Presbyterian Church in Ireland says author of letter criticising moderator designate's views on women clerics is not actually a Presbyterian

The open letter to the church was organised by former Presbyterian elder Steven Smyrl, who was removed from his role at Christ Church Sandymount in Dublin in 2019 because he was in a same-sex marriage.

In February moderator designate Rev Sam Mawhinney, also based in Dublin, said that even though it was contrary to church policy, he was against the ordination of women.

“My position is that I think that women should be involved within the church in many different ways,” he said. “I think my own personal position is that I I'm not in favour of the ordination of women.” However he said he respected that the church position and did not want to make it “a primary issue”.

The 150 signatories to the letter expressed concern that his comments had encouraged other clergy to "voice hostility to women in leadership roles".Other signatories include former justice minister David Ford, infectious disease expert Prof Sam McConkey and retired professor of French, Ruth Whelan. She once studied to become a Presbyterian minister but later gave up, she told Good Morning Ulster, partly due to a lack of support when trying to secure preaching experience.

The signatories want the church to publicly "demonstrate its commitment to upholding the value and worth of women as equals in both the church and in wider society"."The signatories to this letter demand that church authorities act immediately and without prevarication in order to repair the damage to the reputation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland".

Mr Smyrl told the BBC that he had been removed as a Presbyterian elder in 2019 and his congregation left the Presbyterian church in 2022 due to an issue with the charity regulator. It is understood the joint Presbyterian-Methodist church reverted to Methodist status.

Explaining the reason for the letter, Mr Smyrl said that after his removal as an elder people began to contact him. “As my name became more widely known I was contacted by email, by phone call by various people - particularly women and gay men - who were telling me harrowing stories of how they had been treated because of their gender or sexual identity within the Presbyterian Church,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland said: “Wednesday’s Open Letter came to the Moderator in quite a strange way, in that it was released to media outlets at what appears to be almost at the same time. This perhaps implies that the purpose of the letter was primarily for the benefit of the media and not simply a request for the Church to look into a particular issue.

“The letter came to PCI via an e-mail which was signed ‘Concerned Presbyterians’. It appears, however, from media reporting of this story to date, that the main author of the letter is in fact not a member of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Clearly a number of others who have signed it are not members of PCI either. Nonetheless, as is normal practice when correspondence is received, time will be taken to give it due and appropriate consideration.”

Mr Smyrl was invited to comment.