Category Archives: PC Ireland

And the Designee is… Results from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

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No, its not those election results.  For us GA Junkies there is a more interesting election tonight, the selection of the next Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

This is the most interesting of Moderator selection systems, at least to me, because the 21 presbyteries meet, all at the same time, and each votes for their choice.  It gets phoned into Church House in Belfast and the Moderator Designee is…

The Rev. Dr. Donald Patton, minister of Old Church, Randalstown.  Rev. Patton received the nominations of 11 of the 21 presbyteries.  He was selected from a group of seven candidates, all ministers, from whom the presbyteries chose.

Rev. Patton is a parish minister, having served at Randalstown for the last six years.  He was ordained in 1975 and has served his entire career in parishes.  He has all three of his degrees from Queens University, Belfast.  Of himself he says that he is “a warm evangelical teacher and pastor intent on reaching out with the
Gospel to the wider community on issues that are relevant to them.”

More details are available in the news story from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

And a recognition to William Crawley, a BBC Northern Ireland broadcaster who accurately handicapped this election in his blog on Irish religion “Will and Testament.”  He posted his analysis before the meetings today, as well as his wrap-up afterward.

There may be more tomorrow as the Moderator Designee traditionally holds a press conference the next day.

Moderator Election for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

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The upcoming selection of the Moderator of this year’s General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) is attracting attention for a couple of reasons.

The first is that one of the nominated candidates on the list is the Rev. Ruth Patterson.  Rev. Patterson has received votes before, but in the wake of the gender controversy at Christmas her nomination this year takes on additional significance.  As a quick reminder, two churches in Portadown join together for a Christmas service, but this year the minister of the host church declined to let the pastor of the guest church preach, as is the tradition, because the pastor is a woman.  As I mentioned in my post at the time and as discussed in a current Belfast Telegraph article, this is within the polity of the PCI under the 1989 “liberty of conscience” clause.  The PCI has never had a female Moderator of the General Assembly.

Within this debate it is interesting to note that the Rev. Patterson was the first woman to be ordained as a Presbyterian minister in Ireland, in 1976, following the 1973 change opening the ministry to women.  Rev. Patterson serves as the Director of Restoration Ministries, has been the Moderator of the Belfast Synod, and is the daughter of the late Very Rev. Dr. Tom Patterson, the Moderator of the General Assembly in 1977.  There is another Belfast Telegraph article about Rev. Patterson and the Moderator selection process.

But there is a second point of interest in the current news, a point discussed in the second article and that I have subtly hinted at in my wording above.  The Moderator selection process has changed this year.  In the past, all the presbyteries have met on the same evening and each presbytery voted on their choice for Moderator with the individual receiving the most votes being elected.  Previously this was done without an advance list so each presbytery was free to chose as the Spirit led them.  This year there is a nomination process to create a list which the presbyteries will vote from and the Rev. Patterson is one of the seven names on the list.

Controversy over Women Ministers in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

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A controversy has broken out in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) over the ordination of women, particularly as ministers.

For background, the PCI has had female elders since the 1920’s and the General Assembly approved the ordination of women in 1973.

Now, in the Northern Ireland city of Portadown two PCI churches, First Portadown and Armagh Road Church have held a joint Christmas service for over 60 years.  However, this year the Rev. Stafford Carson, the pastor at First Protadown, which was scheduled to be the host church, extended the invitation for Armagh Road to join them, but specifically excluded their new female minister, the Rev. Christina Bradley, from preaching, as is the tradition.  The Armagh Road Church declined the invitation if it came with those conditions and for the first time in 60 years the two churches held separate services.

This has developed into a national debate in the PCI, as well as in Irish Society.  The news broke before Christmas, including an article in the Belfast Telegraph.  Since then the Belfast Telegraph has printed a well written opinion piece that outlines many of the details as well as setting out the implications going forward.

The Rev. Bradley says that she will bring this to the church’s 2008 General Assembly while those who oppose the ordination of women, welcome the opportunity to overturn the 1973 GA decision.  The Belfast Telegraph opinion piece seems to think there is a very real chance of a split in the PCI over this:

The Presbyterian Church may wish to prevent a split, but it cannot afford to sit on the fence. The General Assembly needs to decide its policy and implement it at the earliest opportunity.

Either it ratifies its policy of ordaining women – and instructs all serving clergy to fall in line – or it takes a step back into the dark ages and decides to banish women from the pulpit. Further equivocation will undermine the church’s credibility.

