Presbyterian Church in Ireland safeguarding crisis: 'Bewilderment and confusion' among members
There are "high levels of bewilderment, distress and confusion" amongst Presbyterians about the safeguarding crisis in the church - which should be resolved with much better communication, a former Moderator has said.
Speaking to the Special General Assembly in Belfast yesterday, Rev Norman Hamilton said his thoughts were "born out of many conversations over the past weeks".
He asked the church leadership to outline its communication strategy, "given the still high levels of bewilderment, distress and confusion amongst many members of our church, as well as in wider society".
Deputy Clerk of the Assembly, Rev Peter Gamble, responded that following the Special General Assembly on the crisis in December, a report was published online which had more than 2000 clicks but said the church is "severely constrained" in what it can say due to ongoing PSNI investigations.
Meetings of the assembly are "the clearest way to inform the church and wider society of what is happening" he added.
Rev Hamilton added that there is "much more that we could do and should do in terms of public communication - and we could do it a lot better than we do at present".
He said the strategy should "go much further and be much more purposeful".
"My key concern is that since the crisis broke in early November, the main source of information and analysis to both the church and wider society has been through many journalists, and much good work has been done by them."
However he affirmed as "very wise" the comment from a senior journalist to him, when they said: 'The church has to start speaking directly to its members'.
Whatever is decided in the assembly needs to be fully and properly understood by ordinary people, he said.
And some 2,300 clicks on the church's online report, he said, was not enough, as it only represented some 10 congregations out of over 400.
Everything that happens in the church headquarters, he said, is completely dependent on support from every corner of the island to be effective; "If it is not nurtured and built on what support will inevitably dwindle, with massive consequences for us all."