{"id":267136,"date":"2025-11-17T03:41:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T03:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/267136\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T03:41:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T03:41:15","slug":"senior-leader-of-presbyterian-church-apologises-to-parishioners-across-the-island-for-inexcusable-failures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/267136\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior leader of Presbyterian Church apologises to parishioners across the island for \u2018inexcusable\u2019 failures"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rev<\/p>\n

Rev Dr David Allen apologises to PCI congregations across island of Ireland in statement sent to churches on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Head of Presbyterian Church in Ireland to step down over safeguarding failures<\/p>\n

Members have also been told that last week\u2019s revelations \u2013 which resulted in Dr Trevor Gribben\u2019s unprecedented decision to resign as Moderator and retire from his other roles \u2013 is \u201cjust the start of a very difficult process\u201d that is \u201cgoing to last for some time\u201d.<\/p>\n

A statement issued by Rev Dr David Allen, the Acting Clerk of the General Assembly, was read to congregations during Sunday morning worship. <\/p>\n

\u201cI must say now that these failures are inexcusable, and no excuse is being made for them,” he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of the Presbyterian Church, I am deeply sorry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, firstly, because people have been let down by us. Through past actions, or not acting as we should, we have put people at risk, and we know that some people have been harmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Richard Murray, who was installed as Moderator in June 2024, is to resume the role on December 1 and intends to announce that a special meeting of the General Assembly will take place in the same month.<\/p>\n

The PCI has confirmed a Section 12 external audit designed by the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland is already underway to review practices and processes. <\/p>\n

It says it is co-operating fully with statutory agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not sweep this under the carpet, we will open ourselves to external review, and will cooperate fully,\u201d Rev Allen sought to assure members. <\/p>\n

The church leader acknowledged that \u201cwe have betrayed the trust that people placed in us\u201d as he expressed deep sorrow for the \u201churt and grief\u201d the shortcomings have caused. <\/p>\n

“On behalf of the Church, I apologise unreservedly to everyone affected by this and to the wider Church. We want to do everything we can to support victims and survivors of our failings. We are truly sorry,\u201d Rev Allen added. <\/p>\n

\"Dr<\/p>\n

Dr Trevor Gribben, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, (left) and Rev Dr David Bruce (right) during a press conference on Wednesday. Pic by Liam McBurney\/PA Wire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are thinking about disclosing a concern about harm or abuse that has happened, whether that was in the church or somewhere else, I want to encourage you as strongly as possibly to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can contact us, at the PCI response line.\u201d<\/p>\n

The clergyman encouraged anyone who does not want to contact the church to reach out to directly to the PSNI or Victim Support NI. <\/p>\n

A QR code was displayed on screens with links to the PCI website which has published advice and guidance. <\/p>\n

Members were reminded that Jesus \u201ccalls us to minister and reach out to those around us, showing His love, speaking His Word, and doing all that we can to bring honour and glory to Him\u201d.<\/p>\n

“We have failed our Saviour and Lord, we have dishonoured Him,\u201d Rev Allen added. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am inexpressibly grieved and ashamed by this \u2013 to dishonour our Lord in this way is beyond words. I ask you to join me in lamenting this, in seeking His forgiveness, and in asking for grace to do whatever He calls us to in light of our sin.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement acknowledged \u201cdistressing\u201d reports of serious safeguarding failings between 2009 and 2022 and set out details of a probe into \u201cthe handling of past safeguarding issues at Assembly Buildings level\u201d.<\/p>\n

It set out already reported failings to make referrals to statutory authorities when required, inadequate responses to concerns about individuals in congregations and a failure to respond properly when people sought help after suffering harm. <\/p>\n

The church has also admitted it failed to keep proper and adequate records and failed to properly monitor offenders returning to worship. <\/p>\n

\"Rev<\/p>\n

Rev Trevor Gribben at the Assembly Buildings in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland on the 5th February 2025<\/p>\n

Rev Allen said problems were addressed \u201cas soon as we discovered it, with the statutory authorities and all required safeguards are now in place\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese failings do not involve our current safeguarding team, and did not involve everyone who was part of our team in the past,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlongside these failings, there were, and are, staff members doing outstanding work, and we thank them for it.”<\/p>\n

Members were urged to pray for the victims and all those involved in safeguarding and ministry. <\/p>\n

Rev Allen asked people to join him in pleading for mercy and forgiveness and ask that God would \u201cpurge us of our wrong-doing\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rev Dr David Allen apologises to PCI congregations across island of Ireland in statement sent to churches on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45110,59,57,58,50,108170,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-267136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-brett-campbell","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-presbyterian-church","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}