The combined Dublin and Glendalough diocesan synod of the Church of Ireland last night implicitly endorsed the Drumcree speech by Dr Robin Eames to the Armagh synod on Tuesday. A motion expressing disappointment at an apparent lack of action on the use of church property (at Drumcree) was defeated.
Dr Eames had said that one of the three pledges to be requested of Orangemen before they are welcome at Drumcree church is "to make no use of church property or its environs" in any civil protest which might follow. Last night's motion had been submitted to the Dublin and Glendalough synod before Dr Eames's speech.
Proposing the motion Ms Vivien Hood said: "I know I speak for many church members all over Ireland who want to know why it took the Church of Ireland so long to take action to alleviate the situation in and around the Church of Ireland church in Drumcree."
Archdeacon Gordon Linney told the synod that those who spoke of a split in the church over Drumcree were talking rubbish - the church's standing committee had prepared a process which had to have elements of discretion and confidentiality to be effective.
"The Primate (Dr Eames) was obviously aware of discussions at the standing committee when he spoke," he said. A robust debate on abortion ended when a motion by Canon Kenneth Kearon and Archdeacon Linney, which commended the church's submission to the interdepartmental working party on abortion, was passed by large majority.
It was proposed in response to one from Mrs Susan Philips and Mr James Ruttle which, in the light of submissions to the working party, called on the synod to recognise that the Protestant ethos could be used as a vehicle to introduce abortion into this country.
Canon Kearon said the church's submission on abortion "while arguing that abortion cannot be right, it stated that in certain circumstances it can literally be the lesser of two evils, and that the legal framework should allow for this." Mr Ruttle said the Church of Ireland must not be seen to as a vanguard, a vehicle for abortion.
Mrs Philips thought it "such a sad day when the Church of Ireland should have come to a point where it advocates the killing of the unborn."
After the vote the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Empey, said he deeply resented the implication that the church was a pawn in secular society. The Church of Ireland had its own mind and the day it called for abortion on demand was the day he would resign as Archbishop. "But the Church of Ireland has done nothing of the sort, and I'd be very surprised if I had to resign before the allotted time," he said.
In a debate on refugees a speaker said he believed there were going to be mass deportations of asylum-seekers based on unfair procedure. Mr Terence Read also said the treatment of asylum-seekers in this country was "not worthy of any civilised nation at the end of the 20th century and certainly not worthy of a nation with a history such as ours". To the end of August this year there had been 87 per cent refusals with a backlog of 6,137 cases, he said. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, had stated many times that he expected 90 per cent of cases to be refused and applicants to be deported. "With 87 per cent refusals so far this year, he is coasting smoothly towards his projected 90 per cent," Mr Read said.
