Presbyterian crisis: Full scale of safeguarding problems that saw Moderator resign still not known, says church

Speaking minutes after the church’s top figure announced he’s leaving his post, Convener of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Rev Dr David Bruce, apologised to people affected by the crisis and launched an appeal for anyone else to come forward.

But at a press conference in Belfast this evening, Rev Bruce admitted the church doesn’t yet know how wide the crisis reached, or how many people may have been hit by it, stating officials “cannot know until we have been told”.

“When we hear from those who have been impacted,” he said, “we will be, along with other statutory bodies, in a better place to be able to know the scale of this issue and to respond to it accordingly.”

Details of the cases, said to number in the low single figures and date from 2009 to 2022, were not revealed during the press conference, and nor was it made clear what specific harms may have been involved.

An official confirmed to the News Letter the church has no evidence any cases involve allegations against clergymen, however.

Issues found were said to include:

• failing to refer cases to legal authorities when required
• failing to properly monitor offenders who join a congregation, despite being told about them by the authorities
• failing to address concerns reported by one member of a congregation about another
• failing to respond to people who asked for the church’s help after suffering harm.

The incidents were uncovered after an internal review, with Rev Bruce stating most instances “involved a basic failure to follow our own ‘taking care’ guidance”.

“These failings were magnified by major gaps in necessary record-keeping," he said, “so it is inevitable that we have not identified all situations where practice was unacceptable.”

Outside bodies such as the PSNI and Probation Service have been informed, he added, saying: “A number of offenders have been identified whose monitoring has been deficient.

“I’m able to say now with confidence that each of those cases have been revisited and reviewed, and with the help of statutory bodies proper arrangements are now in place. We have been able to address that as a matter of priority.”

Apologising to the people at the heart of each case, Rev Bruce said: “We have let you down, and for this I am truly sorry. It should not have happened.

“I want you to know that we will do everything we can to both put in place better arrangements to prevent this occurring again, and to put the appropriate help and support in place for you now.

“Anyone in our congregations, or those more broadly associated with us, either now or in the past, who may have been impacted can contact us directly.”

Anyone who thinks they may be affected is asked to get in touch with the church via [email protected] or on 028 9041 7308.

The press conference saw Moderator Rev Dr Trevor Gribben announce his resignation after five months in the role. Explaining his decision, he said that although he wasn’t directly in charge of safeguarding during the problem years, “serious and significant failings” occurred during the 11 years he spent as church General Secretary.