Irish Presbyterian aid to support relief effort after Caribbean hurricane
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has generously responded to the enormous damage caused by one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the Caribbean islands, including Jamaica, at the end of last month.
The church has forwarded an initial £20,000 in emergency funding to support the relief effort of the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, a denomination the Irish church has been affiliated with for many years.
The Irish Presbyterian Church is also encouraging its congregational worshippers to continue to pray for the people of Jamaica and the Caribbean islands and to donate to the relief effort being spearheaded by church and charities in the Caribbean region and globally.
Hurricane Melissa brought widespread destruction to the Caribbean islands, the island of Jamaica in particular, with widespread devastation to homes, hospitals, schools, businesses, churches and the general infrastructure, causing the deaths of at more than 30 people so far.
The hurricane left around half a million people without power and 27 island communities impacted by extensive flooding, resulting in more than 2,500 people still being cared for in the several hundred emergency shelters provided by governing bodies and church and charitable groups.
For many years, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) has had a long-standing relationship with United Reformed Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
A former Presbyterian moderator and North Belfast cleric the Rev Dr John Dunlop, served in mission with the church there, in the 1960s and 1970s, as did Belfast minister the Rev Liz Hughes.
They was among 30 Presbyterians, who, at the invitation of the United Church, were commissioned to serve alongside the people of Jamaica as mission partners.
While this is not a Presbyterian moderator’s appeal, which is normally only triggered when there are nationwide appeals launched by charity umbrella groups, senior church sources say that prayerful and extra financial support of Presbyterians across Ireland will be much appreciated in these difficult times.
The Irish church's 500-plus congregations north and south are being encouraged to pray that for the British Commonwealth island nation of Jamaica, especially for those who are grieving, traumatised and enduring great personal loss, and that they "would know God’s comforting presence, sustaining grace and faithful provision" as they try to make it through this disaster.
Support must be provided, the church says, for those giving leadership to the nation through this crisis, including Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who had declared the country a disaster area. Also for the Jamaican defence force mobilised as part of the search and rescue efforts, and for the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, especially for ongoing relief work being co-ordinated by their hurricane response team.
Donations towards this Irish Presbyterian Church relief effort can be made on the PCI website www.presbyterianireland.org/globalappeals
Protestantism is the main religious faith on the island of Jamaica, numbering close on 65 per cent of the population.
On the island, the various Christian denominations listed are - 30 per cent Church of God, 11 per cent Seventh-Day Adventist, 10 per cent Pentecostal, seven per cent Baptist, five per cent Anglican, and two per cent independent churches.
The Roman Catholic population in Jamaica is about 2.5 per cent, Jehovah Witnesses 1.8 per cent, and Rastafari 1.10 per cent.
An estimated 21 per cent of the British-influenced population of 2.9 million on the island say they have no religion.
Jamaica's laws, based on British historic ideals, establish freedom of religion and prohibit religious discrimination