Presbyterian General Assembly 2023: Church will consider 'when it is appropriate' to lay down civil liberties in any future pandemic or catastrophe

Convener Karen Jardine, PCI’s Public Affairs Officer, said that they consulted with church representatives from across the island of Ireland, in education, healthcare and those working with the economically vulnerable.

“Across all of these engagements a full range of views were expressed, from those critical of, and at times angry or bewildered at, the directives flowing from government – north and south - the response of PCI and its leadership, to those who found decision-making to be helpful and useful as they sought to navigate through the challenges presented,” she said, offering the Task Group’s thanks to all who took part.

The report came on the final day of business at the General Assembly, which is meeting in Assembly Buildings in Belfast. The annual meeting brings together ministers, elders and others from the church’s 500-plus

The groups acknowledged "the tension" between those who felt that church buildings remaining open for gathered worship would, in itself, be a prophetic act, and others who felt that such a choice would compromise the Church’s witness, she told the Assembly.

Throughout the Task Group’s deliberations ’lament’ was a consistent theme. “Many families experienced significant loss and we grieve with those unable to mourn their loved ones in the ways in which they expected and needed, and also with those prevented from offering pastoral care in the usual ways.

"The restrictions on meeting together for worship on the Lord’s Day were difficult, as was the inability to visit loved ones in hospital or residential facilities.”

Miss Jardine also spoke of lamenting the shortfalls in political leadership, how some used it to profiteer and how young people missed out on important aspects of their education, mental, social, physical and spiritual development.

The Task Group report found that "there are undoubtedly decisions that may have been made differently had circumstances been different" and that "Often decisions, particularly those in relation to the closure of church premises and restrictions on public worship, had to be taken quickly in light of the information provided by government ministers".

Should any similar global, or other catastrophic event take place at a future date, the Task Group recommended those making decisions in any similar circumstance in the future "consider when it is appropriate to voluntarily set aside our own rights and privileges as believers in order to facilitate the common good".

It also recommended that in such circumstances the Church "use its voice prophetically" to raise concerns on behalf of the poor, the marginalised and the voiceless.

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has around 200,000 members belonging to 525 congregations across 19 regional presbyteries throughout Ireland.