THE Presbyterian Church condemned pickets such as the loyalist protest outside Mass at Harryville, the newly elected Moderator designate, the Rev Samuel Hutchinson, said in Belfast yesterday.
He told a press conference. "Our church has, as a matter of record, condemned all such picketing, there is no time or place for it. It should not be happening in what is professedly a Christian country.
But he was reluctant to comment on the issue of the Drumcree Orange parade until he formally took up office on June 2nd. No one could say what the situation would be at that time: "Please God it will be better; possibly it could be worse; it's very likely to be different and I don't think it would be prudent for me to decide now what I'm going to say or do in four months' time."
The new Moderator said his church activities in the past had taken him to Israel and the West Bank and these experiences increased his understanding of Northern Ireland: I found there a deeply divided community. Both sections felt they were victims; both had intense emotions; both had experiences of hurt.
I remember going to meet some of the residents of the Arab town of Nazareth which, of course, is within the borders of Israel. Walking down the street to the meeting, what did I see but a banner across the road saying, Civil Rights for Nazareth, and looking back from that vantage point to Northern Ireland, I was able to see the picture here in rather clearer focus."
During his year of office, Mr Hutchinson would be placing special emphasis on issues of social deprivation: "Go where you will, into hospital, into university or even into prison and you will find our Presbyterian chaplains there. So there's first of all going to be an emphasis on what the church is doing in all those areas of vast need.
In Northern Ireland alone, one in seven children were in one parent families: "There are 55,000 one parent families in Northern Ireland. It looks as though one in three marriages will end in separation or divorce. There are 40,000 people with alcohol problems of whom 10,000 are alcoholics and about 14 per cent of the adult male population cannot find work.
"I would want to see the church actively involved in all of those areas, but not only the church as an organised institution: I would also be encouraging individual Presbyterians to go into these areas, into the caring professions, into political life, and to bring a Christian influence to bear there.