Prominent Presbyterians express concern at new head’s opposition to female ministers

An open letter has been sent to the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland by 168 influential members expressing deep concern at views of his successor, Rev Dr Sam Mawhinney, opposing female ministers.

The are also conceren at the stance of other Presbyterian ministers who are openly speaking against the ordination of women, which has been accepted within the church for 50 years.

The letter sent to Rev Dr John Kirkpatrick, who stands down as moderator in June, points out that “since 1973 the Presbyterian Church’s policy has been to treat men and women equally, to allow access to training and ordination to all deemed qualified regardless of their gender”.

Rev Dr Mawhinney, Minister at Adelaide Presbyterian Church in Dublin, was elected to succeed Rev Kirkpatrick last month and will hold office as moderator for one year.

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In a BBC interview last month, following his election as moderator, Rev Dr Mawhinney said he was against the ordination of women even though it was church policy.

He said it was his personal view and that he had no desire to offend or hurt people, while acknowledging that “there are people who disagree with me”.

He continued: “I don’t want to make it a primary issue, but it is something that I hold.”

[ Presbyterian Church in Ireland has become ‘a cool house’ for a dwindling liberal membership ]

In their letter, members stated that “Dr Mawhinney’s comments ignore the fact that it has been the policy of the Presbyterian Church to ordain women to eldership for almost a century, and to the ministry for exactly 50 years”.

Instances where male ministers “have either publicly voiced their hostility to women in leadership roles, or who have gone further by actually making disparaging and misogynistic remarks about women, are unfortunately not at all rare within certain quarters of the Presbyterian Church”, they wrote.

“Such hostility must be one of the principal reasons why in recent years so few women have come forward for ordination and why male elders in congregations far outnumber females. Worse still, in the last 30 years there has been only one occasion where the words and actions of such men have ever been the subject of investigation and censure.”

Meanwhile “since 2015 there have been reports of at least three female ministers attached to the Presbyterian Church who have been subjected to commissions of investigation. Given their already small numbers, this seems disproportionate and, some might even suspect, deliberately targeted”, they said.

The signatories demanded that church authorities “act immediately and without prevarication in order to repair the damage to the reputation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The church needs to demonstrate its commitment to upholding the value and worth of women as equals in both the church and in wider society, and to do this by issuing a public statement to that effect.”

[ Rite and Reason: Liberal Irish Presbyterians dismayed by conservatism ]

Separately, in Maynooth, Co Kildare, Rev Dr Kirkpatrick has turned the sod on the first purpose-built church of Ireland’s newest Presbyterian congregation. It is known locally as Maynooth Community Church, or MCC, and its first service took place in September 2003.

The €4.5 million development is on a 3.2-acre greenfield site at the heart of Maynooth, opposite the Tesco shopping park. Minister Rev Dr Keith McCrory leads a worshipping community there of some 53 families with about 140 people. The new church building will accommodate 220 worshippers, have a welcome area, kitchen, prayer room, three kids’ rooms, a room for counselling and a board room. It is hoped it will be open by Easter 2024.