The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) has temporarily changed the way it donates to charity, after one of its main partners co-wrote a pro-LGBT document.
Christian Aid has a long-standing partnership with the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Until this week, half of the Church’s international aid donations had gone to Christian Aid, while half went to Tearfund.
Controversy arose when Christian Aid GB wrote a document entitled Queering the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. Its focus was on supporting same-sex attracted and transgender people “who may experience additional risk in situations of conflict for reasons of gender and sexuality”.
The document was developed by Christian Aid and published by Queen’s University Belfast. Legally, Christian Aid GB and Christian Aid Ireland are two separate entities.
Members of Christian Aid Ireland wrote to the PCI's new Moderator, Rt Revd Dr Trevor Gribben, saying that the document was not an official policy document, and had been removed from their website.
Some PCI members deemed the document at odds with their stance on same-sex attraction. In 2018, the Church adopted a policy prohibiting those in same-sex relationships from holding full church membership.
It will now allow individual churches to choose what proportion of their aid budget goes to Christian Aid, and what percentage goes to Tearfund.
Rt Revd Dr Trevor Gribben, told Premier News that the measure is an interim one. He emphasised that political differences between the two organisations should not have a negative impact on international charity work.
“Christian Aid are fine people of God,” he said. “We don't want the poor and vulnerable in our world to suffer because Christian Aid GB and ourselves are having a discussion and haven't yet finished it.”
He told Premier that cooperative discussions have been taking place. “We had a very good meeting with the Chair and CEO of Christian Aid GB. They came over here to meet with us, and credit to them for doing that. We’ve entered into correspondence. It's fair to say we haven't yet perhaps reached a satisfactory position.”
