson
Member of the Adelaide Road congregation of the Presbyterian Church
Damian is from Dublin, a member of the Adelaide Road congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The focus of his PhD study is in migration and integration, specifically how different influences (popular culture, media, government, faith background) compete and combine in our unconscious in the formation of our attitudes to people of other cultural and faith backgrounds. He also likes cycling, photography and is a keen tennis fan!
Melanie Brown
Member of Dublin Hebrew Congregation
Dr Melanie Brown lectures on Irish Jewish history and identity at Trinity College. Her main research interests concern music as a function of cultural identity.
Melanie sings with RTE Philharmonic Choir , and she represents the Orthodox Jewish Community.
Reverend Myozan Kodo Kilroy
Founding Teacher of Zen Buddhism Ireland and Founding President of the Irish Buddhist Union.
Reverend Myozan Kodo Kilroy is a Soto Zen Buddhist priest and a Dharma Heir of Taigu Turlur Roshi, in the lineage of Nishijima Roshi and Rempo Niwa Zenji. Based in Dublin, he leads the Zen Buddhism Ireland sangha, where he is the founding and guiding teacher. A member of the international Soto Zen Buddhist Association, Myozan is also the founding President of the Irish Buddhist Union. He was the first official Irish delegate to attend the annual United Nations Day of Vesak, celebrating the Buddha’s birth, in Vietnam in 2019. On the academic staff of the Technological University Dublin, Myozan represents Buddhism on the Dublin City Interfaith Forum.
John Mathews
Treasurer and member of Indian Orthodox Church in Ireland
John is serving as the Parish Secretary to the Indian Orthodox Church in Dublin. He travelled across the republic to identify the community and encouraged the community to come together and organized few other churches of the Indian Orthodox Community in Ireland.
He works closely with the Network of Orthodox Churches in Dublin and is a member of the Dublin Council of Churches. He worked closely with the Parish Integration Project and maintains contacts with various Indian Organizations, Clubs and the Embassy of India.
Deepak Inamdar
Member of Hindu Cultural Centre of Ireland
Deepak is now retired from Irish Civil Service. He worked in different capacities with various organisations, community and others viz. India Club, EU’s Migrant Forum, National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI), Know Racism, etc. He is representing Hindu Cultural Centre Ireland (HCCI).”
Swami Purnananda
Spiritual director and founder of the Éire Vedanta Society, a branch of the Ramakrishna Math
Swami Purnananda is an enthusiastic contributor to the Interfaith movement in Ireland and represents Hinduism on the Dublin City Interfaith Forum. As a monk he dedicates his life to serving and guiding others physically, psychologically and spiritually.
Hilary Abrahamson
Member of Jewish Progressive Community
Hilary is very interested in interfaith dialogue and getting involved in organising interfaith events. She enjoys learning and engaging with other cultures and faith traditions and works tirelessly within her own community to promote dialogue and understanding of other faiths.
Shaheen Ahmed
PR–Coordinator of the Islamic Cultural Centre
Shaheen Ahmed, originally from Pakistan, has lived in Dublin since 1981. Naturalised as an Irish citizen in 1984, Shaheen has worked tirelessly for Muslim integration in Ireland over the last 30 years. Holding positions such as President of the Pakistan Welfare and Cultural Association of Ireland, PR–Coordinator of the Islamic Cultural Centre and General Secretary of the Muslim Primary Education Board, Shaheen has worked extensively with successive governments and various bodies on behalf of the Islamic community.
Educated first at Islamia College Civil Lines and Punjab University Lahore in Pakistan, Mr Ahmed holds an MBA from the Michael Smurfit College of Business in UCD. He comes from a strong sporting background, having played competitive badminton in Pakistan, Germany and Ireland, as well as top cricket for a number of Irish teams.
Shaheen Ahmed is a family man, with an Irish wife and four children.
Mudafar Al Tawash
Administrator, Islamic Foundation of Ireland
Mudafar Al Tawash has a doctorate in agricultural science and is a graduate of UCD. He worked in relief and development area. He likes to travel, meet and help people worldwide. Mudafar is a practising Muslim and interested to work with minority communities. He likes swimming, walking and travelling.
Imam Jameel Mutoola
Imam, Dublin City Mosque, Talbot Street, Dublin 1
Jameel is the Imam to Anwar–E– Madina, the City’s first mosque on the northside and also, the first Sufi mosque in the State. Interfaith dialogue and action was part of Jameel’s life in his native Mauritius and now he relishes the opportunity to be a member of the Dublin City Interfaith Forum and engage with people from different faiths and cultures.
Stephan Arras
Senior Pastor
Born in Germany, Pastor Stephan studied Theology in Mainz, Heidelberg, Jerusalem and Munich. In Jerusalem he focussed on other religions and the Christian Orthodox Churches. Over many years he was Pastor and Dean in Germany, close to Heidelberg. He was responsible for 25 parishes and several church organisations in that area. A part of his work was the Ecumenical Dialogue and the Dialogue between the different religions. He is founder of the “Rat der Religionen” (council of religions) in that region. For nine years he was member of the Church Synod of his Church in Germany and member of the Theological Council. Pastor Stephan has a degree in Church Music and has the experience of 24 Youth Camps. He is member of the Iona Community in Scotland. Since 2015 he lives with his wife Larissa in Dublin and is elected Senior Pastor of the Lutheran Church in Ireland.