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCI, Dr. John Finlay, has gotten involved and met with the two ministers in Portadown over the last few days.  The Belfast Telegraph published an article with his comments in today’s edition.  In the article he suggests that this can be resolved quickly and locally and will not become an issue for the GA:

I am confident the two churches can resolve the issue between them. Both ministers are reasonable people.

I do not minimise the problem, but we must continue to reconcile the two schools of thought over women ministers in the Presbyterian Church.

However, the article goes on to quote Dr. Finlay to say:

But there are conscientious objectors who interpret the Scriptures differently and the Church allows their freedom of conscience,

This is the law of the Church. We have to accommodate both points of view, or the Church could be torn apart.

There has to be a counter-balance so that ministers have control of who enters their pulpit and Stafford Carson exercised that right according to his conscience.

Mrs Bradley may see it as discrimination against women, but I tried to reassure her it was simply to square a circle within the Presbyterian Church.

But in contrast, the article closes with Rev. Bradley’s comment that “I cannot see it otherwise than discrimination.”

That doesn’t make it sound like it will be resolved quickly and quietly.

General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

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There are several Presbyterian items that I need to get caught up on, but being a GA Junkie, I will turn first to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland which began in Belfast on Monday and continues through tomorrow.

There are several high-profile items of business, but as with many Presbyterian denominations, same-sex issues top the list.  These come under the report of the Board of Social Witness.  While the report deals with many of the ministries of the church to society, the report also contains a section (starting on page 21 of 31) titled “Pastoral Guidelines — Homosexuality.”  This section was written in response to action at last year’s GA requesting “guidelines to help our Church to develop more sensitive and effective pastoral care.”  The writers of the report, to avoid labeling someone as “homosexual” and thereby defining who they are by that title chose to refer in the report to “people who have same sex attraction.”  In addition, this report was not setting the PCI position, that is still the report of 1979, but rather provides guidelines.  The report begins with some stories from individuals and families to illustrate the need for pastoral care and then states:

We are all fallen human beings and for each one the fall has affected our sexuality as it has all aspects of our being.
    However, as with all areas of sexual attraction, what we do about it as individuals is a matter of choice for which we are morally responsible. This is the sentiment behind the Assembly’s comment on the Report of 1979.
    When we condemn homosexual practice in isolation or single it out as somehow worse than other sexual practices outside of heterosexual marriage then we demonstrate homophobic attitudes.

I am particularly impressed with the footnote that goes with these paragraphs which begins:

4 Despite all attempts in the media to push the idea that same sex attraction is purely genetic the jury is still out and may remain so. While there are studies that point towards biological factors there are other studies that lean strongly towards the nurture side of the debate.

In the section that followed this I was struck by the balance the writers use and the insight into our culture, both religious and popular.  It is extended but I quote in its entirety:

    5.4 When a church states that it cannot agree with practicing same sex relationships it is most often taken as rejection of the person because of their perceived identity – ie ‘I am a homosexual!’ However, as a church, we believe our identity should be defined primarily in terms of our humanity before God and not in terms of sexual orientation. It would be helpful in dialogue if we focused more on the whole person before God and did not make sexuality the focus of our understanding.
    5.5 Exploring this point of perceived identity would also promote greater understanding of those within the Presbyterian Church who wish to exercise genuine pastoral care yet maintain Biblical integrity regarding marriage as being solely between a man and a woman and sexual practice as being for that relationship alone.
    5.6 There is the need for the church to understand that a consistent approach is needed. Compassion begins in the pulpit and works out from there. Condemnation from the pulpit closes the door to compassionate care outside the pulpit. Pastoral care is built on proclamation.
    5.7 The ‘rights’ dominated culture so aggressively surrounding ‘gay’ issues sends a message to the church that it is not acceptance as people that is being sought but rather endorsement of a way of life. The problem for many within the church is that while they would want to accept people in the name of Jesus Christ they cannot, in all integrity of conscience, endorse a way of life that they see as contrary to God’s Word.

The report then goes on to discuss pastoral care for these individuals.  Some of this is the usual counseling practice about confidentiality and avoiding labels.  Some is the call for the church to be loving, open and understanding to the individuals.  And some is wise counsel that immediately preaching their sinfulness and need of repentance and forgiveness will probably turn them away from the church where they could hear it later after relationship has been developed.

The Assembly took up the report and the reports (official PCI, Belfast Telegraph) indicate that the debate was lively, as I would expect.  It was said multiple times that for some this report goes too far and for others not far enough.  There was an amendment to send the report down to the presbyteries which lost 163 to 168.  The pastoral care report was approved 159 to 120 but the report of the Board of Social Witness was arrested due to the time and it will resume later in the week.

