Presbyterian Church says position on women ministers unchanged

The Reverend Sam Mawhinney is the minister of Adelaide Road Presbyterian Church in Dublin

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has made it clear its policy of ordaining women ministers has not changed.

Although the next leader of the church, the Reverend Sam Mawhinney, is not in favour of female ordination, the church said it remains its "settled" policy.

Since Dr Mawhinney outlined his personal views on the issue, there has been debate within the church.

Retired minister, the Reverend Liz Hughes, said she feared the remarks may discourage women.

Dr Mawhinney will take over leadership of the church in June, for 12 months, but the policy on the ordination of women will not change.

In a statement, the Reverend Trevor Gribben, general secretary of the church, said the clear, longstanding and settled position of its General Assembly is "that the Presbyterian Church in Ireland ordains men and women on an equal basis".

"Both men and women can apply to be students for the ministry, trained in our college and become eligible to be ordained as full ministers of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland," he added.

"While this is the clear policy of our denomination, on this particular issue the church permits those who genuinely and sincerely differ from its position to hold a different personal view.

"Nonetheless the church's position is clear."

Analysis: Concern about mixed messaging

It is unusual for a church to have to distance itself from the view of its next leader.

The statement from the Presbyterian Church suggests there is concern about mixed messaging.

Anyone who knows the intricacies of how Presbyterianism functions will know that the next moderator is entitled to hold a different position on the ordination of women to official church policy.

However, that may be lost in the wider debate which seems to have begun.

It will be interesting to see whether the discussion is short-lived, or it resurfaces at the next full meeting of the church, the general assembly, in Belfast in June.

Dr Mawhinney is the minister of Adelaide Road Presbyterian Church in south Dublin and is the first moderator from the Republic of Ireland to be elected in almost a quarter of a century.

The Reverend John Kirkpatrick from Portrush Presbyterian is currently in the role.

Since Ireland was partitioned in 1921, only nine moderators have been from south of the border, Dr Mawhinney will be the 10th.

Rev Mawhinney, 60, spent his early years in Ballycastle, County Antrim.

He is the 178th moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, a position first filled in 1840.