Sir, – I write with regard to recent decisions taken by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, though taken in the face of significant opposition ("Presbyterian Church says same-sex couples can no longer be full members", News, June 9th).
I am nearly speechless with dismay at the thought of how these decisions, from which I and many others formally dissented, will now be heard, used and wielded. Nearly speechless, but not quite.
These decisions give further indication, were any needed, of the self-destructive trajectory, and the (to my mind) theologically indefensible and ungenerous ecclesiology which are currently being embraced by many, though certainly and thankfully not by all, in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, both south and north of the Border. Many Presbyterians have long and vigorously been calling such tendencies into question in our church, heart-broken that we have to do so, yet with what we hope has been an unrelenting commitment to the proud tradition of faithful dissent to which we still belong, and to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the meantime, it remains the case that decisions regarding the baptism of infants or adults, and the welcome of new communicant members of the church, remain the responsibility of the local ordained elders, who in our system of church government are entrusted with this task.
That responsibility, I am quite sure, will continue to be exercised by very many Presbyterian elders with the integrity for which it properly calls.
And while this is where matters now stand, this is not where they will be left. – Yours, etc,
Rev Dr KATHERINE
P MEYER,
Stoneybatter,
Dublin 7.