The incoming Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Dr Trevor Morrow, has said he is amazed at the Provisional IRA's disarmament offer, which far surpassed his expectations. Speaking yesterday, he declined to advise Ulster Unionist Council delegates how to vote tomorrow.
He said he had been personally encouraged by the Provisionals' proposals but added: "Does it go far enough for an Executive to be formed? That is a decision I will leave to others." He was speaking as details were released of the Presbyterian General Assembly, which will open in Belfast on Monday.
About 1,200 delegates are expected to attend. The President, Mrs McAleese, will attend the opening. Dr Morrow said he was delighted she had accepted the invitation. "On previous occasions when the Assembly was held in Dublin, President Mary Robinson and President Eamon de Valera both accepted invitations. But this will be the first time that the President of Ireland has attended the General Assembly in Belfast," he said.
The Assembly will debate the current political situation in the North, policing, and the proposed liberalisation of the independent television commission code governing advertising which, it says, will allow for advertising by those involved in the occult, pornography, escort agencies, religious sects, and abortion services. The Assembly will also be asked to authorise the production of a new Irish Presbyterian book of praise.
Meanwhile, an adviser to the Catholic bishops on policing, Father Tim Barlett, has said that the only way to encourage a sufficient number of young Catholics to enter the police force is to fully implement the Patten report. Writing in yesterday's Irish News, he said the Catholic Church had gone to great lengths recently to pay tribute to the RUC and acknowledge "the great price RUC officers have paid in the effort to maintain stability and peace".
He added: "What a pity that, as yet, Protestant church leaders, unionist politicians and the British government in the current Policing Bill, have not found it possible to offer any similar reassurance to the Catholic community about the commitment of the unionist-British tradition to the new beginning to policing promised by the Belfast Agreement."