Author of study blames Drumcree issue for diverting church's energy

Dr Gareth Higgins, who conducted the Hard Gospel study, said that for many respondents "Drumcree was the key defining issue" as far as many church members were concerned. It had diverted energy away from dealing with the sectarianism issue within the church, he felt, and provided some with an excuse for not addressing difference in other areas, he felt.

Bishop Harper agreed Drumcree had been a catalyst, but it was "a negative catalyst". He could think of "nothing which has caused greater pain in the church, pain of all sorts", he said.

He felt Drumcree was "part of a broader thing, a symptom which we must get beyond."

The study also addressed the issues of sexuality and gender, and referred to an article in the Church of Ireland Gazette last summer which noted that homosexuality had not been discussed at General Synod since 1976.

In his presidential address to the General Synod, the church's primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, said the bishops were preparing a document on the issue, which they hoped to present in the near future.

He said there had been "much hurt" on the part of gay people who felt that the church, "let alone the wider church, has been neither understanding nor accepting of them".

He continued that "while individual bishops hold differing views and we recognise there are parts of our church where these issues are of greater importance than in others . . . we have found a real deepening of mutual trust and fellowship in open discussion that has not led simply to a common mind on this issue."