In other actions, Dr. John Finlay was elected and installed as the Moderator of the Assembly.  In his speech he encouraged the church to “practice what it preaches” so they could convince the secular world about the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  In a related action, the Assembly voted down a Business Board proposal to install the Moderator at the end of the Assembly to work for the coming year and run the following year’s assembly.

Today’s business included guidelines from the Doctrine Committee about participation in inter-faith events.  The guiding principles the committee brought were that the “integrity of the Gospel is not compromised” and that acts of worship are “separate and distinctive.”

What is probably the second highest profile decision in front of the Assembly was the sale of the PCI main offices.  This was approved by the 2004 GA but last year’s Assembly voted to rescind the action and the action to rescind must be agreed to by this year’s Assembly under church law.  From the quotes in the daily summary it must have been a very lively debate with arguments for and against the historic nature of the building, cost of upkeep and refurbishment, location in central Belfast, and the relevance, or lack of, to modern culture.  In the end, the motion to rescind was affirmed by a vote of 332 to 234 and the business items related to refurbishment put off due to the hour.

A couple of thing that strike me:  One is the amount of business which has lapsed due to arrested reports.  The Assembly appears to have a busy time ahead of them at some point.  The second is the vote tallies.  Roughly the same number of members voted in favor of rescinding as voted in total for the same-sex pastoral care report.  Where were those extra 234 for those votes?

Presbyterian Church in Ireland selects Moderator-Elect

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Yesterday the presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland met to select their moderator-elect for their 2007 General Assembly in June.  The Rev. John Finlay was nominated by 9 of the 21 presbyteries with five other candidates receiving votes from the other presbyteries.  The PC Ireland selects their moderator-elect by vote of all of the presbyteries meeting on the same day for that purpose.

The Rev. Finlay is the pastor of Harryville Presbyterian Church in Ballymena.  He is 61 years old, the son of missionaries, and spent his younger years in Argentina.  He has served at Harryville for almost 25 years.

The PC Ireland has issued a press release today about Rev. Finlay and his election as well at two previous press releases (Feb. 5 and Feb. 6) about the election and the procedure.  It should be noted that under the polity of the PC Ireland only ministers may serve as GA Moderator.  Unlike many other Presbyterian Churches, including the Church of Scotland and the PC(USA) elders are not eligible.

The new moderator-elect held a press conference this morning where he talked about the decrease in sectarian violence and his hope to continue that trend.  The press conference was reported by several outlets including the Irish Times on ireland.com.

Odds and Ends

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A number of short, but interesting and relevant, items flashed across my screen in the last couple of days so here is a round-up:

PC(USA) Choses a theme for the next, 2008 General Assembly in San Jose, California.  According to an item from the Presbyterian News Service the Committee of the Office of the General Assembly as the theme for the next GA Micah 6:8:

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord
require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly
with your God? (Micah 6:8, NRSV)

The Rev. Mark Malcolm, a 32 year old Church of Scotland minister has been chosen as the next moderator of the Presbytery of Lothian.  Mark is believed to be the youngest to be elected to that position.  (That would be young in our presbytery, even for a minister.)  He is the pastor of Ormiston and Pencaitland Parish Church and regularly plays on a rugby team.  More about Mark from the East Lothian Courier as well as a great description of what the moderator’s role is.

And finally, a BBC News item headlined “Church Must Become Less Formal:  The Presbyterian Church must become less formal in order for it to survive, a Presbyterian minister has said.”  The odd thing about the article is that it is really about Prof. Laurence Kirkpatrick of Union Theological College in Belfast and his new book “Presbyterians in Ireland.”  Almost all of the article is about his new book, a book that sounds interesting and includes exterior photographs of almost every Presbyterian church in Ireland.  Only the headline and the lead paragraph seem to mention “appealing to young people.”

Update to PC Ireland GA location discussion

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Late last week I had posted here about a news story that the Presbyterian Church in Ireland was looking to hold their 2008 GA in Sligo in the Republic of Ireland.  Well, today the Belfast Telegraph reports that the previous report was premature, a church committee is looking at what facilities would be needed to hold the GA somewhere other than Belfast, and that there are invitations from multiple cities.  And, as we all know, the 2007 GA will have the final word.  Stay tuned.

Presbyterian Church in Ireland to hold GA in the Republic

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And finally, a news item today in the Belfast Telegraph says that the 2007 GA of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will vote on holding the 2008 GA in the Republic of Ireland at Sligo.  While the church is the governing body for Presbyterians across the whole island, the GA has met in the Republic only five times in the last century, always in Dublin, with the last time being in 1991.  The 2007 GA of the PCI will meet in Belfast June 4-8, 2007.