Inter-church relations `strained'

The Presbyterian General Assembly in Belfast was told yesterday that last year's decision not to join other churches in a proposed Conference of Irish Churches had meant inter-church relations were strained.

But the Rev Robert Herron, convenor of the Presbyterian Inter-Church Relations Board, noted the Catholic Church had voted against proceeding with such a conference without the Presbyterian Church.

Mr Herron said that after last year's vote, "the other churches, who all voted in favour of the conference, were asked if they wanted to proceed without the Presbyterian Church in Ireland".

All said they would prefer to go ahead, he said, except for the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church and the Catholic Church.

The result, he said, was there were two inter-church bodies rather than one. "Some of the churches have discovered there is an understanding between Roman Catholics and Presbyterians that is not easily explained," he said.

"There are personal relationships that have developed over the years between individuals within our two churches that the Roman Catholic leadership is not prepared to jeopardise by the failure to move some furniture from one room to another," he said.

Other issues remained to be resolved, he said. These included a fairer sharing of costs and he was pleased to report that the Roman Catholic Church had agreed to increase its contribution by £5,000. There was also the question of representation on inter-church committees. At present one place was shared among eight churches. It was proposed to increase this to two, he said.